Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with industry stakeholders on the potential merits of a producer-led Scheme Administrator within the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an established policy approach adopted by many countries around the world, across a broad range of products and materials. It gives producers an incentive to make better, more sustainable decisions at the product design stage, including decisions that make it easier for products to be reused or recycled, and places the financial cost of managing products once they reach end of life on producers. We have considered the approach of many international EPR for packaging schemes that are in operation in finalising the approach to EPR for packaging in the UK.
We published an impact assessment on our proposed measures alongside the Government response to the 2021 consultation on introducing EPR for packaging in the UK. This assessment outlined how overall packaging recycling rates are expected to increase from 63% in 2021 to 76% in 2030 under a producer-led EPR scheme. These targets exceed standards currently set for 2030 for members of the European Union. Increased recycling of packaging waste will also mean that less packaging waste is sent to landfill or incinerated. We will publish an assessment of the impacts of EPR on residual waste infrastructure, including incinerators, in due course.
I met with a number of industry representatives in December 2022 to discuss how the Government will ensure the governance of the EPR Scheme Administrator (SA) is transparent and includes representation from industry. We will continue working closely with industry throughout the development of the SA and intend to use the private sector to deliver many of the SA functions. We have also recently embarked on an eight-week series of industry-wide Sprint events bringing together key stakeholders looking to shape the future vision of waste reforms.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of a producer-led packaging extended producer responsibility scheme on (a) recycling and (b) incineration rates.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an established policy approach adopted by many countries around the world, across a broad range of products and materials. It gives producers an incentive to make better, more sustainable decisions at the product design stage, including decisions that make it easier for products to be reused or recycled, and places the financial cost of managing products once they reach end of life on producers. We have considered the approach of many international EPR for packaging schemes that are in operation in finalising the approach to EPR for packaging in the UK.
We published an impact assessment on our proposed measures alongside the Government response to the 2021 consultation on introducing EPR for packaging in the UK. This assessment outlined how overall packaging recycling rates are expected to increase from 63% in 2021 to 76% in 2030 under a producer-led EPR scheme. These targets exceed standards currently set for 2030 for members of the European Union. Increased recycling of packaging waste will also mean that less packaging waste is sent to landfill or incinerated. We will publish an assessment of the impacts of EPR on residual waste infrastructure, including incinerators, in due course.
I met with a number of industry representatives in December 2022 to discuss how the Government will ensure the governance of the EPR Scheme Administrator (SA) is transparent and includes representation from industry. We will continue working closely with industry throughout the development of the SA and intend to use the private sector to deliver many of the SA functions. We have also recently embarked on an eight-week series of industry-wide Sprint events bringing together key stakeholders looking to shape the future vision of waste reforms.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
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 make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed extended producer responsibility scheme on the number of incinerators that would be in operation.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an established policy approach adopted by many countries around the world, across a broad range of products and materials. It gives producers an incentive to make better, more sustainable decisions at the product design stage, including decisions that make it easier for products to be reused or recycled, and places the financial cost of managing products once they reach end of life on producers. We have considered the approach of many international EPR for packaging schemes that are in operation in finalising the approach to EPR for packaging in the UK.
We published an impact assessment on our proposed measures alongside the Government response to the 2021 consultation on introducing EPR for packaging in the UK. This assessment outlined how overall packaging recycling rates are expected to increase from 63% in 2021 to 76% in 2030 under a producer-led EPR scheme. These targets exceed standards currently set for 2030 for members of the European Union. Increased recycling of packaging waste will also mean that less packaging waste is sent to landfill or incinerated. We will publish an assessment of the impacts of EPR on residual waste infrastructure, including incinerators, in due course.
I met with a number of industry representatives in December 2022 to discuss how the Government will ensure the governance of the EPR Scheme Administrator (SA) is transparent and includes representation from industry. We will continue working closely with industry throughout the development of the SA and intend to use the private sector to deliver many of the SA functions. We have also recently embarked on an eight-week series of industry-wide Sprint events bringing together key stakeholders looking to shape the future vision of waste reforms.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
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 make an assessment of the implications for the proposed extended producer responsibility scheme of international best practice in that area.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an established policy approach adopted by many countries around the world, across a broad range of products and materials. It gives producers an incentive to make better, more sustainable decisions at the product design stage, including decisions that make it easier for products to be reused or recycled, and places the financial cost of managing products once they reach end of life on producers. We have considered the approach of many international EPR for packaging schemes that are in operation in finalising the approach to EPR for packaging in the UK.
We published an impact assessment on our proposed measures alongside the Government response to the 2021 consultation on introducing EPR for packaging in the UK. This assessment outlined how overall packaging recycling rates are expected to increase from 63% in 2021 to 76% in 2030 under a producer-led EPR scheme. These targets exceed standards currently set for 2030 for members of the European Union. Increased recycling of packaging waste will also mean that less packaging waste is sent to landfill or incinerated. We will publish an assessment of the impacts of EPR on residual waste infrastructure, including incinerators, in due course.
I met with a number of industry representatives in December 2022 to discuss how the Government will ensure the governance of the EPR Scheme Administrator (SA) is transparent and includes representation from industry. We will continue working closely with industry throughout the development of the SA and intend to use the private sector to deliver many of the SA functions. We have also recently embarked on an eight-week series of industry-wide Sprint events bringing together key stakeholders looking to shape the future vision of waste reforms.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the future (a) planning rules for and (b) regulation of waste incinerator plants.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The Secretary of State regularly discusses a range of issues of mutual concern with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new criteria for determining where waste incinerator plants can be located in (a) residential and (b) other areas.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Defra currently has no plans to do so.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many full-time equivalent staff were employed in his Department's human resources section in April 2020.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The full-time equivalent number of staff in the department’s Human Resources section as at 30 April 2020 was 257.1
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of divergence from EU food and drink regulations on continued frictionless trade with the 27 countries of the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government is undertaking a wide range of analysis looking at the implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Our programme of analysis is constantly developing and evolving, and includes all areas of the UK economy and input from a wide range of sectors.
It will always be for the Parliament of the day to decide which rules are adopted in the UK. The Parliament of the day may potentially decide to diverge from EU law. Where this occurs it will be in the knowledge that there may be consequences for market access in both directions.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase exports of British food and drink products.
Answered by George Eustice
Increasing exports is a top priority for this Government. In October 2016, Defra and the Department for International Trade launched the joint Government and industry ‘UK Food and Drink International Action Plan 2016-2020’ at SIAL in Paris. This details how Government and industry will work in partnership to promote UK food and drink overseas, break down trade barriers and open up new international markets.
Asked by: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association has not been invited to meetings of the litter strategy advisory group.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We welcome all views on how the problem of litter, including that caused by cigarettes can be tackled. As such, Defra will consult with a wide range of stakeholders to inform the development of its policies, and does so in line with the government’s Consultation Principles and other obligations.
The Litter Strategy Advisory Group currently has over 20 members, which include representatives from, among others, local government, the packaging industry and organisations with expertise in running national campaigns to address the problem of litter. Without making the Group too large, which could reduce its effectiveness; the Group’s membership strikes a balance between different interests but still allows for effective discussion.
We recognise that a desire to see littering reduced extends beyond just the organisations represented on the Group, and we intend to seek input from a wider base that this, with the Group being only one way that views and contributions on litter prevention can be fed in.