Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
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 had discussions with (a) local authorities, (b) water companies and (c) Surfers Against Sewage on the terminology they use when issuing sewage alerts, in the context of potential confusion with storm overflows.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular meetings with a wide range of stakeholders. Local authorities use information from the Environment Agency (EA) to issue pollution alerts relating to designated bathing waters in England, and Surfers Against Sewage use information from the EA’s Pollution Risk Forecasting service for bathing waters to inform the alerts they provide, along with information about storm overflow discharges.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been (a) raised for and (b) spent through the Water Restoration Fund since its implementation.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is fully committed to the delivery of the Water Restoration Fund. As set out in the Plan for Water, environmental fines and penalties from water companies will be reinvested into the delivery of projects which improve the water environment. The Fund has yet to launch but further details will follow later this year.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of kilometres of tree cover there are along the banks of (a) rivers and (b) tributaries in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra can provide both a rapid indicative estimate and a longer-term definitive estimate to the question.
It will take within the region of two to four weeks’ time to produce an indicative estimate, with estimates solely based upon earth observation techniques.
It may take up to one year’s time to achieve a definitive answer, as we await the completion of field work undertaken as part of the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment.
The main difference between the indicative estimate and a comprehensive estimate is the ability to include smaller tree size and tributary sizes:
Parochial estimates would be that possibly up to 30% of trees are less than 2.5m in height and 5% of tributaries are less than 0.5m in width.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
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 taken steps to help increase domestic production of virgin and waste wood.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Trees are at the forefront of Government action on Net Zero – not just because of the carbon they lock up as they grow, but because of the carbon that stays locked up when timber is put into long-term use.
We have set a new legal target that will see tree cover reach 16.5% of England’s total land area by 2050, which will increase productive woodland.
Our Woodlands into Management Forestry Innovation Funds are supporting projects that will develop new technologies and working practices to help homegrown timber production meet demand.
Last year, we published the Timber in Construction Roadmap setting out the Government’s plan to increase the safe use of timber in construction in England.
We increased the recycling target for businesses handling wood packaging in 2024 to 42% (from 35% in 2023) and will be setting recycling targets to 2030 as part of the new packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations that will come into force later this year.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy, Security and Net Zero, when she will launch a consultation on removing the barriers to selling clean electricity.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has announced that it will consult on the barriers preventing the development of community energy schemes. The Government is actively working with the Community Energy Contact Group on the content of the consultation and plans to publish the consultation as soon as possible once these discussions have concluded.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when will the Road Safety Investigation Branch be formed.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has introduced the Automated Vehicles Bill to Parliament, which includes proposed legislation to enable the creation of a capability within my department to investigate safety incidents involving at least one self-driving vehicle.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate she has made of the annual operating expenditure of a 1GW hydrogen-fired power plant commissioned in 2030.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Electricity generation costs 2023 report published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero sets out the assumptions for a hydrogen-fired Combined Cycle Hydrogen Turbine power plant commissioned in 2030.
Hydrogen to Power is an emerging technology and as such all figures are subject to change. We will continue to monitor and update cost estimates based on new evidence as it becomes available.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generation-costs-2023
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate she has made of the operating expenditure cost of generating one tonne of green hydrogen in a plant commissioning by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
‘Hydrogen Production Costs 2021’, published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in August 2021, sets out the levelised cost of various hydrogen production technologies. Please see:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hydrogen-production-costs-2021
We will continue to monitor and update cost estimates based on new evidence as it becomes available.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her Department's latest estimate is of the capital expenditure cost of a new 1GW hydrogen-fired power plant commissioning by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Figures published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the Electricity generation costs 2023 report estimate that a 1.2 GW Combined Cycle Hydrogen Turbine (CCHTs) would cost £830million in 2025 to construct, falling to £740million by 2040.
Hydrogen to Power is an emerging technology and as such all figures are subject to change. We will continue to monitor and update cost estimates based on new evidence as it becomes available.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generation-costs-2023
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate she has made of the mass of hydrogen required to be burned in a hydrogen-fired power plant to generate 1GWh of electricity.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Figures published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the June 2022 Hydrogen Readiness Report suggest that an 800MWh hydrogen-fired power plant would require 50 tonnes of hydrogen fuel per hour. Therefore, a 1GWh plant could be expected to require 62.5 tonnes of hydrogen.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generation-costs-2023