Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 eradicate Japanese knotweed.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the threats posed by invasive species, including Japanese knotweed, and has a comprehensive Great Britain Non-native Species Strategy designed to co-ordinate action to tackle these threats. Defra funds biocontrol research to tackle Japanese knotweed. It is hoped that this will provide a cost and time effective way of managing this species. This research has identified the psyllid Aphalari itadori, (a sap-sucking insect), as a biological control agent for tackling Japanese Knotweed. Information about the research can be found on the Japanese Knotweed Alliance website.
Local Action Groups, with support from Government, are actively involved in reducing and eradicating Japanese knotweed.
Japanese knotweed is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to allow the plant to escape or cause it to grow in the wild. The Government has developed guidance on how to prevent the spread of Japanese knotweed and other harmful weeds, as well as how to treat and dispose of them, which can be found on GOV.UK:
How to stop invasive non-native plants from spreading - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Government also run awareness raising campaigns such as ‘Be Plant Wise’ and Invasive Species Week, as well as providing species information and online training materials on biosecurity on the GB NNSS website.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 help reduce sewage discharges in East Devon constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is clear that the amount of sewage discharged into our waters is unacceptable. That is why our Plan for Water sets out more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement to tackle widespread sources of pollution.
We have legislated to introduce unlimited penalties on water companies which breach their environmental permits and expand the range of offences to which penalties can be applied, giving the Environment Agency the tools it needs to hold water companies including South West Water (SWW) accountable.
The Environment Agency has worked with water companies to complete a programme to install Event Duration Monitoring to provide robust and consistent monitoring of how often and for how long all Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are used. This was completed for all CSOs in Devon and Cornwall in 2023.
The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) is an important mechanism for delivering benefits to the natural environment. The Environment Agency works closely with SWW to review investigations and influence improvements to water company assets and activities which impact the environment, including but not limited to bathing waters, drinking water protected areas and sites of special scientific interest.
The Environment Agency is currently investigating two recent incidents in Exmouth and has required SWW to provide data and information to support its investigations. The Environment Agency is seeking assurance that SWW is doing all it can to mitigate the environmental impacts, while the Environment Agency waits for future overdue improvements through WINEP. The prioritisation of improvements remains a substantial agenda item at regular performance meetings with the company.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of trees planted in East Devon constituency since 2010.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The reporting statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available. However, officials from the Forestry Commission have begun the process of analysing the data required to answer this question. I invite the hon. Member to write to the Forestry Commission where officials can provide the results of this analysis.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
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 ensure that the reporting of storm overflows in real time will be (a) consistent, (b) transparent, (c) accessible and (d) readily understood by the public.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act places new monitoring duties on the water industry to significantly improve transparency. It requires companies to make discharge data available in near real time to the public and to monitor water quality upstream and downstream of their assets.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of sustainable urban drainage schemes that are (a) in full operation and (b) under construction in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The number of sustainable urban drainage schemes that are in full operation or under construction in England is not held by my department.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s policy paper entitled Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, published on 26 August 2022, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce combined sewer overflow discharges in (a) inland and (b) coastal waters.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction plan will require water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £56 billion capital investment over 25 years – to significantly reduce sewage discharges.
Our plan prioritises areas at risk of the greatest ecological harm first, to ensure we have the biggest impact, as quickly as possible. Our targets will ensure that no water body in England should fail to achieve good ecological status due to storm overflow discharges. We have prioritised action for storm overflows discharging near or into inland and coastal bathing waters. By 2035, water companies must significantly reduce harmful pathogens from storm overflows discharging into and near designated inland and coastal bathing waters.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the report by Ofwat entitled Water Company Performance Report 2021-22, published in December 2022, whether her Department plans to take steps to ensure that underspend is invested by water companies into reducing sewage discharges.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat’s findings that water companies are not spending investment assigned to make service improvements is completely unacceptable. Overall, water companies have only spent 61% of their forecasted wastewater enhancement cost allowance during 2020-22, which has resulted in delaying crucial wastewater infrastructure to improve water resilience and the environment.
Yorkshire Water and South West Water have only spent 20% and 39% of their allowance, respectively. The SoS and I met with the CEOs of these two companies in December to discuss their performance.
I am aware that the COVID pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have impacted on supply chains, but other water companies are exceeding their spend and I expect all water companies to urgently get their spending back on track and implement the upgrades to water and wastewater infrastructure they have been funded to deliver and that customers rightly expect. I will continue to meet with the CEOs of underperforming companies to monitor their progress.
Ofwat, as the economic regulator for the water industry, has been clear that where these expectations are not met and companies are failing to comply with their obligations, they will take action, including enforcement action where warranted.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help small abattoirs remain financially viable.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra recognises the important role small abattoirs play in supporting the rural economy and is very much committed to engaging with the small abattoir sector to maintain a robust and competitive sector. To this end, Defra has convened the Small Abattoirs Working Group, which brings together representatives of Defra, the small abattoir sector and the various Government agencies that oversee the industry. This group provides a platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by small abattoirs including those that impact on financial viability. Through this we have identified three key priority work areas: the regulatory framework, funding and adding value to animal by-products. We are working closely with industry through a series of focused sub-groups to facilitate workable solutions to issues in these areas, where possible.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle labour shortages in the pig processing industry.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government has announced a package of measures to support the pig industry. These measures come in recognition of the unique temporary circumstances farmers are facing, brought about by the global economy responding to the impacts of the pandemic, the loss of the Chinese export market for some processors and the global pressures facing supply chains worldwide.
From November 2021, these measures include allowing up to 800 temporary pig butchers to enter the UK to work for six months. This temporary adjustment is in addition to foreign butchers already being eligible to apply to come to the UK through the Skilled Worker Route as part of the point-based immigration system.
The temporary visas are not a long-term solution and businesses must make long term investments in the UK domestic workforce to build a high-wage, high-skill economy, instead of relying on overseas labour. The Government expects the pork sector to encourage better training offers, career options and wage increases to ensure that the sector draws on the large domestic labour pool in the UK, as well as investing in technology across the industry.
To support these efforts, Defra is working with industry and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and farming sectors among UK workers. All pig farming and processing businesses are encouraged to advertise roles through DWP's Find A Job website, where they can upload and manage their vacancies. The DWP does not charge for this service and it is available across the United Kingdom.
In 2021 and beyond, the pig industry will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over 5.3 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme and EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to do seasonal work in the pig processing sector in 2021.
Defra is also working closely with the Home Office to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce beyond 2021.
Asked by: Simon Jupp (Conservative - East Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle labour shortages in the poultry sector.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are aware of the challenges that the poultry industry has encountered in recent months. Defra continues to monitor the market, and we will continue to work closely with the sector.
Defra is working with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and farming sectors among UK workers.
DWP is supporting Defra to develop and deliver a long-term recruitment strategy that supports the domestic workforce into both seasonal and long-term roles in the agriculture sector, including the poultry sector.
DWP has worked with Defra and key Trade Associations to develop a regional recruitment strategy that utilises DWP's Jobcentre Plus network, fosters strong local links between employers and work coaches, and gives jobseekers the skills and knowledge they need to enter the sector.
All poultry businesses are encouraged to advertise roles through DWP's Find A Job website, where they can upload and manage their vacancies. DWP does not charge for this service and it is available nationally, including Scotland and Wales.
Defra welcomes the Ministry of Justice's work on the Release On Temporary Licence (ROTL) scheme for work across a number of sectors, including the agri-food sector. The scheme aims to help prisoners gain useful skills and work experience as they approach their release.
In 2021 and beyond, food and farming businesses continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over 5.1 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme and EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to do work in the poultry sector in 2021.
Defra is also working closely with the Home Office to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce beyond 2021.