Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 his Department has made of the potential impact of the Retained EU Law Bill on (a) Special Protection Areas and (b) Special Areas of Conservation.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We have been clear about the importance of environmental protection across the United Kingdom, not least through our world leading Environment Act, which includes a legally binding target to halt the decline of nature by 2030.
Earlier this year we published a Nature Recovery Green Paper, setting out proposals to reform our system of protections, including the Habitats Regulations. The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed in May and we are now in the process of analysing responses and will publish a response on conclusion of this exercise.
Defra is carefully considering the scope of the delegated powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, and whether they can be used to deliver a better, bespoke British system of nature protections to replace the provisions in the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (as amended).
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many four car motor electric units have been scrapped in each year since 2015.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra does not hold that information. We collect data on vehicles scrapped each year to monitor whether producers are meeting the required recycling targets on the valuable resources contained in end-of-life vehicles. This information is not split by vehicle fuel type.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 he has made of the impact of bottom trawling on ecosystems in designated Marine Protection Areas.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a devolved competency and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Marine Management Organisation and the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities assess on a site-by-site basis which fishing activities could prevent MPAs from achieving their conservation objectives. Byelaws are developed using an evidence-led process to determine what management is required to protect sites and to not unduly restrict legitimate fishing activity.
Nearly 60% of our 178 English MPAs are already protected from damaging fishing activity, including byelaws this year in the first four offshore sites, which ban bottom towed gear over sensitive habitats. We are aiming to have all MPAs in English waters protected from damaging fishing activity by 2024.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the yearly change was in numbers of staff working in the Environment Agency from (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-2017, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-2019, (e) 2019-2020, (f) 2020-21 and (g) 2021-22.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Year | Total employees (payroll employees only) |
2015/16 | 9,673 |
2016/17 | 10,103 |
2017/18 | 9,490 |
2018/19 | 9,873 |
2019/20 | 10,326 |
2020/21 | 10,201 |
2021/22 | 10,378 |
Sep-22 | 10,890 |
In 2017/18, 895.9 FTE were TUPE-ed (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)) to Defra.
Recruitment controls were implemented in 2020/21 to mitigate impacts from COVID and other cost pressures.
Since 2021/22, recruitment continues to support an increased capital programme and new duties funded through Spending Review 20 and Flood Recovery funding, as well as ongoing support to Defra group on priority work linked to COVID management.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
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 his Department has taken to review the current policy and delivery method of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme as detailed in the Government's Food Strategy.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Decisions on policy and delivery of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme are a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the environmental impact of single-use, disposable e-cigarettes.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra has made no assessment of the environmental impact of single-use, disposable e-cigarettes.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the amount of PM 2.5 emissions that has been produced by the (a) manufacturing and combustion sector as a whole, (b) burning of all types of biomass and (c) burning of wood pellets for energy.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Emissions of key air pollutants, including PM2.5, are compiled and reported by Defra
on an annual basis through the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. The latest data is available to view at https://naei.beis.gov.uk/data.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the next steps are of the Government's commitment to exploring a ban on foie gras, as announced in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare published 12 May 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has made clear that the production of force-fed foie gras raises serious welfare concerns. Building on the opportunities presented by our departure from the EU, we are now able to actively consider any further steps that could be taken in relation to foie gras that is produced overseas using force feeding practices. We continue to gather information and speak to a range of interested parties about the issues involved, in line with the Government’s commitment to improving animal welfare standards as set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. This will be used to inform our approach to the issue of force-fed foie gras.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of the water industry on tackling the illegal discharge of untreated sewage into rivers across the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I have been repeatedly clear that the frequency of sewage discharges and pollution incidents is unacceptable. We are the first Government to introduce a legal duty to clean up our waterways, backed up by our direction to Ofwat. We are cracking down on water companies, putting in place ambitious targets, and we have launched a consultation on our plan to reduce storm overflows. On this side of the House we voted in favour of a whole package of measures to improve water quality – the Hon Lady and her colleagues opposite did not.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are being taken to increase the availability of kerbside recycling of (a) plastic film and (b) other soft plastics.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government wants to see a significant increase in the recycling of plastic film and flexible packaging and are delivering measures to support this.
In the 2021 consultation on Consistency in Household and Business recycling in England, we proposed local authorities be required to collect recyclable plastic films from households be no later than the end of 2026/27. We will publish our Government response to the consultation in due course.
We have also taken steps to boost the market for plastic recycling – delivering the conditions for further private sector investment. The Plastic Packaging Tax comes in from April and will see a charge of £200 per tonne on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content. This measure is already driving significant demand for plastics for recycling, which in turn supports important interim measures such as retailer-led front of store collections of plastic films.
This work, alongside other measures such as restrictions on single-use plastics, Extended Producer Responsibility and the Deposit Return Scheme, supports the delivery of our 25 Year Environment Plan target of ending all avoidable plastic waste.