Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussion with his counterparts in (a) France, (b) Germany and (c) Sweden to learn on steps to reduce plastic waste.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials have had discussions with their counterparts in other countries to learn lessons on tackling waste, including plastic waste. For instance, officials have had discussions with the German Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) administrator to assist in developing the DRS in the UK.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
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 is taking to promote a circular economy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To enable delivery of a Circular Economy Strategy for England, the Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from industry, academia, civil society, and the civil service.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
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 sixteenth report of session 2017-19 of the Environmental Audit Committee entitled Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability, HC 1952, published on 19 February 2019, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of accepting the recommendation to impose a charge on clothing garments to fund clothing collection and sorting services.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No recent assessment has been made of the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendation for a charge on garments to fund collection and sorting services. However, the Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from across the Government, industry, academia and relevant NGOs. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The Taskforce will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and as such the Taskforce will evaluate what interventions may need to be made in the textiles sector as it helps to develop the Circular Economy Strategy.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to require retailers to publish data on microplastics used in their clothing.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a Taskforce of experts from across the Government, industry, academia and relevant NGOs. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The Taskforce will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and as such the Taskforce will evaluate what interventions may need to be made in the textiles sector as it helps to develop the Circular Economy Strategy. In the meantime we have no plans to require clothing producers or retailers to publish additional data.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish a strategy for the promotion of a circular economy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has asked his Department to prioritise the development of a Circular Economy Strategy for England, to be published in 2025.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has targets for the elimination of post-consumer plastic waste.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to moving to a circular economy for plastics - a future where we keep our resources in use for longer; waste is reduced; we accelerate the path to net zero, we see investment in critical infrastructure and green jobs; our economy prospers; and nature thrives. As a part of this transition, managing and reducing plastic waste will be crucial.
While the Government has not yet set targets for the elimination of plastic waste, we will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encouraging reuse solutions.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has targets for the (a) recycling and (b) reuse of textiles.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from across Government, industry, academia and relevant non-governmental organisations. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The Taskforce will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and as such the Taskforce will evaluate what interventions may need to be made in the textiles sector as it helps to develop the Circular Economy Strategy.
In the meantime, we continue to fund action in this area through the Textiles 2030 voluntary initiative which supports businesses and organisations within the fashion and textiles industry to transition to more sustainable and circular practices.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
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 plans to take to reduce the amount of post-consumer textiles discarded annually.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from across Government, industry, academia and relevant non-governmental organisations. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The Taskforce will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and as such the Taskforce will evaluate what interventions may need to be made in the textiles sector as it helps to develop the Circular Economy Strategy.
In the meantime, we continue to fund action in this area through the Textiles 2030 voluntary initiative which supports businesses and organisations within the fashion and textiles industry to transition to more sustainable and circular practices.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department plans to spend on flood defences in each of the next three financial years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to protecting communities across the country from the dangers of flooding. We will launch a Flood Resilience Taskforce to turbocharge the delivery of flood defences, drainage systems and natural flood management schemes.
We have inherited a floods investment programme which is behind schedule. Since 2021, around 300 flood defence schemes have been completed, investing £2.3bn to protect more than 88,000 properties. In addition, an aging asset base, inflation and last winter’s storms have affected the condition of our existing flood defences. Where a flood defence is below the required condition, the Environment Agency take measures to ensure that communities are not put at risk of flooding.
Moving forwards, we will be reviewing the programme with a view to ensuring flood risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future within the constraints of an economically tight outlook.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a cost estimate of the potential economic damage of a future flooding event in Lowestoft.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Coastal Partnership East is partnership of three local authorities responsible for part of the Norfolk and Suffolk coastline (East Suffolk Council, North Norfolk District Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council), including Lowestoft. Coastal Partnership East made an estimate of the potential economic damages from future flooding events in Lowestoft. This was completed as part of a business case for a new barrier at Lowestoft submitted in April 2023, prepared by Coastal Partnership East using standard Environment Agency guidance and methodologies.
This estimated the future economic damages from tidal flooding, without the investment proposed in the business case, to be approximately £150m over the next 100 years. The economic damages from river and surface water flood risk was approximately £50m over 100 years.