Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of 19 February 2024 from the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston on the legal restrictions on XL Bully dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A reply will be sent to the hon. Member soon. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental impact of pollution in Lake Windermere.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A thorough investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) into the pollution incident at Lake Windermere earlier this year remains ongoing, which involves examining further evidence from United Utilities (UU). If the EA determines a permit breach has taken place, it will not hesitate to take enforcement action up to and including a criminal prosecution.
Windermere is affected by pollution from a range of different sources, including sewage discharges from water company assets, private septic tanks/sewage works and road and agricultural run-off, as well as physical modifications. Climate change has also altered temperature, precipitation and weather patterns which can affect the lake's water quality, by altering nutrient cycles, water chemistry and aquatic habitats, and affect the amount of water resulting in droughts and floods.
The last Water Framework Directive full water body classification results in 2019 assessed that Lake Windermere achieved moderate ecologic status and is impacted by excessive nutrients, leading to algal growth and cyanobacterial blooms.
Recent data shows a 30% reduction in phosphorus – which can lead to algal blooms – entering the lake since 2020 and this reduction is predominantly due to EA-driven improvements to UU Wastewater Treatment Works.
Water quality modelling continues to quantify the different sources of pollution in Windermere and the impact that it is having in different parts of the lake. The EA is also working with the Love Windermere partnership to improve the overall health of the lake through behavioural and societal change.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether water companies are required to have full and complete maps of their sewage network infrastructure, and if so how this is enforced.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Having a full and detailed map of sewerage assets is a vital part of understanding the network and identifying areas for improvements. Water companies are already required to map their assets under Section 199 of the Water Industry Act 1991. The section, and the requirement to map assets, is enforceable under powers laid out in Section 18 of the Act. Sewerage undertakers are not required to keep records of assets that were laid before 1 September 1989, but only if either:
1) the undertaker does not know of, or have reasonable grounds for suspecting, the existence of the drain, sewer or disposal main;
2) it is not reasonably practicable for the undertaker to discover the course of the drain, sewer or disposal main and it has not done so.
As part of the Environment Act 2021, a new duty has been created for sewerage undertakers in England to produce Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs). DWMPs set out how a sewerage undertaker intends to manage and improve their drainage and wastewater systems over the next 25 years. DWMPs will complement existing requirements to map the sewerage network, to facilitate a detailed understanding of the network and help ensure that drainage and wastewater services are better managed and properly supported, as well as delivering greater efficiencies for customers and supporting investment in nature-based solutions.
In addition, the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets out that the Government expects that water companies have maps of their sewer networks, to understand where properties with separate rainwater pipes are connected to their combined sewer network.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
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 effectiveness of the SB6 Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier grant for rhododendron control.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to reviewing all actions in Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive, on a phased basis over time. As part of the reviews, we will take into account comments from farmers and stakeholders and ensure guidance is appropriate.
Rhododendron ponticum is one of the most damaging invasive plants in the UK; it prevents woodland regeneration and destroys the natural understorey which has consequent impacts on birds and invertebrates. In addition to the existing SB6 capital item, we will be introducing a revenue item later this year to support continued control of rhododendron once initial control has been undertaken.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
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 SB6 of the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (Rhododendron Control), how many agreements have been reached to date; how many hectares are covered by those agreements; and how many hectares has rhododendron successfully been removed from.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Rhododendron ponticum is one of the most damaging invasive plants in the UK; it prevents woodland regeneration and destroys the natural understorey which has consequent impacts on birds and invertebrates. Countryside Stewardship (CS) option SB6 supports the control of rhododendrons, reducing the negative effect this can have on a site.
There are 487 CS agreements containing SB6, which cover a total of 2,615 hectares. SB6 is a CS capital item and can only be claimed once the work has been completed, to date 1,462 hectares of Rhododendrons have been removed.
In addition to the existing SB6 capital item, we will be introducing a revenue item later this year to support continued control of rhododendron once initial control has been undertaken. Some further information can be found within Technical annex: The combined environmental land management offer - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what estimate his Department has made of the number of civilians killed in Sudan since the start of the civil war in that country.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
In their most recent assessment, dated 18 April 2024, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded 16,650 reported fatalities in Sudan. However, the reported number of people killed in Sudan is a conservative estimate due to the extremely limited access environment and ongoing internet and telecommunication disruptions. We continue to call on both warring parties to de-escalate immediately and abide by their responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law to protect civilians.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is to make a decision on whether Planetary Technologies and South West Water will be granted permission to carry out carbon sequestration trials involving adding alkaline minerals to treated waste water being pumped into the sea.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In March 2023, Planetary Technologies and South West Water asked the Environment Agency to authorise their carbon sequestration trial in St Ives Bay. Varying South West Water’s EPR (Environmental Permitting Regulations) permit would not have been appropriate for a short term trial (less than one month) so the approach would be to issue a Local Enforcement Position. The current EPR permit for the discharge doesn’t cover the proposed dosing activity and only considers the local environmental aspects rather than the wider policy implications and effectiveness of carbon sequestration of adding alkaline material (magnesium hydroxide) into the waste water outfall pipe.
We commissioned the Water Research Centre (WRC) to audit Planetary Technologies’ proposal and we received WRC’s report in February 2024. The report concluded the trial was low risk and made several recommendations to Planetary. Planetary Technologies have now informed us that they wish to delay their formal application for the Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement trial for a period of approximately 6 to 12 months, to allow them time to action the recommendations.
We will consider a new application as and when we receive it.
More information can be found here.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how (a) much funding was provided to and (b) many people were employed at the National Bee Unit of the Animal and Plant Health Agency between 2019 and 2024.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The total funding provided to the National Bee Unit between 2019 and 2024 was £10,508,452 (this includes funding received from Devolved Administrations). The headcount has remained static over this period at between 54 and 64 per annum depending on vacant positions at any given time.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of his Department's guidance on hedge laying; and if he will include roadside hedges in the Countryside Stewardship grant BN5: Hedgerow laying.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under action BN5, support is available to farmers to lay roadside hedgerows where the farmer has management control of both sides of the hedgerow. In January we set out a commitment to introduce a cycle of reviews for scheme actions from 2025, which will include BN5. The current guidance is clear and as part of the cycle of reviews, we will assess the suitability of the guidance, including taking into account any farmer or stakeholder feedback we receive.
We will be publishing voluntary guidance to support the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in the summer.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether any ministerial redundancy payments have been repaid to his Department since 2019.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.