Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will work with the Environment Agency to develop a service level agreement with water abstraction licence holders on time for adaption when licences are changed.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In April we published our Plan for Water, which sets out the importance of ensuring a clean and plentiful water supply, including environmentally sustainable water abstraction. I expect the Environment Agency to take what action is needed to reduce the environmental damage caused by abstraction – this will include changing abstraction licences.
The Environment Agency has indicated that it will consider giving abstractors time to adapt to licence changes on a case-by-case basis. Management options could include, for example, building a storage reservoir to replace a summer spray irrigation licence to abstract from a river. The Environment Agency is currently developing its approach, but current thinking is that it will be up to abstractors to justify why they need time to adapt. There will not be any fixed adaptation time but instead the period of time will be consistent with the environmental risks, the proposed adaptation and how much notice an abstractor has already had of the changes. Where an abstraction is already damaging the environment then it may not be possible for the Environment Agency to allow any time to adapt, especially where an abstraction is damaging a designated site or species. The Government also supports the agricultural sector with its Farming Transformation Fund grants for the construction of new on-farm reservoirs. We are also supporting the creation of national and regional Water Resource Management Plans for agriculture, which will help farmers plan their water resources and ensure better resilience to drought.
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, what recent discussions her Department has had with the (a) Welsh Government and (b) Natural Resources Wales on their guidance to local authorities on river pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling pollution, including phosphorous pollution, is a priority for this government, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that this is effectively addressed in the Wye Valley.
On 30th May the Secretary of State visited Hereford to discuss the River Wye at a roundtable with Hereford Council, the Welsh Government, local environmental groups and farming representatives. She agreed to consider how national policies and closer co-operation with the Welsh Government could better help local partners to restore the river.
The Government’s Plan for Water sets out a range of support to farmers, including those in the Wye, to help them transition to more sustainable agriculture and reduce their pollution. This support includes more than doubling the money for slurry infrastructure to £34 million nationally through our grant scheme to help prevent unnecessary spreading, of which £1.2m has been allocated to farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. We intend to adapt the grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better manure management supports adoption of storage, processing, and application of manures to aid their responsible management. The offer will also look to promote uptake of innovative treatments that can produce fertilisers from organic materials (including phosphate stripping technology) and circular use of slurry, such as fugitive gas capture for energy and fuel. In addition, our farming schemes are paying farmers for actions that protect our rivers and reduce run off, helping strengthen their role as stewards of the British countryside and rewarding them for work to look after our environment now, and in the long-term.
The Environment Agency (EA) is prioritising actions in the River Wye catchment. Around 70% of the excess phosphate comes from agricultural sources and one of the EA’s major focuses has been helping farmers better understand their impacts. We are funding extra Environment Agency (EA) inspectors to visit farms with 80 new officers in place and a significant increase in annual inspections in England to 4,000. The EA has prioritised this funding to focus on high-risk catchments including the Wye.
We have doubled the funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme. This helps farmers reduce water and air pollution through free one to one advice. Approximately fifty per cent of Natural England (NE)’s CSF resource is targeted in the Wye, giving advice to farmers about appropriate manure management and steps to reduce diffuse pollution through options like Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-tier.
The EA and NE also work in partnership with other partners across the entire Wye catchment. This includes working with communities through a Citizen Science programme, with Avara foods, and others in the food supply chain to find more opportunities for nutrient reduction, and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are already investing in a number of wastewater treatment works in the Wye catchment to reduce nutrient loads in wastewater by 2025. This includes work to add phosphate strippers and integrated wetlands to wastewater treatment works to reduce the levels of phosphorus in wastewater.
Welsh Government guidance to local authorities is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government, but statutory agencies and other organisations are part of a Nutrient Management Board (NMB) that come together to provide oversight and direction to all involved to drive actions to improve water quality in the Wye catchment. Such oversight is critical given the complexity of the issues and how they are all interlink. NE, EA and NRW and other partners are also part of five technical advisory groups for the Wye covering evidence, farm advice, regulation, poultry, and projects and innovation.
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, what steps her Department is taking to promote phosphate stripping technology as a means of reducing the levels of phosphate in the River Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling pollution, including phosphorous pollution, is a priority for this government, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that this is effectively addressed in the Wye Valley.
On 30th May the Secretary of State visited Hereford to discuss the River Wye at a roundtable with Hereford Council, the Welsh Government, local environmental groups and farming representatives. She agreed to consider how national policies and closer co-operation with the Welsh Government could better help local partners to restore the river.
The Government’s Plan for Water sets out a range of support to farmers, including those in the Wye, to help them transition to more sustainable agriculture and reduce their pollution. This support includes more than doubling the money for slurry infrastructure to £34 million nationally through our grant scheme to help prevent unnecessary spreading, of which £1.2m has been allocated to farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. We intend to adapt the grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better manure management supports adoption of storage, processing, and application of manures to aid their responsible management. The offer will also look to promote uptake of innovative treatments that can produce fertilisers from organic materials (including phosphate stripping technology) and circular use of slurry, such as fugitive gas capture for energy and fuel. In addition, our farming schemes are paying farmers for actions that protect our rivers and reduce run off, helping strengthen their role as stewards of the British countryside and rewarding them for work to look after our environment now, and in the long-term.
The Environment Agency (EA) is prioritising actions in the River Wye catchment. Around 70% of the excess phosphate comes from agricultural sources and one of the EA’s major focuses has been helping farmers better understand their impacts. We are funding extra Environment Agency (EA) inspectors to visit farms with 80 new officers in place and a significant increase in annual inspections in England to 4,000. The EA has prioritised this funding to focus on high-risk catchments including the Wye.
We have doubled the funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme. This helps farmers reduce water and air pollution through free one to one advice. Approximately fifty per cent of Natural England (NE)’s CSF resource is targeted in the Wye, giving advice to farmers about appropriate manure management and steps to reduce diffuse pollution through options like Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-tier.
The EA and NE also work in partnership with other partners across the entire Wye catchment. This includes working with communities through a Citizen Science programme, with Avara foods, and others in the food supply chain to find more opportunities for nutrient reduction, and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are already investing in a number of wastewater treatment works in the Wye catchment to reduce nutrient loads in wastewater by 2025. This includes work to add phosphate strippers and integrated wetlands to wastewater treatment works to reduce the levels of phosphorus in wastewater.
Welsh Government guidance to local authorities is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government, but statutory agencies and other organisations are part of a Nutrient Management Board (NMB) that come together to provide oversight and direction to all involved to drive actions to improve water quality in the Wye catchment. Such oversight is critical given the complexity of the issues and how they are all interlink. NE, EA and NRW and other partners are also part of five technical advisory groups for the Wye covering evidence, farm advice, regulation, poultry, and projects and innovation.
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, what steps her Department are taking to tackle phosphate pollution in the River Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling pollution, including phosphorous pollution, is a priority for this government, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that this is effectively addressed in the Wye Valley.
On 30th May the Secretary of State visited Hereford to discuss the River Wye at a roundtable with Hereford Council, the Welsh Government, local environmental groups and farming representatives. She agreed to consider how national policies and closer co-operation with the Welsh Government could better help local partners to restore the river.
The Government’s Plan for Water sets out a range of support to farmers, including those in the Wye, to help them transition to more sustainable agriculture and reduce their pollution. This support includes more than doubling the money for slurry infrastructure to £34 million nationally through our grant scheme to help prevent unnecessary spreading, of which £1.2m has been allocated to farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. We intend to adapt the grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better manure management supports adoption of storage, processing, and application of manures to aid their responsible management. The offer will also look to promote uptake of innovative treatments that can produce fertilisers from organic materials (including phosphate stripping technology) and circular use of slurry, such as fugitive gas capture for energy and fuel. In addition, our farming schemes are paying farmers for actions that protect our rivers and reduce run off, helping strengthen their role as stewards of the British countryside and rewarding them for work to look after our environment now, and in the long-term.
The Environment Agency (EA) is prioritising actions in the River Wye catchment. Around 70% of the excess phosphate comes from agricultural sources and one of the EA’s major focuses has been helping farmers better understand their impacts. We are funding extra Environment Agency (EA) inspectors to visit farms with 80 new officers in place and a significant increase in annual inspections in England to 4,000. The EA has prioritised this funding to focus on high-risk catchments including the Wye.
We have doubled the funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme. This helps farmers reduce water and air pollution through free one to one advice. Approximately fifty per cent of Natural England (NE)’s CSF resource is targeted in the Wye, giving advice to farmers about appropriate manure management and steps to reduce diffuse pollution through options like Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-tier.
The EA and NE also work in partnership with other partners across the entire Wye catchment. This includes working with communities through a Citizen Science programme, with Avara foods, and others in the food supply chain to find more opportunities for nutrient reduction, and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are already investing in a number of wastewater treatment works in the Wye catchment to reduce nutrient loads in wastewater by 2025. This includes work to add phosphate strippers and integrated wetlands to wastewater treatment works to reduce the levels of phosphorus in wastewater.
Welsh Government guidance to local authorities is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government, but statutory agencies and other organisations are part of a Nutrient Management Board (NMB) that come together to provide oversight and direction to all involved to drive actions to improve water quality in the Wye catchment. Such oversight is critical given the complexity of the issues and how they are all interlink. NE, EA and NRW and other partners are also part of five technical advisory groups for the Wye covering evidence, farm advice, regulation, poultry, and projects and innovation.
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, what discussions she has had with the Welsh government on tackling phosphate pollution in the River Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling pollution, including phosphorous pollution, is a priority for this government, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that this is effectively addressed in the Wye Valley.
On 30th May the Secretary of State visited Hereford to discuss the River Wye at a roundtable with Hereford Council, the Welsh Government, local environmental groups and farming representatives. She agreed to consider how national policies and closer co-operation with the Welsh Government could better help local partners to restore the river.
The Government’s Plan for Water sets out a range of support to farmers, including those in the Wye, to help them transition to more sustainable agriculture and reduce their pollution. This support includes more than doubling the money for slurry infrastructure to £34 million nationally through our grant scheme to help prevent unnecessary spreading, of which £1.2m has been allocated to farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. We intend to adapt the grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better manure management supports adoption of storage, processing, and application of manures to aid their responsible management. The offer will also look to promote uptake of innovative treatments that can produce fertilisers from organic materials (including phosphate stripping technology) and circular use of slurry, such as fugitive gas capture for energy and fuel. In addition, our farming schemes are paying farmers for actions that protect our rivers and reduce run off, helping strengthen their role as stewards of the British countryside and rewarding them for work to look after our environment now, and in the long-term.
The Environment Agency (EA) is prioritising actions in the River Wye catchment. Around 70% of the excess phosphate comes from agricultural sources and one of the EA’s major focuses has been helping farmers better understand their impacts. We are funding extra Environment Agency (EA) inspectors to visit farms with 80 new officers in place and a significant increase in annual inspections in England to 4,000. The EA has prioritised this funding to focus on high-risk catchments including the Wye.
We have doubled the funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme. This helps farmers reduce water and air pollution through free one to one advice. Approximately fifty per cent of Natural England (NE)’s CSF resource is targeted in the Wye, giving advice to farmers about appropriate manure management and steps to reduce diffuse pollution through options like Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-tier.
The EA and NE also work in partnership with other partners across the entire Wye catchment. This includes working with communities through a Citizen Science programme, with Avara foods, and others in the food supply chain to find more opportunities for nutrient reduction, and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are already investing in a number of wastewater treatment works in the Wye catchment to reduce nutrient loads in wastewater by 2025. This includes work to add phosphate strippers and integrated wetlands to wastewater treatment works to reduce the levels of phosphorus in wastewater.
Welsh Government guidance to local authorities is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government, but statutory agencies and other organisations are part of a Nutrient Management Board (NMB) that come together to provide oversight and direction to all involved to drive actions to improve water quality in the Wye catchment. Such oversight is critical given the complexity of the issues and how they are all interlink. NE, EA and NRW and other partners are also part of five technical advisory groups for the Wye covering evidence, farm advice, regulation, poultry, and projects and innovation.
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, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) the Environment Agency and (b) Natural England are reducing phosphate pollution in the River Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling pollution, including phosphorous pollution, is a priority for this government, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that this is effectively addressed in the Wye Valley.
On 30th May the Secretary of State visited Hereford to discuss the River Wye at a roundtable with Hereford Council, the Welsh Government, local environmental groups and farming representatives. She agreed to consider how national policies and closer co-operation with the Welsh Government could better help local partners to restore the river.
The Government’s Plan for Water sets out a range of support to farmers, including those in the Wye, to help them transition to more sustainable agriculture and reduce their pollution. This support includes more than doubling the money for slurry infrastructure to £34 million nationally through our grant scheme to help prevent unnecessary spreading, of which £1.2m has been allocated to farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. We intend to adapt the grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better manure management supports adoption of storage, processing, and application of manures to aid their responsible management. The offer will also look to promote uptake of innovative treatments that can produce fertilisers from organic materials (including phosphate stripping technology) and circular use of slurry, such as fugitive gas capture for energy and fuel. In addition, our farming schemes are paying farmers for actions that protect our rivers and reduce run off, helping strengthen their role as stewards of the British countryside and rewarding them for work to look after our environment now, and in the long-term.
The Environment Agency (EA) is prioritising actions in the River Wye catchment. Around 70% of the excess phosphate comes from agricultural sources and one of the EA’s major focuses has been helping farmers better understand their impacts. We are funding extra Environment Agency (EA) inspectors to visit farms with 80 new officers in place and a significant increase in annual inspections in England to 4,000. The EA has prioritised this funding to focus on high-risk catchments including the Wye.
We have doubled the funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme. This helps farmers reduce water and air pollution through free one to one advice. Approximately fifty per cent of Natural England (NE)’s CSF resource is targeted in the Wye, giving advice to farmers about appropriate manure management and steps to reduce diffuse pollution through options like Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-tier.
The EA and NE also work in partnership with other partners across the entire Wye catchment. This includes working with communities through a Citizen Science programme, with Avara foods, and others in the food supply chain to find more opportunities for nutrient reduction, and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are already investing in a number of wastewater treatment works in the Wye catchment to reduce nutrient loads in wastewater by 2025. This includes work to add phosphate strippers and integrated wetlands to wastewater treatment works to reduce the levels of phosphorus in wastewater.
Welsh Government guidance to local authorities is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government, but statutory agencies and other organisations are part of a Nutrient Management Board (NMB) that come together to provide oversight and direction to all involved to drive actions to improve water quality in the Wye catchment. Such oversight is critical given the complexity of the issues and how they are all interlink. NE, EA and NRW and other partners are also part of five technical advisory groups for the Wye covering evidence, farm advice, regulation, poultry, and projects and innovation.
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, what discussions her Department has had with the Welsh Government on tackling pollution in the River Wye.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Tackling pollution, including phosphorous pollution, is a priority for this government, and we are working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure that this is effectively addressed in the Wye Valley.
On 30th May the Secretary of State visited Hereford to discuss the River Wye at a roundtable with Hereford Council, the Welsh Government, local environmental groups and farming representatives. She agreed to consider how national policies and closer co-operation with the Welsh Government could better help local partners to restore the river.
The Government’s Plan for Water sets out a range of support to farmers, including those in the Wye, to help them transition to more sustainable agriculture and reduce their pollution. This support includes more than doubling the money for slurry infrastructure to £34 million nationally through our grant scheme to help prevent unnecessary spreading, of which £1.2m has been allocated to farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. We intend to adapt the grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better manure management supports adoption of storage, processing, and application of manures to aid their responsible management. The offer will also look to promote uptake of innovative treatments that can produce fertilisers from organic materials (including phosphate stripping technology) and circular use of slurry, such as fugitive gas capture for energy and fuel. In addition, our farming schemes are paying farmers for actions that protect our rivers and reduce run off, helping strengthen their role as stewards of the British countryside and rewarding them for work to look after our environment now, and in the long-term.
The Environment Agency (EA) is prioritising actions in the River Wye catchment. Around 70% of the excess phosphate comes from agricultural sources and one of the EA’s major focuses has been helping farmers better understand their impacts. We are funding extra Environment Agency (EA) inspectors to visit farms with 80 new officers in place and a significant increase in annual inspections in England to 4,000. The EA has prioritised this funding to focus on high-risk catchments including the Wye.
We have doubled the funding for the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme. This helps farmers reduce water and air pollution through free one to one advice. Approximately fifty per cent of Natural England (NE)’s CSF resource is targeted in the Wye, giving advice to farmers about appropriate manure management and steps to reduce diffuse pollution through options like Countryside Stewardship (CS) Mid-tier.
The EA and NE also work in partnership with other partners across the entire Wye catchment. This includes working with communities through a Citizen Science programme, with Avara foods, and others in the food supply chain to find more opportunities for nutrient reduction, and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. Dwr Cymru Welsh Water are already investing in a number of wastewater treatment works in the Wye catchment to reduce nutrient loads in wastewater by 2025. This includes work to add phosphate strippers and integrated wetlands to wastewater treatment works to reduce the levels of phosphorus in wastewater.
Welsh Government guidance to local authorities is a devolved matter for the Welsh Government, but statutory agencies and other organisations are part of a Nutrient Management Board (NMB) that come together to provide oversight and direction to all involved to drive actions to improve water quality in the Wye catchment. Such oversight is critical given the complexity of the issues and how they are all interlink. NE, EA and NRW and other partners are also part of five technical advisory groups for the Wye covering evidence, farm advice, regulation, poultry, and projects and innovation.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of his Department's combined resource and capital expenditure is forecast to be spent on active travel projects in (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Around £3 billion is projected to be invested in active travel in the 5 years up to 2025, despite the need for efficiency savings across Government due to global financial pressures. This sum includes at least £250 million of ringfenced revenue and capital funding for active travel infrastructure over the two-year period of 2023-24 to 2024-25. The £3 billion also includes funding from wider sources such as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements and the Levelling Up Fund.
Planned expenditure on ringfenced active travel funding (£250m across 2023-24 and 2024-25), represents around 0.4% and 0.5% of the Department’s total planned expenditure for the period of 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The budget for the 2025-26 financial year has not yet been agreed and will be set as part of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of his Department's combined resource and capital expenditure was spent on active travel projects in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Around £3 billion is projected to be invested in active travel in the 5 years up to 2025, despite the need for efficiency savings across Government due to global financial pressures. This includes £273m spent on ringfenced active travel projects and programmes in the financial year of 2022-23. This represents 1% of the department’s total expenditure in 2022-23. In addition to this, funding was spent on active travel projects from wider sources such as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements and the Levelling Up Fund.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the use of hydrotreated vegetable oil on his net-zero targets.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil is one type of biofuel that offers a lower carbon alternative to fossil diesel. As sustainable biomass is a limited resource, the Government will prioritise its use in sectors that offer the greatest opportunity to reduce emissions, and where there are fewest options to decarbonise through alternative low carbon technologies.