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Written Question
Fly-tipping
Monday 15th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the two per cent increase in the number of fly-tipping incidents dealt with by local authorities in England in 2019/20 compared to 2018/19; and what plans they have to address fly-tipping.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

Fly-tipping is a crime which blights local communities and the environment, and we are committed to tackling this unacceptable behaviour.

We have not made an assessment of the 2019/20 fly-tipping statistics for England published by Defra. A detailed breakdown of the incidents reported by local authorities is however available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england

We continue to work with partners to tackle this crime. In recent years we have bolstered local authorities' powers to tackle fly-tipping, such as by introducing the power to issue fixed penalty notices and to stop and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers.

Our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy set out our strategic approach to prevent, detect and deter waste crime. We committed to strengthen sentences for fly-tipping and to develop a fly-tipping toolkit to help local authorities and others work in partnership to tackle this crime. We also committed to increasing penalties for fly-tipping in our manifesto.

Budget 2020 allocated up to £2million to support innovative solutions to tackle fly-tipping. We are exploring funding opportunities and priorities at this stage, including considering the role of digital solutions.

We are also preparing a number of legislative reforms to tackle waste crime, which will help to tackle fly-tipping. We are taking forward the commitment in the Resources and Waste Strategy to develop proposals for the reform of the waste carrier, broker, and dealer regime. We are working with industry and the regulator and we intend to consult later this year. We also intend to consult on the introduction of mandatory electronic waste tracking. This will help to ensure that waste is dealt with appropriately and to reduce the incidence of waste crime and fly-tipping.

The Environment Bill also includes several measures to help tackle waste crime. The Bill will ensure agencies and authorities can work more effectively to combat waste crime through better access to evidence and improved powers of entry. These new powers will help ensure waste criminals, such as illegitimate waste operators reliant on fly-tipping for income, are held accountable for their actions.


Written Question
Public Footpaths: Coastal Areas
Thursday 11th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the planned schedules for the completion of the England Coast Path.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in some delays to the England Coast Path programme. It is still Defra’s intention, however, to have all stretches either open or with establishment works started by the end of 2021.

By the end of April, proposals for 99% of the path will have been published by Natural England. To date 1,483 miles (55%) of proposals for stretches of the England Coast Path have been approved by Secretary of State, 401 miles (15%) of which are already open to the public.

As further stretches are ready for opening, this will be published.


Written Question
Countryside
Wednesday 10th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to issue a new version of the Countryside Code; if so, when; and what plans they have to launch a publicity campaign directed at people who are likely to use the UK countryside and coast for holidays in 2021, to offer advice on appropriate activities and behaviour.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Natural England is working on a refresh of the Countryside Code alongside stakeholders, and a relaunch of advice to the public is planned for Easter. The launch at Easter will mark the beginning of a year-long piece of work with stakeholders and partners to promote the Code more widely and look at how we can best encourage positive behaviours. We want to make the code inclusive and welcoming, to make sure that people are aware that nature is available to all, and that they understand how they can respect and protect the countryside.


Written Question
Peat Bogs: North of England
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Great North Bog Initiative.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The Government is committed to the restoration and sustainable management of England's peat. England's peatlands store around 580 million tonnes of carbon but are emitting around 9.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per year. Restoration, through initiatives such as the Great North Bog, is a crucial tool in combating climate change and achieving the Government's aim to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

We have engaged with the development of the Great North Bog from an early stage. Restoration of these habitats can achieve multiple natural capital benefits, including havens for rare wildlife and flood protection. We have already invested a significant amount of our early Nature for Climate funding in peatland restoration projects in Great North Bog areas, including the Yorkshire Dales, Peak District and the North Pennines AONB.


Written Question
Tree Planting
Monday 8th February 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) availability, and (2) efficacy, of sustainable alternatives to the plastic tube tree guards that are used for planting young trees.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

Plastic tree guards have been used for new woodland creation as they are highly effective in helping the establishment of new trees, which must be protected from deer and rabbits if they are to survive.

There are other options for protecting young trees including biodegradable tree guards, temporary fencing and wildlife management, but currently these options are less effective than plastic tree guards in deterring browsers, particularly Deer.

The forestry sector is carrying out work to develop, and trial more effective biodegradable tree guards and the aim should be to get to a place where these are used as a matter of course - the forthcoming England tree strategy will look at how to support this.

In the meantime, current practice demands that tree guards should be retrieved after they have reached a point where they are redundant. Plans to collect and recycle the tree guards have been introduced by a number of forestry institutions.


Written Question
Tree Planting
Monday 8th February 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming England Tree Strategy will include support for rewilding schemes based on natural regeneration in appropriate areas.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

Natural regeneration has the potential to be a powerful and cost-effective approach for woodland creation when enabled on appropriate sites, as an alternative to or complementing conventional planting. We will publish more detail on our plans to support natural regeneration and colonisation to help create and expand our woodlands when we launch our England tree strategy in the spring.


Written Question
Agriculture: Reform
Thursday 4th February 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their proposed schemes to encourage new entrants into farming will provide new funding for county and unitary authorities to acquire more land to add to existing county farm estates; and whether they are discouraging local authorities from any further disposal of county farms.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

This Government values the role that county farm estates play in providing a route into farming for new entrants. We want to encourage local authorities to retain and invest in their farm estates. That is why we are developing a new entrant funding scheme to create lasting opportunities for new entrants to access the land, infrastructure and support they need to establish successful and innovative businesses.

We want to encourage applications from local authorities, cooperative and community land organisations, local partnerships, and private and institutional landowners who have innovative ideas and the capability to provide long-term opportunities for talented new entrants.

The details of the scheme including the funding criteria are being developed through a consultative co-design process with stakeholders which includes representatives of local authorities with county farm estates. We aim to report more details about the scheme in the summer of 2021 and launch the scheme in 2022.


Written Question
Agriculture
Tuesday 26th January 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission Farming for Change—Mapping a route to 2030, published on 7 January.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Defra has not yet assessed the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission's report in detail. However, we will certainly digest it fully in due course and consider the impact on our work of its findings and recommendations.

Our future policy will help farmers continue to provide a supply of healthy, home-grown produce to high environmental and animal welfare standards. Furthermore, our plans for future farming must tackle climate change. This is one of the most urgent challenges facing the world. So, as we design our future agricultural policy, we can deliver the pace of change on land management for environmental benefits that the EU has never managed to achieve. Our farmers and land managers will play a crucial role in the national effort to reach Net Zero and our policies will help them do that.

Domestically, reaching our Net Zero target is one of this Government's top priorities. We know that reaching Net Zero will be a challenge, requiring action across the economy. This will mean changes to the way land is managed to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. We will support the sector to make these changes through the schemes set out in this plan. Simultaneously, we need to protect and increase our carbon stores, increasing afforestation and peat restoration rates across England, whilst supporting the adaptiveness and resilience of these ecosystems to risks which may arise under a changing climate. All three components of our new Environmental Land Management scheme will help deliver on this.

Our Environmental Land Management scheme is the cornerstone of our new agricultural policy. It is intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy. Farmers and land managers will be paid to improve the environment, improve animal health and welfare, and reduce carbon emissions.

The Government is committed to taking action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. Defra is looking at ways to reduce agricultural emissions controlled directly within the farm boundary, considering a broad range of measures including improvements in on-farm efficiency. Improvements in agricultural practice mean that since 1990 we are producing a kilo of pork with 37% less emissions. Efficiency gains in dairy farming mean that we are now producing 9% more milk than we were in 2000 with 23% fewer cows. The Government recognises the importance of reducing emissions further in these sectors.


Written Question
Food: Imports
Monday 25th January 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) whether they plan to reduce the amount of food imported to the UK, (2) if so, what their target is for such a reduction, and (3) how they plan to achieve any such reduction.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Our food security depends on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports from stable sources. We produce 64% of our entire food supply need, and that increases to 77% for indigenous food that we can grow or rear here in the UK for all or part of the year. These figures have been steady over the past 20 years.

UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements our excellent domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK’s overall security of supply.


Written Question
Peat
Thursday 14th January 2021

Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the England Peat Strategy.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to publishing an England Peat Strategy to create and deliver a new ambitious framework for peat restoration in England. It will set out a holistic plan for the management, protection and restoration of our upland and lowland peatlands so that they deliver benefits for climate and nature. We expect to publish the strategy in early 2021.