Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Randall and George Eustice

Thursday 23rd June 2022 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

We have set out some detailed proposals on this, both in our response to the Glover review, but also under the Environment Act 2021. Local authorities will be required to have local nature recovery strategies in future, and that will include commitments around public access in particular locations. We have also opened a new farming and protected landscape scheme, which is all about supporting public access to the countryside.

[Tom Randall (Gedling) (Con)]

T2. Residents in Gedling have recently received letters regarding a nearby outbreak of avian flu, and I am grateful for the work of DEFRA officials in combating that, but might my right hon. Friend be able to offer any update on when restrictions are likely to be lifted? I am particularly thinking of my constituents who race pigeons. There is a short pigeon racing season from April to September, and they are currently prevented from doing so. They would like to get on with their hobby.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Randall and George Eustice

Thursday 10th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

The big drivers of household financial insecurity are energy costs, housing costs and so on, and that is why the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have already announced schemes to try to help households with the cost of energy. When it comes specifically to food, we have a household support fund worth around £500 million, and at a DEFRA level we support projects such as FareShare.

[Tom Randall (Gedling) (Con)]

T5. Breathing clean air is an essential ingredient in living a long and healthy life. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important that residents, particularly in our urban areas, are breathing as clear air as possible? What support are the Government offering local authorities to tackle air quality?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Randall and George Eustice

Thursday 9th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

First, may I apologise for my oversight in not welcoming the hon. Gentleman to his place at the beginning of this session?

We have made available £5.2 billion, and this is a significant increase in the capital programme over the next few years. Included in that is some dedicated work on property resilience, where we are working with communities and flood forums locally to identify how we can improve the resilience of individual properties and, when there is a flood incident, to make grants available to them so that they can replace some of their doors in order to be more flood-ready in future.

[Tom Randall (Gedling) (Con)]

13. What steps he is taking to tackle plastic pollution.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Randall and George Eustice

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

The Government monitor household spending on food very closely, and we agree that we want to raise earnings among the lowest paid. That is why it has been a long-standing policy of this Government to first introduce a national living wage and then increase it incrementally year on year, and we have done that to take the lowest paid out of poverty. As a result of that policy, household spending on food among the poorest households has actually fallen from about 16% to under 15%, which is the lowest on record.

[Tom Randall (Gedling) (Con)]

  I have been working with local councillors in Stoke Bardolph and Burton Joyce to work with residents and partner organisations to set up a flood action group that will help to take some preventive action and provide reassurance in part of the Gedling constituency that occasionally floods. Will my right hon. Friend join me commending those who are volunteering to join this group and tell me what steps the Government are taking to help to prevent flooding in Nottinghamshire?

[George Eustice]

I commend the work that my hon. Friend and those local volunteers are doing. We have our flood resilience forums around the country. The Environment Agency works with local government on them and on putting them in place so that communities can improve their resilience. More broadly, we have an ambitious capital programme of more than £5 billion over the next five years to invest in flood defences and to protect communities such as his.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tom Randall and George Eustice

Thursday 10th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

We work closely with FareShare, as we always have. As the hon. Gentleman points out, we did make available some additional funding to help it to support the financially vulnerable during this pandemic. Obviously, as we go into winter we keep all these matters under review.

[Tom Randall (Gedling) (Con)]

One of the biggest issues that Gedling residents have written to me about since my election is the culling of badgers. I recently met representatives of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust to hear more about the issue and the vaccination programme it is running, with DEFRA funding. Although it is important to follow the science in the decision making, there are concerns that the cull will eradicate some badger populations. Could my right hon. Friend tell me what criteria were used to determine the next areas where the culling will take place and what the extent of it will be?

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. In our response to the Godfrey review, we set out our approach to dealing with bovine tuberculosis in the next five years. In response to the specific question, we look at epidemiological assessments in individual areas to see where particular strains are present in both badgers and cattle, and that drives the decisions about where culling is necessary.