Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government is taking steps to increase regulations on animal welfare within greyhound racing.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 already allows action to be taken where there is evidence of cruelty to an animal or a failure to provide for that animal's welfare needs. This includes where greyhounds are raced at greyhound racing tracks or kept at trainers' kennels. Further to these general provisions, specific welfare standards, including the requirement to have a veterinary surgeon present while dogs are running, for all greyhound racing tracks in England are set out in the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010. We have no plans at this time to introduce more regulation.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps the Government has taken to improve public accessibility to Britain’s rivers.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Access on regulated waterways can be granted through licenses from the appropriate navigation authority. Access on unregulated waterways can be arranged through voluntary access agreements. We will continue to be supportive of navigation authorities' work to enhance and develop their waterways to encourage greater levels of access. Local authorities can also apply for bathing water status.
A total of 25 projects funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund across England have included activities to improve access and enjoyment of inland waterways, generally as part of a wider project. These projects total almost £16m of investment. The £80m Fund overall has funded 159 nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Climate Change Committee report entitled Net Zero: The UK’s contribution to stopping global warming, published in May 2019, if he will take steps to implement that report's recommendation to increase the hedgerow network by 40 per cent by 2050.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are required by the Environment Act 2021 to set at least one long-term biodiversity target, in addition to our target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This target, and others set under the Act, will help target the causes of decline and drive actions to deliver nature recovery. To meet our species abundance target we will need to create more, better joined up habitats, which will include hedgerows.
Defra will encourage and support increased hedgerows through our environmental land management schemes. We are working with Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot participants to gather learning from the pilot version of the Standard and are incorporating this feedback into the development of the live version of the Hedgerow Standard and its supporting capital items, which are due to be rolled out into the scheme in 2023.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is encourage investment in (a) hedgerows and (b) other nature-based climate solutions.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government is investing in nature based solutions more than ever before, from a range of sources. This includes our £750m Nature for Climate Fund. We are also introducing three new environmental land management schemes that will invest in a range of nature based solutions: the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI); Local Nature Recovery; and Landscape Recovery. These schemes will pay for sustainable farming practices, such as reducing carbon emissions, creating, and preserving habitat, such as hedgerows, and making landscape-scale environmental changes, all of which are important steps towards achieving our 25 Year Environment Plan ambitions and our carbon net zero goals. A Hedgerow Standard has been included within the initial phase of piloting of the SFI scheme. Capital grants to support the planting and reinstatement of hedgerows are currently available via the Countryside Stewardship scheme. The SFI will also focus on grassland management, agro-forestry, cropland management, soil management, and nutrient management.
In addition to the public funding, we are enabling a step change in investment flows from the private sector, and we are developing our environmental land management schemes for farmers and landowners so that they can crowd in private investment. HM Government has set a new target to raise at least £500 million in private finance to support nature's recovery every year by 2027 in England, rising to more than £1 billion per year by 2030. We are putting in place the conditions for the private sector to invest in nature-based solutions, including through our Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund which is supporting the development of 86 projects across England, which have the potential to generate revenue from ecosystem services in order to attract and repay investment. We are also developing a blended finance Big Nature Impact Fund which will leverage private capital to invest in such projects.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect nature.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have already announced a legally binding target to halt nature’s decline by 2030. We have an extensive policy programme, including environmental land management schemes, biodiversity net gain, woodlands for water, and more.
We have established over 360,000 acres of new habitat, helping to ensure we leave the environment in a better state than we found it.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) protect and (b) expand hedgerows in urban environments.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Urban hedgerows are already offered protection through planning decisions. Local authorities have the ability to impose enforceable planning conditions on a developer to protect hedges or trees assessed as being worthy of retention, which might otherwise be harmed by construction or the new land-use.
Developments which are subject to the Environment’s Act biodiversity gain requirement will also have to measure their impact on hedgerows with the biodiversity metric. Any losses will have to be compensated for with new or enhanced hedgerows, either on the development site or elsewhere.
All wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which prohibits killing, injuring, or taking of wild birds or taking or damaging their eggs and nests, providing further important protections for most hedgerows and wild birds.
Furthermore, when the delivering the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 biodiversity duty, which is strengthened in the Environment Act 2021, a local authority could consider whether to plant hedgerows in their area as a demonstration of positive, active commitment to enhancing biodiversity.
In addition, our £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund has kick-started a pipeline of 159 nature-based projects to restore nature, tackle climate change and connect people with the natural environment. In round 1 The Tree Council led the ‘Close the Gap’ Hedgerow Project which has planted 51km of new and restored hedgerow in urban and rural areas, working closely with farmers and community groups.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential (a) implications for her policies of differences between local council recycling policies and (b) merits of introducing a uniform UK-wide recycling policy.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Waste is a devolved policy and the devolved administrations have their own arrangements for household recycling and waste collections.
Following support at consultation, the Environment Act 2021 amends the Environmental Protection Act to stipulate that all local authorities in England will be required to collect a core set of materials for recycling. Last year we held a second consultation on implementation timelines, materials in scope and exemptions. We will publish a response and final impact assessment in due course.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 to extend protections to (a) urban and (b) countryside hedgerows that are deemed important to the character of local landscapes.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government recognises the importance and value of hedgerows, which have a key role in conserving and enhancing biodiversity.
Although there is local variation, research has indicated that, nationally, over 70% of hedgerows in England and Wales are 'important' and protected by the Hedgerow Regulations. The Regulations do not cover urban hedges which are covered by the planning system but do play a valuable role in providing statutory protection for a large proportion of hedgerows in the countryside. Although the risk of removal of Hedgerows is now extremely low compared to when the Regulations came into effect, we are currently exploring the best possible ways to further protect and enhance hedgerows as an important habitat.
In addition, through planning decisions, local authorities have the ability to impose enforceable planning conditions on a developer to protect hedges or trees assessed as being worthy of retention, which might otherwise be harmed by construction or the new land-use. Developments which are subject to the Environment’s Act biodiversity gain requirement will also have to measure their impact on hedgerows with the biodiversity metric. Any losses will have to be compensated for with new or enhanced hedgerows, either on the development site or elsewhere
Furthermore, all wild birds, their eggs and their nests are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which prohibits killing, injuring, or taking of wild birds or taking or damaging their eggs and nests, providing further important protections for most hedgerows and wild birds.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made for the implications of her policies of the outcome of the Client Earth court case on the Government’s net zero strategy.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Net Zero Strategy, which includes ambitious policies for my department, remains HM Government policy and has not been quashed. The judge made no criticism about the substance of our plans which are well on track and, in fact, the claimants themselves described them as ‘laudable’ during the proceedings. We anticipate publishing a more detailed response to the Court Order on the Net Zero Strategy in due course.