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Written Question
Ivory: Sales
Tuesday 12th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to stop the domestic ivory market.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bridgend, Madeleine Moon, on 26 July 2017, PQ UIN 5521.


Written Question
Marine Environment: Environment Protection
Thursday 20th July 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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 and enhance the marine environment.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

Our vision is for our seas to be clean, safe, healthy, biologically diverse and productive. To achieve this we are working nationally and internationally to protect the marine environment. The UK demonstrated international leadership at the recent UN Ocean Conference and OSPAR Commission meeting. Marine protected areas around the UK and the Overseas Territories further demonstrate our commitment to protecting marine biodiversity.


Written Question
Rivers: Environment Protection
Tuesday 28th February 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of environmental protections for chalk streams.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

Objectives and actions to protect and improve chalk streams are included in England’s river basin management plans. These plans provide the framework setting out how our rivers will improve over the next 6 years from investment and activity across the sectors.

Working with Natural England, the Environment Agency carries out monitoring and works with water companies and other stakeholders where actions are identified to protect and improve our water environment including chalk streams.

The Agency has changed 63 abstraction licences relating to 15 chalk streams across England, which has returned 16 million cubic metres per year of water back to chalk streams. Further, as a result of River Restoration Strategies and Site Improvement Plans being implemented on Sites of Special Scientific Interest chalk streams, 70 kilometres of priority chalk stream have been improved since 2011. Water company investment on phosphate removal at sewage treatment works across England will also benefit chalk rivers.


Written Question
Forests
Monday 27th February 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the value of ancient woodland to the natural heritage of the UK.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

The government recognises the importance of ancient woodlands as habitats with associated benefits for ecology and biodiversity.

The Government has not made any recent assessment of the value of ancient woodlands to the natural heritage of the UK.


Written Question
Non-native Species: Crayfish
Friday 24th February 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the damage from non-native crayfish to fish populations in chalk streams.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

The Environment Agency’s ecological monitoring programmes have demonstrated a broad range of impacts caused by non-native crayfish on various river types. Most harm is attributed to the North American signal crayfish, which is now widespread in England. Studies have shown that signal crayfish can affect river quality in a number of ways, such as by direct predation of fish, invertebrates and plants, damaging our native crayfish populations and leading to increased siltation from bankside burrowing. Research on Yorkshire limestone headwater streams also indicates serious impacts on native trout populations.

The Environment Agency has supported a number of research programmes seeking ways to manage crayfish and is looking to prevent the further spread of non-native crayfish, wherever possible, through good biosecurity.

In 2010 we launched the Check,Clean,Dry campaign which promotes good biosecurity by users of water bodies to reduce the risk of spreading non-native species.


Written Question
Local Air Quality Management
Wednesday 7th September 2016

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the use of air quality management areas by local authorities.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

Air quality has improved significantly in recent decades and we are working at local, national and international levels to continue those improvements. The UK currently meets legal limits for almost all pollutants; however, reducing levels for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) remains the most challenging.

Local authorities (LAs) have opportunities to improve air quality for the protection of public health and the environment through decisions they make on land use planning, permitting, roads and air quality management areas (AQMAs).

Across the UK, 259 LAs declared 715 AQMAs since 1999. Most AQMAs in the UK are in urban areas and have been established to address the contribution to air pollution from traffic emissions of NO2 or particulate matter (PM10). Details of the current AQMAs declared by LAs, broken down by region and pollutant, are set out in the table below.

Region

Total LAs

Number of LAs with AQMAs

For NO2

For PM10

For SO2

England (outside London)

294

193

497

38

6

London

33

33

33

29

0

Scotland

32

14

25

21

1

Wales

22

10

37

1

0

N. Ireland

11

9

20

7

0

TOTAL

393

259

612

96

7


Written Question
Pollinators
Tuesday 24th May 2016

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the National Pollinator Strategy.

Answered by George Eustice

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given the hon. Member for Eastleigh, Johnny Mercer, on 4 February 2016, PQ UIN903446.


Written Question
Bovine Tuberculosis
Monday 12th October 2015

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many confirmed cases of bovine tuberculosis there were in each of the last five years.

Answered by George Eustice

Statistics on the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle within Great Britain are published monthly on GOV.UK

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain.


Written Question
Air Pollution
Tuesday 15th September 2015

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of air quality action plans in tackling local pockets of air pollution.

Answered by Rory Stewart

The Government published the report ‘Review of Effectiveness of Local Authority Action Plans (LAQM) and Future Policy Options for LAQM’ in 2013, which looked at a broad selection of local authorities with Air Quality Management Areas that ranged from hotspots to large areas of exceedance. This report concluded that although the review and assessment part of the LAQM regime was working very well, though too bureaucratic, some improvements could also be made to the action planning process.

We are currently reviewing the Local Air Quality Management system to reduce bureaucracy and enable greater focus on taking action, and intend to consult on a streamlined reporting system and revised guidance later this year.