Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 meet (a) climate and (b) nature targets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK fully supported the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and has already submitted to the Convention on Biological Diversity National Targets that are fully aligned with the Framework. We will publish the full UK National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) in due course, and we will provide an assessment of our progress in the implementation of the KMGBF, including progress towards the national targets, in our seventh and eighth national reports in February 2026 and June 2029, respectively.
The UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2030 and 2035 targets – to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68% and 81% respectively on 1990 levels – are a fair and ambitious contribution to global action on climate change, in line with the Paris Agreement temperature goal, and remains in place.
We are absolutely committed to our climate targets. That is why making Britain a clean energy superpower is one of the five missions of this Government - delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating the transition to net zero across the economy. This will make it easier and affordable for people across the country to move towards sustainable lifestyles.
The UK was the first major economy to halve its emissions, cutting them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023, while growing our economy by 79%.
The UK over-achieved against the first, second and third Carbon Budgets, and we will deliver an updated cross-economy plan in due course, which will outline the policies and proposals needed to deliver carbon budgets 4-6 and the 2030 and 2035 NDCs on a pathway to net zero.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 the results of his Department's consultation entitled 'The Fur Market in Great Britain', which closed on 31 May 2021.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 July 2024 to the Rt Hon Member for Islington North, PQ 592.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 banning the use of farrowing crates; and if he will commission a consultation on such a ban.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 an assessment of the potential (a) economic and (b) environmental impact of mandatory food waste reporting in Battersea.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The 2022 public consultation on improved food waste reporting by large food businesses in England included an Impact Assessment which assessed the economic and environmental impacts of the of the voluntary and mandatory approaches to reporting. These assessments were made at the national level. No regional or local assessments have been made.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 commission a statutory inquiry into alleged dumping of raw sewage by the water industry.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government has been consistently clear that the volume of sewage discharged by water companies into our waters is unacceptable, and they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.
Our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows and will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £60 billion capital investment over 25 years.
Furthermore, the Government is working to hold the water industry to account on a scale never seen before.
Our regulators, the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat, have launched the largest criminal and civil investigation into water company sewage discharges ever, at over 2200 treatment works, following new data coming to light as a result of increased monitoring.
The EA will continue to investigate and take action against any water companies that are suspected of breaching legal requirements in line with their enforcement and sanctions policy.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to what timescale her Department is working to bring forwards measures from the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill through other legislative means.
Answered by Mark Spencer
On 20 June 2023 we launched a consultation on the proposed licensing scheme for private primate keepers in England and the draft standards for care and management of primates. We will be taking forward other measures in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill individually through other means during the remainder of this Parliament. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 6 June 2023 to Question 187162 on Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, by what other means her Department plans to take forward measures in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill individually.
Answered by Mark Spencer
On 20 June 2023 we launched a consultation on the proposed licensing scheme for private primate keepers in England and the draft standards for care and management of primates. We will be taking forward other measures in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill individually through other means during the remainder of this Parliament. This will be a combination of legislative and non-legislative approaches where appropriate. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 6 June 2023 to Question 187162, what other means her Department plans to use to take forwards the provisions of the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill.
Answered by Mark Spencer
We will be taking forward measures in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill individually through other means during the remainder of this Parliament. This will be a combination of legislative and non-legislative approaches where appropriate. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the impact assessment for the Deposit Return Scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra published the first impact assessment on DRS in 2019 and a subsequent update to the consultation analysis with a further iteration to the consultation impact assessment was published in 2021. The 2021 consultation impact assessment can be found at: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/environment/consultation-on-introducing-a-drs/supporting_documents/Impact%20Assessment.pdf.
A final Impact Assessment will be published in alignment with the next phase of the DRS work to allow us to update the analysis to accurately reflect what is set out in the Government response with the most recent data available.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
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 help ensure that the Deposit Management Organisation takes into account the challenges facing small producers.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In our 2021 consultation response, we set out the DRS scheme administrator (the Deposit Management Organisation) should consider the size of the producer when setting the producer fees. We will continue to review the impact on small businesses and consider further mitigations or support they might need as we move into implementation. Through relevant DRS sub-groups my officials engage with a wide range of stakeholders, and that includes small businesses such as small producers and small retailers.