Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Lord Benyon

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

11. What steps she is taking to ensure that rural communities and businesses are fully engaged with the work of her Department.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Richard Benyon)]

DEFRA’s new England-wide rural and farming network provides a means of two-way engagement between DEFRA Ministers and 17 rural and farming network groups representing rural communities and businesses. DEFRA Ministers are proactively seeking meetings with those groups to ensure that they are engaged with the work of the Department. DEFRA continues to invest in the rural community action network and holds regular discussions with Lord Teverson’s Rural Coalition.

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I thank the Minister. Will he join me in congratulating all those involved in the successful bid from Coventry and Warwickshire for a rural growth network, and state how the Department will work with that network to improve engagement with the business community?

[Richard Benyon]

The cross-party board that examined the 29 applications from local economic partnerships and from some local authorities was really impressed by the rural growth network in my hon. Friend’s constituency. A credible, experienced set of partners brought it together, and it is a good network. Those partners are accustomed to delivery and believe that they will lever in £50 million of investment. That will mean jobs and technology-led industries, and I look forward to seeing how successful it will be in the coming years.

Water White Paper

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Lord Benyon

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

I am saddened that the hon. Gentleman is not as welcoming of the White Paper as others have been. We originally planned to introduce it in July and I recognise that it is a few months late. However, I am sure that he would have preferred for us to take a bit longer and get it right rather than rush it. We produced a natural environment White Paper in June, which informed the issues that we are taking forward in this White Paper. We have consulted closely with people across the water sector and in the wider DEFRA family. I think that it was better to take a few months longer and get it right.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

I welcome the White Paper. Will the Minister confirm that the reason it was released to the City first was that it contains market-sensitive information? There is genuine anxiety in Stratford-on-Avon and throughout the country about over-abstraction. What can he say to my constituents to allay their fears?

[Richard Benyon]

My hon. Friend is right: we released only the parts of the White Paper that were market sensitive to the stock exchange, after informing Mr Speaker. I gather that there is precedent for such a move and I am grateful for the general support for it. My hon. Friend’s constituents, like mine, are right to be concerned about the impact that over-abstraction is having on their environment. That is why we are making a reasoned change to the abstraction system in the long term and tackling urgently the problems of over-abstraction in certain areas where rivers are dangerously low or even running dry.

Flood Defence Allocations

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Lord Benyon

Wednesday 9th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

I do not want to mislead the House or the hon. Gentleman. If he will meet me, I will be happy to give him exact and firm details about that scheme.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

Parts of my constituency were devastated by the floods in 2007. May I thank the Minister, on behalf of the people of Alcester, for allowing the project there to go ahead? May I also, on behalf of the people of Broom, come and see him about an innovative idea that we have had, with the Environment Agency, for mitigating flooding in Broom?

[Richard Benyon]

I am all for innovation. The carpet in my office is wearing thin from colleagues on both sides of the House coming to see me, but I will certainly meet my hon. Friend. I am keen to hear about new plans and I am happy to involve the Environment Agency, which perhaps has greater technical understanding than I do.