Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department makes available to farmers on the management of arable field margins to provide benefits for wildlife.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra provides guidance to farmers and other land managers on the management of arable field margins as part of agri-environment schemes such as Environmental Stewardship. The new Countryside Stewardship scheme will continue and enhance this guidance.
Farmers not wanting to sign up to an agri-environment scheme can obtain advice from a variety of sources, including the Campaign for the Farmed Environment.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2014 to Question 208409, what the maximum level of fine and sanction available for illegal tree felling was in each year since 1982; and when the level of fine or sanction was last reviewed and last increased under provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 1982.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The penalty for felling a tree without the authority of a felling licence is prescribed by section 17 of the Forestry Act 1967. A person guilty of this offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale or twice the sum which appears to the court to be the value of the tree, whichever is the higher. The standard scale of fines was introduced into the Forestry Act by the Criminal Justice Act 1982.
Changes to the standard scale are made the Ministry of Justice and apply uniformly across all offences using the standard scale. The level 4 fine maximum at present is £2,500.
Since 1982, the standard scale has been revised as follows:
Level: | 1982: | 1992 (as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1991): |
1 | £25 | £200 |
2 | £50 | £500 |
3 | £200 | £1,000 |
4 | £500 | £2,500 |
5 | £1,000 | £5,000 |
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2014 to Question 208678, what guidance her Department issues on the meaning of Best Available Technology to remove phosphates from water.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Neither Defra nor the Environment Agency has issued guidance on the meaning of Best Available Technology to remove phosphates from sewage.
In order to meet the Environmental Quality Standards required by the Water Framework Directive, the Environment Agency sets permit limits for sewage discharge works. The appropriate technology employed to achieve those permit limits is a matter for the operator and is not specified by the Environment Agency.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions the Forestry Commission has brought for the illegal felling of trees in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2014, Official Report, columns 601W – 602W.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides on the determination of allowable increases in phosphate pollution levels in English rivers.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
In July Defra published updated Ministerial guidance to the Environment Agency to assist it in carrying out its river basin planning functions under the Water Framework Directive. This includes guidance on environmental standards such as phosphates standards.
Current phosphate standards are set out in Directions to the Environment Agency and will apply to the end of the current six-year planning cycle in 2015.
Updated standards for phosphate will apply for the next six-year river basin planning cycle. This follows a review and consultation by the UK Water Framework Directive Technical Advisory Group. The new standards will be reflected in revised Directions to the Agency.
These standards define the levels of phosphorus required in order to achieve good ecological status and are used by the Environment Agency in setting objectives for rivers.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
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 institute infraction proceedings where Water Framework Directive river quality standards are not met.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
It is for the European Commission, in its role as guardian of the Treaties, to oversee the application of European Union law and institute infraction proceedings where it considers such action appropriate.
The standards which apply under the Water Framework Directive are set out in Directions from the Secretary of State to the Environment Agency. These standards are used by the Environment Agency in drawing up objectives for all water bodies in river basin management plans. These plans are then approved by the Secretary of State. All public bodies have a duty to have regard to these plans and the Environment Agency must exercise its functions to achieve the plans’ objectives.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides on (a) the future funding of catchment management partnerships and (b) the role of water companies; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Defra provided start-up funding to catchment partnership hosts of £1.6 million in the 2013/14 financial year and a further £2.2 million in 2014/15. Some of this funding was allocated to a national support group of representatives from the organisations that are hosting catchment partnerships to develop further guidance and support tools. This has included developing a ‘knowledge hub’ to help hosts share existing good practice around securing external funding. Defra continues to support this process through our ongoing evaluation of the catchment based approach to help guide partnerships further. The evaluation will also help to establish whether becoming fully self-sustaining partnerships remains a viable ambition. Catchment partnerships are able to draw in funding through other sectors and organisations. No decision has yet been made about future Defra funding for catchment partnerships.
In parallel, Defra continues to encourage water companies to play an active role in catchment partnerships. In our Strategic Policy Steer to OFWAT, we stipulated that it should provide a regulatory framework which enables water companies to consider funding catchment schemes where they are more cost effective than end-of-pipe treatment solutions. Defra’s ongoing evaluation shows that water companies are working closely with all catchment partnerships. As a result, we anticipate that there will be more catchment investment in water companies’ future business plans under the current Price Review process.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides on the level of phosphate discharge allowable from sewage treatment works under the Water Framework Directive; and what plans she has to review this guidance.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
In July Defra published updated Ministerial guidance to the Environment Agency to assist it in carrying out its river basin planning functions under the Water Framework Directive. This includes guidance on environmental standards such as phosphates standards.
Current phosphate standards are set out in Directions to the Environment Agency and will apply to the end of the current six-year planning cycle in 2015.
Updated standards for phosphate will apply for the next six-year river basin planning cycle. This follows a review and consultation by the UK Water Framework Directive Technical Advisory Group. The new standards will be reflected in revised Directions to the Agency.
The Environment Agency sets limits on discharges from sewage treatment works to achieve standards set out in the Directions.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
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 has taken to ensure that the best available technology is used to reduce phosphate discharges into rivers at sewage treatment works in England.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Environment Agency sets permit limits for sewage works discharges to meet the Environmental Quality Standards required by the Water Framework Directive, as set out in supporting Directions from the Secretary of State. This includes the standards for phosphorus.
There has been considerable investment by water companies in phosphorus removal across the country. In order to meet the new standards, water companies propose further programmes of innovation in their business plans for 2015 to 2020, to optimise the performance of these plants and also to trial novel techniques. This will inform their investment decisions on the appropriate technology to achieve the Environmental Quality Standards.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the levels of fines and sanctions for the illegal felling of trees were last reviewed and updated; and what steps her Department takes to ensure that fines and sanctions for the illegal felling of trees are kept up-to-date and are effective.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The fines and sanctions for the illegal felling of trees are laid out in the Forestry Act 1967 (as amended). The Criminal Justice Act 1982 made provision to increase the level of fine when it introduced the standard scale of fines for summary offences.
The Forestry Act 1967 was also amended by the Regulatory Reform (Forestry) Order 2006. This amendment now enables the Forestry Commissioners the option of serving a Restocking Notice on a person who appears to the Commissioners to have committed an offence of felling without a licence.
The Government’s regulation of the forestry sector was last reviewed in 2011 by the Forestry Regulations Task Force. The independently appointed Task Force made a comprehensive review of the regulations that protect and affect the management of woodland. The Government’s response to its recommendations can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-by-the-forestry-regulation-task-force-government-response