Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to improve water quality.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Restoring water quality is a Government priority. We will shortly be setting new legally binding targets for water under the Environment Act to provide a strong mechanism for driving long-term environmental improvements.
This Government is the first to take action to tackle the historic infrastructure issue of sewage overflows, with new duties through the Environment Act on the water industry to reduce the harm they cause. Water company investment in environmental improvements has been scaled up to £7.1 billion over the period 2020-25. Through the next Price Review (PR24) we are using the strategic policy statement to Ofwat, the economic regulator, to make the environment a top priority.
We have doubled investment in the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme creating a new annual budget of £30 million, which means that 100% of England’s farmers will be able to access advice. The new Environmental Land Management schemes will also play a major role in rewarding farmers for actions that improve water quality. Funding will also be made available for farmers to improve their slurry infrastructure from autumn 2022. We have also made extra budget available to the EA for 50 extra inspectors to be recruited in this financial year to visit farms posing a risk of water pollution.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to help ensure the protection of the marine environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central on 2 November 2021, PQ UIN 68367.
The UK is a global leader in protecting the seas, ocean and marine life, and we will continue to work with partners domestically and overseas to help achieve a healthy and resilient ocean.
From penguin colonies to marine turtles, the UK Overseas Territories are home to globally significant biodiversity. Last year the Blue Belt programme exceeded its target of protecting and enhancing over four million km2 of marine environment around five UK Overseas Territories. This means that at least 60% of the entire UK marine estate, including around the UK mainland and Overseas Territories, has been designated within MPAs.
We continue to push for strong multilateral action, including through the Convention on Biological Diversity, leading global efforts to champion the target to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, now supported by over 100 countries.
Under the UK's Presidency, COP26 agreed to give a more prominent role to the ocean in global climate change discussions. Protecting and restoring the ocean is essential in our response to climate change and the UK will continue to work to strengthen ocean-climate action through the UNFCCC framework.
The UK also supports the start of negotiations on a new global agreement to tackle plastic pollution and co-sponsored an ambitious resolution proposed by Peru and Rwanda to start negotiations at the continuation of the 5th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2) in 2022.
To help support this ambition, the Prime Minister launched a £500 million Blue Planet Fund at the G7 summit in June 2021, financed from the UK Official Development Assistance budget. The Blue Planet Fund will help developing countries protect their marine resources from key human generated threats including climate change, marine pollution, overfishing and habitat loss, in order to reduce poverty.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to tackle fly-tipping.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are taking firm action to tackle fly-tipping. Our proposals on electronic waste tracking will replace outdated paper forms with a robust online system. Our proposed reforms to licencing for waste carriers and brokers will allow us to clamp down hard on rogue waste operations and make it easier than ever to detect unlicensed operators. These build on enhanced enforcement powers in last year’s Environment Act, and on £350,000 of Defra grant funding for local council projects to tackle areas of persistent fly-tipping. I am resolved to do all we can to relentlessly increase the pressure on fly-tippers and other waste criminals, until we end their blight on our streets and countryside.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to protect native species and wildlife in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has set a world leading target to halt the decline in species by 2030, under the Environment Act 2021. This will drive action to recover native species, such as the hedgehog and red squirrel. My department will publish a Green Paper early this year which will look at how the regulatory framework can help drive the delivery of our 2030 target and reverse declines of species.
Our Environment Act establishes Local Nature Recovery Strategies which will help identify local biodiversity priorities in order to improve co-ordination of conservation. We are also taking action, through the net gain provisions in the Act, to support the role of new development in helping to protect, improve and create the habitat that our native species need to thrive.
We are creating a Nature Recovery Network across the country. At the core of the network will be our existing protected sites and existing areas of high value for biodiversity, which we will strengthen by creating and restoring new habitat to provide both the space and ecological connectivity across the country that we know species rely on to thrive. This will be supported by our new environmental land management schemes, which will deliver the Prime Minister’s 10 point plan commitment to create the equivalent of well over 30,000 football pitches of wildlife rich habitat.
In addition, we continue to invest in our native species. The £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund is enabling nature recovery across England, from North Northumberland to the tip of Cornwall. Through this funding, we have supported 159 projects, ranging from new 'insect pathways' in our countryside to tree planting projects in deprived urban areas.
We are also establishing an England Species Reintroductions which will bring together statutory bodies, experts and stakeholders to provide independent advice on potential species for conservation translocation and reintroduction in England.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to safeguard England’s protected landscapes.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) are more important than ever for the nation’s health and wellbeing, as well as nature recovery and climate action.
The Government response to the Landscapes Review was published on Saturday 15 January and sets out measures to safeguard protected landscapes. The response is accompanied by a consultation that will run for 12 weeks until Saturday 09 April. For more information please see the official Government response page which also links to the consultation: Landscapes review (National Parks and AONBs): government response - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to create new woodlands.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has committed to bring tree planting rates across the UK up to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament. The England Trees Action Plan set out how we intend to at least treble woodland creation in England over the same period to contribute to this, and we will continue to work with the Devolved Administrations to deliver a UK-wide step change in tree planting and establishment.
The Plan is supported by £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund. Furthermore, in the recently published Net Zero Strategy, we announced we will boost the Nature for Climate Fund with a further £124 million of new money, ensuring total spend of more than £750 million by 2025 on peat restoration, woodland creation and management.
The England Trees Action Plan sets out 90 measures to reach our tree planting targets. Since publishing the Plan, we have launched the ground-breaking England Woodland Creation Offer, which will pay land managers to plant the right trees in the right places; supported the existing network of Community Forests across the country, and launched three new Community Forests, in Cumbria, Devon and the North-East; and launched the Woodlands for Water partnership, which will use tree planting to reduce pollution in hundreds of miles of rivers.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on delivering future farming schemes.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
On 2 December 2021, we published a document called Sustainable Farming Incentive – how the scheme will work in 2022. On 6 January 2022, we published more information on Local Nature Recovery, Landscape Recovery, and the expected outcomes of the three schemes. On the same day, we announced that we have reviewed Countryside Stewardship revenue payment rates. We will be increasing payment rates for the majority of revenue options, to reflect changes in agricultural market rates since payment rates were set in 2013.
These new documents build on the information we published in the Agricultural Transition Plan: June 2021 progress update, and provide the next level of detail necessary for farmers to make the right decisions for themselves and their businesses.
We are also offering a range of interventions to help farmers improve their productivity in a sustainable way, support them as we move through the transition, create a thriving agricultural sector, and reward farmers for actions that benefit the environment.
For example, £10.7 million of funding has been awarded through the Future Farming Resilience Fund, to provide business support to farmers and land managers to help them navigate the changes during the early years of the agricultural transition period. This support will help farmers by providing the information and tools required to plan with confidence on the best way forward for their business. The support will be available, free of charge, from onwards and any farmer or land manager currently in receipt of BPS is eligible to apply.
Defra also launched the new Farming Investment Fund, which will offer funding for equipment, technology, and infrastructure that improves farm productivity and benefits the environment. There is also the Farming Innovation Programme, which encouraged groups of farmers, growers, businesses and researchers to get involved in collaborative research and development.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to tackle livestock worrying.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government takes the issue of livestock worrying very seriously, recognising the distress this can cause farmers and animals, as well as the financial implications.
In England and Wales, new measures to crack down on livestock worrying are being brought in through the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on 8 June 2021.
The new measures will enhance the enforcement mechanisms available to the police and expand the scope of livestock species and locations covered by the law. Improved powers will enable the police to respond to livestock worrying incidents more effectively – making it easier for them to collect evidence and, in the most serious cases, seize and detain dogs to reduce the risk of further incidents. The scope of livestock species covered by the legislation will be extended to include animals such as llamas, emus, enclosed deer and donkeys. New locations will include roads and paths, as long as the livestock have not strayed into a road.
All reported instances of livestock worrying should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill includes a range of ancillary orders available to the court following conviction, such as control, disqualification and destruction orders. These orders are aimed at targeting and reducing reoffending.
Guidance is available to educate owners about handling their dogs responsibly in the vicinity of livestock, in order to prevent the occurrence of attacks or chasing. Natural England recently published a refreshed version of the Countryside Code, which highlights that it is best practice to keep dogs on a lead around livestock. The Code also makes specific reference to keeping dogs in sight and under control to make sure they stay away from livestock, wildlife, horses and other people unless invited. Moreover, the Code helpfully sets out certain legal requirements, encouraging visitors to always check local signs as there are locations where you must keep your dog on a lead around livestock for all or part of the year.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to ensure a greater share of the UK-EU catch limits for the UK fleet in 2023.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) gives the UK a greater share of fishing quota, equal to 25% of the value of the average annual EU catch from UK waters. This will be phased in over five years from 2021, meaning the UK share will continue to increase, year on year, until 2026. The Marine Management Organisation has published analysis of the share gains for the UK under the TCA.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 taking to help ensure adequate labour supply for farming businesses.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra continues to work closely with industry and other Government departments to understand labour supply and demand, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements, and to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce.
The Government has announced that the seasonal worker visa route will be extended to 2024 to allow overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. 30,000 visas will be available. This will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 if necessary.
While acknowledging the sector’s reliance on foreign workers, the UK is committed to becoming a high-skilled, high-wage economy and the Government has been clear that more must be done to attract UK workers through offering training, career options, wage increases and to invest in increased automation technology.
Defra’s Review of Automation in Horticulture will be published shortly and will inform a range of policy decisions regarding automation and seasonal labour from 2022 onwards.
In addition, food and farming businesses can continue to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over 5.5 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
Defra is also working with industry and the Department for Work and Pensions to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and farming sectors among UK workers.