Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps they are taking to help ensure that their Department (a) gives sufficient attention to long term strategic challenges, (b) does not allow current events to slow down work on long term strategic issues and (c) consistently undertakes horizon scanning.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Liaison Committee recently launched an inquiry into select committee scrutiny of strategic thinking across Whitehall. The Government will be providing written evidence to this in due course.
Defra has an overall Strategy Group which works on horizon scanning and long-term strategic coherence through internal business planning, resilience, risk and capability work. This function also exists and is prioritised within the Chief Scientist’s office and individual policy areas, such as climate adaptation, food security and water policy. The majority of Defra officials contribute to Defra’s coherent strategic picture.
Under Rishi Sunak, this Conservative Government will always look to make the right long-term decisions for the country.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether their Department has a Chief Risk Officer responsible for national security risks relating to the work of their Department.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government identifies and assesses risks to the nation through the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment, and the external National Risk Register, the most recent version of which was published in August.
As set out in the UK Government Resilience Framework, each risk in the National Security Risk Assessment is owned and managed within Lead Government Departments.
Where those risks, including national security risks, relate to the work of Defra, then they are managed through the department’s risk management processes. For example, in Defra, risk is reported quarterly to the Executive Committee and each of our principal risks is the subject of a rolling programme of deep dives. Our management of risks is in line with the principles outlined in the Government’s Orange Book.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 plans to take to ensure compliance by animal owners with the Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (England) Regulations 2023.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
My Department will work with welfare organisations, the training sector and the veterinary profession to raise awareness of the ban on the use of e-collars ahead of the Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (England) Regulations coming into force. Attaching an electronic shock collar to a cat or dog, or possessing a remote-control device capable of activating such a collar when attached to a cat or dog, will be an offence under the regulations and could lead to prosecution, which may lead to a criminal penalty or an unlimited fine.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 plans to establish a national centre for flood resilience.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 7 September 2023 to PQ 195088.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 support local authorities to reduce the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We set an ambition in our Resources and Waste Strategy to send less than 10% of municipal waste to landfill by 2035. As a result of active diversion of municipal waste from landfill over the last two decades, only 8.1% of local authority collected waste was sent to landfill in 2021/22. This equates to a 90% reduction by weight since 2000/01 when 79% of municipal waste was sent to landfill.
To reduce this further, in line with the commitment in the Net Zero Strategy, we are exploring options for the near elimination of biodegradable waste to landfill from 2028 – we issued a call for evidence on this in May and will publish our Government response and more information in due course. We are also working towards eliminating all food waste being sent to landfill by 2030.
To support this, through powers in the Environment Act 2021 we will require all local authorities in England to arrange for the separate collection of food waste from households and provide them with the new burdens funding to do so.
Our plans for Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging will also play a key part in making it easier for householders to recycle and reduce the amount of waste sent for landfill, moving the full cost of dealing with packaging waste from households, including collection and disposal, away from local taxpayers and councils to the packaging producers under the ‘polluter pays principle’. This will encourage producers to reduce their use of packaging and use packaging which is easier to recycle.
The Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme was established in 2006 to support local authorities to accelerate the building of infrastructure needed to treat residual waste, minimise municipal waste going to landfill, and increase recycling. This is a £3 billion programme of 25-year grants for 27 local authorities (now 23: two completed and two where the grant has been withdrawn) ending in 2042 when the last grant payment will be made. This continued support provided to local authorities has provided modern, efficient waste management facilities, enabling England to meet its 2020 landfill diversion targets. The long-term waste PFI grants were a major contributing factor to our delivery against these landfill targets, acting as a catalyst to invigorate the waste infrastructure market.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 her Department provided to peat restoration projects in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Since 2020, the Government has funded over £19million to peatland restoration projects through the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant scheme. On 26 August 2023 the government announced a further £16m of government funding for an additional twelve peatland restoration projects as part of the scheme.
In addition to this, there are 10 projects in Round 1 of the Landscape Recovery scheme which will include elements of peatland restoration works. The funding for these projects has not yet been finalised as projects are still in the development phase of the scheme. Countryside Stewardship has provided approximately £7m and Environmental Stewardship approximately £200,000 of funding for peatland restoration activities over the last 12 months.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to increase the recycling of concrete materials.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Construction is one of the key sectors identified for action in ‘Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste’, the new Waste Prevention Programme for England, published in July 2023. It sets out our priorities for action to manage goods and materials in accordance with the waste hierarchy.
As part of this we have committed to:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 merits of banning the use of electric shock collars on animals.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Following a 2018 consultation, the Government committed to banning the use of hand-controlled electric shock collars (e-collars) on cats and dogs, given their scope to cause harm to these animals. This was reiterated in Defra’s 2021 Action Plan for Animal Welfare. The draft regulations were developed after considering a broad range of factors. Academic research, public consultation responses, and direct engagement with the sector, with training organisations and with other stakeholders led the Government to conclude that the use of these electric shock collars should be prohibited.
Regarding other animals, the independent Animal Welfare Committee examined the welfare implications of using virtual fencing systems on livestock, where livestock are fitted with electronic collars as part of a system for containing, monitoring and moving livestock. The Committee’s report was published in October 2022.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 she has taken to help improve the resilience of inland waterways in the context of climate change.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 21 July 2023 to his previous question PQ UIN 194528 of 17 July 2023.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 develop a more circular economy for resources.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is supportive of initiatives which promote a more circular economy.
‘Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste’, the new Waste Prevention Programme for England, was published in July 2023. It outlined our ambitions for waste prevention across in relation to three cross cutting areas – designing out waste, systems and services and data and information; and seven key sectors: construction, textiles, furniture, electronic and electrical products, road vehicles, plastics and packaging and food. It sets out our priorities for action to manage resources and waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy and embeds our circular economy approach by retaining materials and goods in circulation for as long as possible and at their highest value.