Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has conducted research in the last five years on the impact of climate change on the (a) agricultural, (b) manufacturing and (c) construction industries.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are the first major economy to legislate for net zero emissions and we have cleaned up our power sector, cut emissions faster than any G7 country while growing the economy, championed climate change adaptation and set a strong example for other countries to follow.
(a) Adopting best practice across all agricultural systems has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the farming sector. The Government is engaged with a number of initiatives to better understand and respond to the effects of climate change on agriculture, including research on food supply resilience in relation to climate change and adaptation measures through our work with the Met Office Hadley Centre Food Farming and Natural Environment service (up to £600k over three years). We also plan to develop future publicly funded research and innovation further. This includes investments under the Farming Innovation Programme, a £270 million innovation programme which aims to drive up productivity and enhance environmental sustainability, enabling us to adapt to climate change more effectively, while improving levels of food security.
(b) and (c) Defra has not conducted research in the last five years on the impact of climate change on the manufacturing or construction industries.
The Office for National Statistics’ “Business insights and impact on the UK economy” survey, Wave 82, published on 18 May 2023 provides manufacturing and construction sector views on the impact of climate change on their business (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/datasets/businessinsightsandimpactontheukeconomy) and asks the following questions:
In Wave 59, published on 30 June 2022, the following question, which is now discontinued, was asked:
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on (a) sales of commercial peat and (b) the amount of peat dug from the ground for commercial purposes in the past 12 months.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The latest published data is for sales in 2021.
In 2021, 1,648,057 cubic metres of peat was sold in the UK for use in horticulture (excluding mushroom production), of this 624,131 cubic metres were extracted in the UK.
The Horticultural Trades Association will shortly be publishing the results of the joint Defra and industry funded monitoring round for 2022.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 proportion of invoices her Department paid to small and medium-sized enterprises within five days in the 2021-2022 financial year.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The proportion of private sector invoices paid within five days and 30 days is published quarterly and can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defra-prompt-payment-performance-report.
Defra is not able to accurately identify small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in our supplier data and therefore we report on all payments of private sector invoices.
The Procurement Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will create a simpler and more transparent procurement regime that will further open up public procurement to SMEs. The Bill includes a new duty on contracting authorities to have regard to the particular barriers facing SMEs.
Specifically, the Procurement Bill will imply 30-day payment terms into every sub-contract that is substantially for the purpose of performing a public contract. This will ensure SMEs at every tier of the public supply chain can benefit from faster payments, even if 30-day terms are not explicitly written into the contract.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 7 March 2023 to Question 160287 on Clean Air Zones: Tyne and Wear, how much funding her Department has provided to Tyneside's vehicle scrappage fund.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not funded scrappage schemes for Tyneside’s Clean Air Zone.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding she has provided to Tyneside's scrappage scheme for its clean air zone.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not funded scrappage schemes as part of the Clean Air Fund programme for Tyneside.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will publish a report on UK food security on an annual basis.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020 the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years.
The first UK Food Security Report was published in December 2021. It recognised the contribution made by British farmers to our resilience, and the importance of strong domestic production to our food security. It considered the UK's food supply sources overall, noting that domestic production and diversity of supply are both important to our food security.
The next report is due to be published in 2024.
We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We have also increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to organise a summit on food security.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We can confirm, as per the Prime Minister’s commitment, that we will organise a summit on food security later this year.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 made an assessment of the potential economic benefits for households of including bottles and cans in the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme rather than a separate Deposit Return Scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This assessment has not been undertaken. The Government is committed to introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers from 2025 and a final impact assessment for the DRS will be published later this year, which will address its full economic benefits. Until a DRS is operational in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, internal analysis determined producers of in-scope drinks containers will be subject to recycling obligations (evidenced by PRNs only) under the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many young people aged eighteen or younger have undertaken work experience in his Department in the last 12 months; and what proportion of those young people were (a) girls and (b) boys from state schools.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Civil Service aims to increase opportunities for people of all backgrounds and create a Civil Service fit for 21st century Britain through work experience, internships and apprenticeship schemes.
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs, as the department would have to ask each of the individual business areas for their local records of people on work experience.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 he has taken to introduce a deposit return scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A second consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was held last year. The Government is analysing the responses to that consultation, with a view to publishing a Government response in due course.