Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 the Common User Charge proposal on trends in the level of food imports at Portsmouth International Port.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is analysing the responses to the 'Charging arrangements at government-run border control posts' consultation and carefully assessing potential impacts on food imports. This will ensure we implement a charging system that will deliver best value for traders, and one that meets the Government’s cost recovery objectives in as transparent and fair way as possible. We expect to publish a summary of the responses and an update on the Common User Charge proposal shortly.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the clean air zone to Portsmouth’s port.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Department has not made an assessment of any changes to Portsmouth’s Clean Air Zone.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 of the impact of clean air zones in Portsmouth on health outcomes for local people.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government has a robust evaluation programme for the collection and analysis of air quality, traffic and behavioural data from Local Authority areas implementing measures for the reduction of nitrogen dioxide. The programme and collection of data is at too early a stage to draw definitive conclusions about the impact of Clean Air Zones on health. The findings of the evaluation programme for Portsmouth are expected to be published in the next evaluation Annual Report.
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution (COMEAP), an expert committee of the Department of Health and Social Care, estimated that long-term exposure to man-made pollution in the UK has an annual effect equivalent to 28,000 to 43,000 deaths. The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities has also estimated the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution at local authority level in the Public Health Outcomes Framework, available to view and search online at: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 of the potential impact of clean air zones in Portsmouth on levels of air pollution in that city.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Portsmouth’s Class B Clean Air Zone has been operational since November 2021. Air quality data for 2022 was published in September 2023 as part of the 2022 National Compliance Assessment: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 progress report by the Committee on Climate Change entitled Progress in reducing emissions, published on June 2023, what actions she is taking to increase tree canopy cover.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The England Trees Action Plan sets out measures to achieve our statutory target to reach 16.5% canopy cover in England by 2050. Its delivery is supported by over £673 million under the Nature for Climate Fund. In 2022/23, over 3,600 hectares of trees were planted in England; the highest since 2005/06. The Nature for Climate Fund directly supported over 2,400 hectares of planting, more than double that of last year. Community Forests and the England Woodland Creation Offer were the highest contributors.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of woodland creation funded through the Nature for Climate Fund is met through (a) natural colonisation and (b) tree planting; and in which areas these woodlands have been created.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Nature for Climate Fund (NCF) offers include a range of different types of tree planting to support the establishment of “the right tree in the right place”. The England Woodland Creation Offer includes Additional Contributions to support nature recovery, of which natural colonisation is one of them. 192 hectares of natural colonisation has been established so far. Other NCF planting grants also support natural colonisation, but we do not hold data on the amount of planting that has been created through natural colonisation for those schemes’
The Forestry Commission produces statistics on all new planting of woodland for the UK. These can be found in Forestry Statistics (https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/statistics/forestry-statistics/) on the Forest Research website. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares. The latest available figures are for 2021-22. These figures include woodland created through natural colonisation but it does not specify a separate figure for woodland created through natural colonisation.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 impact of sewage spillages on coastal business in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is the responsibility of the water and sewerage companies to ensure they clean up any sewage following pollution incidents, including in coastal areas. This is enforced by the Environment Agency as part of its standard incident response procedures.
We have not made an impact assessment specifically on the potential impact of sewage spillages on coastal businesses in England. However, our Storm Overflows Evidence Project assessed the impact of sewage discharges on bathing waters and the social impact where knowledge and visibility of storm overflows causes public concern. We used this evidence to inform our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which sets out targets for water companies to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water by 2035.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 made an assessment of the potential impact of increases in (a) energy and (b) pet food bills on pet ownership.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To support households, the Energy Price Guarantee was put in place as a temporary measure on 1st October 2022 to cap typical energy bills at £2,500 per year. This scheme has cut the typical family energy bill by over £1,300 since October and has now been extended to the end of June this year. The Energy Bill Support Scheme has also helped to reduce household energy bills over the past six months with a £400 discount paid in monthly instalments.
Defra officials regularly meet stakeholders to understand the issues and trends affecting the sector, including the impact of the rise in the cost of living on those who care for companion animals. Sector groups are closely monitoring the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and identifying where more support may be needed. We welcome the support they are currently providing through pet food banks and financial support with veterinary treatment which is helping to reduce the pressure on pet owners.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a strategy on reducing her Department's carbon emissions.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to delivering Net Zero by 2050.
The Department’s performance and future strategy for reducing carbon emissions is described in its sustainability reports which are published annually with its accounts.
The 2021-2022 sustainability report shows that the Department is reducing its emissions through a combination of estate rationalisation and energy efficiency initiatives. The Department emitted 51,099t CO2e in 2021-22. This is a reduction of 32% or 24,000t since 2017/18
The Department is committed to further reducing its greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible and is taking action to meet its targets under the Greening Government Commitments. Further information on reducing emissions will be published in the next annual sustainability report.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the number of sewage discharges that took place in England and Wales in 2022.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency collates sewage discharge data from Water and Sewerage Companies from storm overflows in England, for 2020 and 2021 the data is published online here. The 2022 data will be published at the end of March 2023.