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 much has been raised by the plastic bag levy in each year since that scheme was introduced.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The total amount donated to good causes per year was: £29.2 million in 2015/2016, £65.4 million in 2016/2017, £51.6 million in 2017/2018, £22.9 million in 2018/2019 and £9.2 million in 2019/2020. The reduction in later reporting years is primarily due to retailers selling fewer single-use carrier bags in those years.
Data for 2015/2016 covered only 6 months (5 October 2015 to 6 April 2016), so is not directly comparable to other reporting years.
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 timeframe is for the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys on 13 July 2020, PQ UIN 69511.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-07-06/69511/
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 much additional funding his Department has provided for the clean up of beaches and local beauty spots since the lockdown restrictions were put in place due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise that in the current circumstances local authorities may have more challenges than usual, including when collecting waste. The Government has responded with an unprecedented £4.3 billion support package for local authorities. This includes £3.7 billion of un-ringfenced grants which can be used by councils to meet local priorities including, should they see fit, cleaning up beaches and local beauty spots.
Defra has also supported, and provided funding for, Keep Britain Tidy's Love Parks campaign, which encourages people to treat our parks with respect this summer. Further information about the campaign is available at:
https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/news/new-campaign-launched-face-littering-epidemic-parks
Additionally, Defra has launched a 'Respect the Outdoors' campaign this summer. This has been promoted both online and in locations near to urban parks, beaches and national parks to further highlight the impacts of littering, as well as unauthorised barbeques and campfires, and breaches of the countryside code.
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, when his Department plans to respond to the consultation on controls on the import and export of hunting trophies.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow on 19 May 2020, PQ UIN 46697, which remains the current situation.
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 much his Department is spending on a public information campaign to prepare people for the potential effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has a duty to inform citizens and businesses about how leaving the EU might affect them, and to advise on the steps they may need to take to prepare for EU Exit.
We have developed a cross-departmental public information campaign to help achieve this. Over the coming weeks, we will be using a range of channels to direct UK citizens, businesses, EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU to a dedicated area on GOV.UK at Gov.uk/euexit.
Information on the costs associated with this campaign will be released in due course as part of normal data transparency releases.
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 his Department is taking to protect children from the effects of air pollution.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Stockton North, Alex Cunningham, on 27 November 2018, PQ UIN192868.
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, if the Government will take steps to reduce the level of fur imported from overseas.
Answered by George Eustice
There are already furs that cannot be imported onto the UK, including cat and dog fur and products, and seal skins and products from commercial hunts.
The Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) places restrictions on the introduction of measures that impair the free movement of goods within the EU market.
Where there are EU harmonising measures relevant to the movement of fur – including the Animal By-Products Regulation in respect of untreated fur and the Seal Products Regulation – any derogation from those in the form of a national restriction would need to meet the requirements of Article 114 TFEU or any specific safeguard measure included in the harmonising legislation. This would involve notifying the measures to the European Commission who would need to be satisfied that the issue is “specific to that Member State”, that it would not amount to a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade, or an obstacle to the functioning of the internal market.
Introducing a ban in the absence of such consent where it is needed would breach Article 114 TFEU.
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 his Department is taking to protect animal welfare standards in slaughterhouses after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK already has stricter national rules to protect animal welfare at slaughter than those laid down in the EU regulation and we will maintain those stricter national rules, alongside rolling-over current EU regulations, when we leave the EU.
In addition, to increase protection of animals at slaughter, this year we will be introducing regulations to make it mandatory for all approved slaughterhouses in England to have CCTV installed.