Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 UK businesses to comply with (a) domestic and (b) EU regimes for the prevention of deforestation in supply chains.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Businesses are supported to comply with UK timber regulations through the Office for Product Safety and Standards. There is currently no domestic regime in place in relation to other commodities. Guidance in respect of complying with EU legislation is a matter for the European Commission.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on bringing forward the Forest Risk Commodities regulations to enact the Environment Act 2021 provisions on deforestation in supply chains.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the urgency of taking action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation. We will set out our approach to addressing deforestation in the UK’s supply chains in due course.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the (a) River Rother and (b) River Hipper was last dredged.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.
In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.
Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.
Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.
Financial Year | Channel Maintenance (£M) | Dredging (£M) |
2010/11 | 45 | 5 |
2011/12 | 39 | 10 |
2012/13 | 45 | 8 |
2013/14 | 30 | 4 |
2014/15 | 45 | 12 |
2015/16 | 47 | 9 |
2016/17 | 59 | 22 |
2017/18 | 59 | 8 |
2018/19 | 45 | 5 |
2019/20 | 45 | 5 |
2020/21 | 34 | 4 |
2021/22 | 29 | 3 |
2022/23 | 36 | 6 |
2023/24 | 38 | 7 |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the regular dredging of rivers on flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.
In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.
Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.
Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.
Financial Year | Channel Maintenance (£M) | Dredging (£M) |
2010/11 | 45 | 5 |
2011/12 | 39 | 10 |
2012/13 | 45 | 8 |
2013/14 | 30 | 4 |
2014/15 | 45 | 12 |
2015/16 | 47 | 9 |
2016/17 | 59 | 22 |
2017/18 | 59 | 8 |
2018/19 | 45 | 5 |
2019/20 | 45 | 5 |
2020/21 | 34 | 4 |
2021/22 | 29 | 3 |
2022/23 | 36 | 6 |
2023/24 | 38 | 7 |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Environment Agency has spent on dredging rivers in each year since 2009.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.
In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.
Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.
Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.
Financial Year | Channel Maintenance (£M) | Dredging (£M) |
2010/11 | 45 | 5 |
2011/12 | 39 | 10 |
2012/13 | 45 | 8 |
2013/14 | 30 | 4 |
2014/15 | 45 | 12 |
2015/16 | 47 | 9 |
2016/17 | 59 | 22 |
2017/18 | 59 | 8 |
2018/19 | 45 | 5 |
2019/20 | 45 | 5 |
2020/21 | 34 | 4 |
2021/22 | 29 | 3 |
2022/23 | 36 | 6 |
2023/24 | 38 | 7 |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on the regular dredging of rivers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.
In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.
Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.
Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.
Financial Year | Channel Maintenance (£M) | Dredging (£M) |
2010/11 | 45 | 5 |
2011/12 | 39 | 10 |
2012/13 | 45 | 8 |
2013/14 | 30 | 4 |
2014/15 | 45 | 12 |
2015/16 | 47 | 9 |
2016/17 | 59 | 22 |
2017/18 | 59 | 8 |
2018/19 | 45 | 5 |
2019/20 | 45 | 5 |
2020/21 | 34 | 4 |
2021/22 | 29 | 3 |
2022/23 | 36 | 6 |
2023/24 | 38 | 7 |