Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS boards have included sustainability in their assurance framework.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the legal duty for integrated care boards (ICBs) and their partner National Health Service foundation trusts under section 14Z44 of the NHS Act 2006 to consider sustainability when exercising their functions. ICBs and their partner NHS foundation trusts must consider section 1 of the Climate Change Act 2008, concerning United Kingdom net zero emission targets, and section 5 of the Environment Act 2021, concerning environmental targets. ICBs and their NHS foundation trusts must also adapt to any current or predicted impact of climate change identified in the most recent report under section 56 of the Climate Change Act 2008.
NHS England does not collect data on how many ICBs have included sustainability in their assurance framework.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to improve EPC rating metrics to more accurately assess low-carbon heating systems.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As highlighted in the Powering up Britain document, the government is currently working on proposals for improving Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) metrics and intends to consult on these in the coming months. The proposals will consider the recommendations from the Independent Review of Net Zero and the 2023 Climate Change Committee report, including that new EPC metrics account for wider benefits from low-carbon heating. The government also has a continuing programme of user research to improve the way in which information is presented on EPCs.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with the World Bank Group on its commitment to fully align its non-sovereign operations since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
At the recent World Bank Spring Meetings on 17-19 April, the Deputy Foreign Secretary discussed the World Bank commitment to scale up financing for climate change with Bank management. For its non-sovereign operations, the World Bank is on track to achieve its commitment to ensure all new financial flows are aligned with the Paris Agreement by July 2025. At the end of 2023, this figure stood at 95 per cent, well ahead of the 85 per cent target.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on meeting its Greening Government Commitment targets.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP’s 2023/24 GGC performance is currently being collated and will be submitted to DEFRA at the end of May 2024. Therefore, 2022/23 is the latest full year of GGC data that is available and a summary of DWP’s performance (including our ALBs) against each of the headline GGC targets from 2022/23 is provided below. Further details of DWP’s performance (excluding ALBs) is available in DWP’s 2022/23 Annual Report and Accounts.
Target A: Mitigating climate change: working towards net zero by 2050
DWP reduced our total greenhouse gas emissions by 32% compared to the 17/18 baseline, which is on track to meet the target to reduce by 45% by 2024/25.
DWP reduced our direct greenhouse gas emissions by 1% compared to the 17/18 baseline. During the pandemic DWP took on c.200 additional properties to respond to national requirements. These buildings were still part of the estate in 2022/23 which impacted the direct greenhouse gas emissions performance; however, significant estate rationalisation has occurred during 2023/24 and we forecast we will meet the 2024/25 target to reduce by 17%.
Target B: Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency
DWP reduced our total waste generated by 31% compared to the 2017/18 baseline, exceeding the target to reduce by 15% by 2024/25.
Target C: Minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency
DWP reduced our water consumption by 19% compared to the 2017/18 baseline, exceeding the target to reduce by 8% by 2024/25.
Target D: Procuring sustainable products and services
DWP has a sustainable procurement policy and ensures all procurement activities comply with the Government Buying Standards, meeting the target requirements.
Target E: Nature Recovery – making space for thriving plants and wildlife
DWP has developed a draft nature recovery plan and intend to finalise this before 2024/25 to meet the target requirements.
Target F: Adapting to climate change
DWP has developed a climate change adaptation strategy which includes a climate change risk assessment and climate change adaptation plan for its estates and operations, meeting the target requirements.
Target G: Reducing environmental impacts from information communication technology (ICT) and digital
DWP provide annual reporting data against the ICT & digital services strategy and provide membership to the sustainable technology advice and reporting team, meeting the target requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards achieving the commitments outlined in the White Paper on international development published on 20 November 2023.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The White Paper on International Development sets out 216 commitments as part of the UK's strategic goal to end extreme poverty and tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, with a timeframe through to 2030. The Government has moved at pace to deliver across the commitments. Recent delivery includes additional support for Education Cannot Wait, the launch of a new programme to support maternal and neonatal health for 3.5 million people in Ethiopia and supporting the Green Climate Fund to announce a $100 million investment partnership with Somalia.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of plantations on ancient woodland sites have had licences granted for clearfell and replanting with non-native trees in the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission is the regulator for the legal felling of trees in England under the provisions in the Forestry Act. Most felling licences issued require felled trees or areas of woodland to be replaced by replanting or allowed to regenerate. The exception to this is a thinning licence, where sufficient woodland cover is retained so as not to require restocking.
When considering a felling licence application the Forestry Commission will judge the proposals against the UK Forestry Standard, the government’s approach to sustainable forestry. This is available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-forestry-standard. This standard encompasses the impacts on biodiversity and recognises the importance of priority habitats and species. This is why a felling licence also includes advice and guidance on additional issues a landowner needs to take into account.
The restocking conditions in a felling licence are put in place to help meet the aims of the management of the site through good silvicultural practice. While the Forestry Commission does advise on a suitable species mix there are no provisions in the Forestry Act to mandate the source of trees and whether they are native or non-native.
The guide to Managing England’s woodlands in a climate emergency, advises to manage ancient woodlands in a manner which conserves important biodiversity and heritage features. Greater diversification of species and origin of stands is advised, with a focus on southerly provenances of native species. Due to the unknown nature of acceleration of climate change, management intervention may need to be more frequent in order to preserve these rare habitats effectively. This is available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-englands-woodlands-in-a-climate-emergency.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2024 to Question 20109 on Rivers: Repairs and Maintenance, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of climate change on future insurance costs for riparian landowners.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on future insurance costs for riparian landowners. It is the responsibility of all riparian landowners to ensure that they have the appropriate insurance, to protect their property and any work they undertake as a riparian landowner.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of animal population decline in other countries on the UK, following the WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 which showed that worldwide animal populations have declined by 69 per cent since 1970.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is susceptible to impacts from animal population decline worldwide through global impacts on food supply and the increasing emergence and transmission of diseases. For example, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Pollinators Assessment showed that 35% of global crop production volume depends on animal pollination, while the IPBES Workshop report on Biodiversity and Pandemics showed that over 30% of emerging disease events are caused by land-use change and its impacts on wildlife. Healthy ecosystems are also vital for mitigating and adapting to climate change, thus animal population declines may also exacerbate the climate impacts felt by the UK, as set out in the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment. The UK Government with others continues to support the work of the IPBES and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to further understand these global impacts.
A recently published report from the Green Finance Institute, entitled ‘Assessing the Materiality of Nature-Related Financial Risks for the UK’, with direction from Defra and others, showed that about half of all UK nature-related risk comes from overseas, through supply chains and financial exposures. It showed that the combination of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation could lead to major economic shocks leading to UK Gross Domestic Product being up to 12% lower that it may otherwise have been by the 2030s (even lower when combined with climate impacts).
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 work with metro mayors to create a plan for flooding across Yorkshire.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Lead Local Flood Authorities have a duty to develop, maintain, apply and monitor a strategy for local flood risk management in its area, and the Government is supportive of them working together to deliver shared mitigations for a wider area.
The Government has committed to reform the current approach to local flood risk planning by 2026, ensuring every area of England will have a more strategic and comprehensive plan that drives long-term local action and investment and supports a catchment-based approach. To strengthen collaboration, we will encourage flood and coastal erosion risk management activities across local authority boundaries and explore options to join up flood resilience with other responsibilities held by Mayors or Combined Authorities.
As part of the Government’s six-year £200 million flood and coastal innovation programme (FCIP), £8 million is allocated to four adaptation pathways to support work in the Thames and Humber estuaries, the Severn Valley and Yorkshire to trial and develop ways of planning ahead and making wise investment choices for the decades to come in the face of the long-term uncertainties brought by climate change. The West Yorkshire Adaption Pathway (WYAP) project is developing a community-scale surface water flood risk adaptation plan for a town in West Yorkshire. The South Yorkshire Adaption Pathway (SYAP) project aims to develop an adaptation pathway plan for South Yorkshire which will ensure that all decision-making on, and implementation of, long-term, future adaptation is as efficient and effective as possible.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to tackle climate change.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is the first major economy to halve its emissions – having cut them by around 53% between 1990 and 2023. We have the most ambitious 2030 emissions reduction target of any major economy.
The UK over-achieved against the first, second and third carbon budgets. Taken together, the policies set out in last year’s Carbon Budget Delivery Plan keep us on track for Carbon Budgets 4, 5 and 6, our 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution, and ultimately for net zero by 2050.
Renewables, which have increased from 7% in 2010 to nearly half of our electricity generation, will help ensure our energy security – providing homegrown energy, and reducing our exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets. The UK is home to the five largest operational offshore wind farm projects in the world and no country has built more offshore wind than the UK bar China.