Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential environmental impact of prolonged interruptions to refuse collection in Birmingham, including consequences for air quality, pest control, and neighbourhood cleanliness.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has not made an assessment of the potential impact of prolonged interruptions to refuse collection in Birmingham. The ongoing waste dispute is a local issue and rightly being dealt with by Birmingham City Council. Commissioners appointed by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government continue to support the Council in their recovery and improvement journey and provide regular progress reports to the Secretary of State.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she intends to issue updated guidance to local councils on maintaining minimum service levels in waste operations during periods of industrial disruption.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not plan to update guidance to local councils on prioritising services in periods of disruption in waste operations. Defra’s current guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/waste-collection-services-guidance-for-local-authorities/waste-collection-services-guidance-for-local-authorities.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 Government’s commitment to invest £10.5 billion in flood defences by 2036, (a) how much has been allocated to each English region to date, (b) how many of the 151 completed schemes were operational during Storm Claudia, and (c) what assessment she has made of the effect of reprioritising £108 million towards maintenance on improving the condition and reliability of existing assets.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government will invest at least £10.5 billion into our flood defences between April 2024 and March 2036 better protecting nearly 900,000 properties.
The investment will also reduce deterioration and target repairs to assets, benefitting an additional 14,500 properties in England.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of prolonged industrial disputes in local waste services on recycling rates and environmental health in affected communities.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has not made an assessment of the potential impact of prolonged industrial disputes in local waste services on recycling rates and environmental health in affected.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 commitment to improve national flood forecasting, (a) what assessment she has made of the performance of the new flood warning system during Storm Claudia, (b) whether any delays or technical issues were recorded in the delivery of alerts to households, and (c) how the enhanced forecasting models developed by the Met Office and Environment Agency contributed to advance warning and local decision-making.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
During Storm Claudia, the Environment Agency (EA) sent more than 130 flood warnings and 270 flood alerts. These reached people through text (315,000 messages), email (350,000), and automated calls (225,000). The Floodline recorded information service also handled about 1,500 calls.
During Storm Claudia, there were 28 messages delayed by up to 1.5 hours because of a technical problem in the system’s infrastructure. This issue was quickly fixed. These anomalies aside, the system coped well with its first national incident, successfully delivering approximately 890,000 messages to the public.
Enhanced flood-forecasting models, jointly developed by the Met Office and the EA, enabled early identification of emerging risks. Using ensemble rainfall forecasts, the Environment Agency produced national-level flood outlooks that were shared with all Category 1 and 2 responders and emergency services three days ahead of the event (13 November) through the daily Flood Guidance Statement.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Flood Resilience Taskforce most recently met; what recommendations it has provided to Ministers since September regarding national readiness for severe weather events; and what assessment she has made of the Taskforce’s impact on improving cross-government coordination during Storm Claudia.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Floods Resilience Taskforce most recently met in September and held two meetings on the 8th and 15th. The Taskforce discussed actions by members to prepare for, respond to and recover from flooding during autumn and winter. This included improvements to national flood modelling and forecasting and communication of flood warnings.
Taskforce members including the Environment Agency, Defra and Natural Resources Wales were in contact throughout Storm Claudia principally through using their existing emergency response arrangements. Taskforce members work on improved national flood modelling helped preparations and response, and facilitated the deployment of the FloodRe Floodmobile demonstration unit, which showcases dozens of property flood resilience measures, to Monmouthshire, to support flood affected residents.
The Floods Resilience Taskforce will next meet on 18 December and will discuss learning and recommendations from Storm Claudia.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she last met the farming sector to discuss the potential impact of changes to Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief on farmers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra Ministers and officials regularly engage with the farming sector on a wide range of issues.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of solar farms on levels of food security.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Only 0.1% of land is used for solar, and half of the agricultural land generating solar power is still producing food. Solar farms are not a risk to food security and instead help play an important role in diversifying farm income and decarbonising our economy.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 protect UK food security.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We need a resilient and healthy food system, that works with nature and supports British farmers, fishers and food producers.
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change we are delivering on the Government’s New Deal for Farmers which includes a raft of new policies and major investment to boost profits for farmers.
We've allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost of glass packaging products on their levels of usage.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In autumn last year my department published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme on packaging producers as a whole, when the regulations were laid in parliament. This does not include an assessment of the impact on specific materials or sectors; however, Defra has engaged extensively with the glass manufacturing sector to understand the impacts on them. Through modulation, more recyclable materials, such as glass, will benefit from discounted fees, from Year 2 of pEPR (2026/2027).