Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 assessment of the potential merits of (a) phasing out and (b) banning cages for laying hens; and what steps he plans to take to ensure farmers are provided with support to transition to higher animal welfare systems.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of cages for laying hens is an issue we are currently considering very carefully. The Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare Grant was recently offered to commercial laying hen and pullet keepers in England. It supports these farmers to improve the health, welfare, and productivity of their flocks through access to grants toward the cost of upgrading their housing. Applications closed on the 18 September 2024 and we will be writing to all applicants shortly to notify them of next steps.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support communities affected by recent flooding in Leicester; and whether he plans to make a flood recovery grant available to local authorities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. This Government will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.
During recent flooding, the Environment Agency has been operating flood assets and working with local partners across England to prevent and reduce the severity of the flooding.
In Leicester, the Environment Agency will continue to deploy officers to affected communities to assess the impacts of flooding to properties and businesses. It will also continue to work with the local resilience forum to identify further opportunities to reduce flood risk in Leicestershire and support the resilience of communities to flooding.
There are no plans to activate Defra's Property Flood Resilience grant scheme as the current scale of flooding has not met the threshold for its activation. Local Authorities should have contingencies in place for flooding and be able to provide support through their normal mechanisms.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 assessment of the potential impact of banning the import and sale of fur products on (a) businesses and (b) consumers in Leicester.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector in Great Britain. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to produce a report on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The AWC report will add to our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to hold water companies accountable for financial mismanagement.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat monitors the financial position of all water companies, taking action when needed to strengthen company’s long-term financial resilience and producing an annual ‘Monitoring Financial Resilience Report’ to provide a publicly available assessment of the financial resilience of each water company.
Ofwat has also strengthened its powers to improve financial resilience, including stopping water companies paying dividends where financial resilience is compromised and preventing customers funding executive bonuses where companies do not meet performance expectations.
Furthermore, the Water (Special Measures) Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.
And finally, on 23 October, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the Welsh Government, launched an Independent Commission on the water sector regulatory system. The commission aims to build consensus for a resilient and innovative water sector and a robust wider regulatory framework that will deliver long-term benefits and ultimately serve both customers and the environment.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) provide funding for flood defence infrastructure, (b) help tackle the impact of climate change and (c) otherwise mitigate flood risks in Leicester.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is investing £2.4 billion over this year and next year to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. Climate change projections are built into the design of new flood defences to make sure they are fit for the future.
The £8 million Leicester Conveyance Flood Risk Management Scheme was completed in 2019 to reduce the flood risk to over 2000 properties in Leicester. Flood Risk Management Authorities continue to work in partnership to identify further opportunities to reduce flood risk in Leicester and support communities to become more resilient to flooding in the future.