Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications his Department has received for certificates of exemption to keep an American Bully XL type dog in (a) Canterbury constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra received over 61,000 applications for Certificates of Exemption ahead of the deadline from dog owners in England and Wales. These applications are still being processed and may include duplicates, errors or ineligible applications. Defra does not collate this data by constituency.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken in response to the findings of its investigation into the cases of bluetongue virus in cattle in Kent.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Upon detection of bluetongue disease in Kent in November during our routine surveillance, Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) officials took immediate and robust action. Animals on the affected premises in Kent, and subsequently Norfolk, have been humanely culled and Temporary Control Zones have been put in place to prevent potential spread of disease by restricting movements, except under licence, of ruminant and camelid animals. Surveillance of susceptible animals and epidemiological assessments within these zones continue and we will review the need for the Zones when this is complete. We continue to work closely with industry representatives to ensure that keepers are kept up to date with developments and that issues and concerns are addressed promptly.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has met Southern Water to discuss sewage discharge since taking office.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State and his ministerial team hold regular discussions with representatives of the water industry to discuss a range of issues, including reducing sewage discharges and performance issues.
The Government is clear that the volume of sewage being discharged into our waters is unacceptable. This is why we launched the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, setting stringent targets to reduce discharges from storm overflows. This Plan will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £60bn capital investment over 25 years.
On 11 December 2023, the Secretary of State wrote to water companies requesting plans to accelerate action on storm overflows over the next 12 months. This government will continue to take bold action to tackle sewage pollution and hold all water companies, including Southern Water, to account for delivery.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that enforcement action is taken against water companies that discharge sewage on dry days.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Last year the Government launched the most ambitious plan to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows in water company history, driving £56 billion capital investment over 25 years. Water companies will have to achieve targets which mean that, by 2050, no storm overflows will be permitted to operate outside of unusually heavy rainfall or to cause any adverse ecological harm.
The Environment Agency (EA) carries out investigations to determine when a dry spill has occurred. Storm Overflows, in general, should not spill on dry days. There is then a process of further investigation on a site-by-site basis to determine, for example, that the accuracy of certain rainfall monitors and drain down times are correct, as well as other factors. After this thorough process has been conducted, it can be determined if a breach has occurred with sufficient evidence for compliance and enforcement.
If overflows operate outside of permit conditions, the Agency will not hesitate to use all options for robust enforcement action. This can include criminal prosecution by the Environment Agency for which there can be unlimited fines. On 12 July we began legislating to introduce unlimited civil penalties.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 councils have the necessary funding to tackle the presence of Asian hornets.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Asian hornet is a Non-Native Invasive Species which could have a significant impact on honey bees and wild pollinators if it were to become established in the UK.
For this reason Defra and Welsh Government developed the Asian hornet contingency plan which outlines the government response and what actions will be taken when incursions of Asian hornet occur.
The response to Asian hornet is delivered by the National Bee Unit (NBU) - part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
We have taken contingency action against all credible sightings of Asian hornet that have been reported in the UK since the first occurred in 2016. As of 12th September 2023, the NBU have located 43 Asian hornet nests this year.
So currently there is no requirement for local councils to take action against Asian hornets. Nevertheless raising awareness is a key aspect of the response so if local councils are made aware of Asian hornets in their area we would ask them to report it through the Asian hornet app or online. By ensuring we are alerted to possible sightings as early as possible, we can take swift and effective action to stamp out the threat posed by Asian hornets.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the farming industry with changes in the level of milk price payments to primary producers.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that dairy farmers have faced a range of challenges in recent years including the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As a result, output prices reached record highs in 2022 and early 2023 due to the exceptional increase in input costs, although these have since fallen back to more historic levels. We have provided a range of support to the dairy sector during this period. This has included the advance of Basic Payment Scheme payments, a delay to the implementation of an industry-led scheme relating to the use of urea fertiliser, cuts to fuel duty and VAT, the Energy Relief Scheme, an increase in the Employment Allowance, and action on business rates to reduce bills. At the recent No 10 Food Summit, we also announced a £1m bespoke export support fund for the dairy sector, with a particular focus on support for SMEs.
We continue to monitor the dairy market and to work closely with producers, processors, and retailers across the sector to encourage recognition that the burden of rising costs can often fall heavily on farmers, and that these costs should be shared fairly across supply chains. We want all farmers to get a fair price for their products and following our supply chain fairness review of the dairy sector we have brought forward plans for contractual regulation in the sector to strengthen fairness and transparency, ensuring farmers are treated fairly. It remains our intention to introduce the regulations to Parliament later this year.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the adoption rate of private sewers.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Current adoption rates of newly constructed sewerage vary.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish a response to the consultation entitled Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England, published in July 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working to publish the government response to the 2021 consultation as soon as possible. This will confirm implementation dates and provide further detail on regulations and funding to be made in advance of the implementation dates.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential economic impact of sewage discharges on coastal communities.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan was published in August 2022, alongside an Impact Assessment which considers costs and benefits of the final targets to businesses, the public, wider society and government spending where applicable.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on raw sewage discharges on the Kent coast.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I meet regularly with the Environment Agency (EA) to discuss the unacceptable volume of sewage discharged by water companies. They will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, they will not hesitate to hold companies to account.
I understand the Environment Agency’s Kent Area Director is due to meet with you in May where this matter can be discussed further.