Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 2 April 2024 to Question 17003 on River Mersey: Water, when he expects the Environment Agency's national programmes report on its investigation into chemical failures and historic sources of chemicals across the Mersey catchment to be published.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given on 4 March 2024, UIN 17003. The Environment Agency’s national programmes investigating persistent chemical failures and historic sources of chemicals across England are on-going, and there are therefore no plans to publish a specific report on the Mersey.
In 2025, the Water Framework Directive classifications for the water bodies in the Mersey catchment will be subject to a new assessment and published. Data informing the current classifications is available on Gov.uk at https://environment.data.gov.uk/water-quality/view/landing.
As stated in the original response, the Environment Agency has national programmes investigating persistent chemical failures and historic sources of chemicals across England. These programmes are on-going, and there are therefore no plans to publish a specific report on the Mersey. In 2025, the Water Framework Directive classifications for the water bodies in the Mersey catchment will be subject to a new assessment and published. Data informing the current classifications is available on Gov.uk.
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 many inspections of shellfish waters his Department has conducted in each year since 2015.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is responsible for designating shellfish water protected areas. Investigations are carried out by other organisations that have a role in water quality in shellfish waters, such as the Environment Agency and water companies (if directed to do so by the Environment Agency). Defra does not oversee these investigations to provide a figure.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to HMS Excellent for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member’s questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 preserve psammosere environments in (a) Southport constituency and (b) across the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The sand dune habitats of the Sefton Coast benefit from a range of legal protections - as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Ramsar site and National Nature Reserves (NNRs).
Natural England (NE) works proactively with landowners, land managers, developers, and the public to ensure these important habitats are protected. The Sefton Coast Partnership has a key role in bringing stakeholders together to ensure dune habitats are conserved. The Sefton Coast was a location in the Dynamic Dunescapes project which actively restored dune habitats by removing scrub, helping dune re-mobilisation, and utilising livestock grazing to manage vegetation.
In England, we have set four legally binding targets for biodiversity, to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; to reverse species decline by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, which will include psammoseres. These targets, alongside other targets on water and air quality for example, will drive action to create and restore habitats, reduce pressures on nature, and recover species.
A recently published paper, Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions, developed jointly by Defra and Natural England, provides detail for those involved in on-the-ground activities to restore or create wildlife-rich habitats. It includes the list of wildlife-rich habitats, of which several are coastal, for example, littoral sand and muddy sand, coastal vegetated shingle and coastal sand dunes.
Natural flood management is a key part of our solution to tackling flood and coastal erosion risks. We will double the number of government funded projects which include nature-based solutions to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk. Actions such as dune restoration not only help to reduce flood risk, but also provide other environmental benefits to wider areas. In February we awarded £25 million of funding to 40 schemes around England for improving flood resilience through a new natural flood management programme.
The Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative is working to restore our estuarine and coastal habitats, including saltmarsh, to benefit people and nature. The initiative involves Defra arms-length bodies, and a partnership network of environmental non-governmental organisations. It has a mission to restore 15% of the current extent of our key estuarine and coastal habitats (such as saltmarsh, seagrass, native oyster reefs) by 2043.
Natural England is also undertaking climate change risk and vulnerability assessments across the SSSI network and developing site adaptive plans to identify climate vulnerable habitats, including sand dunes, and guide management to improve their resilience.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to Institute of Naval Medicine for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member’s questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to HMNB Portsmouth for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member’s questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to Horsea Island for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member’s questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to HMS Temeraire for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member’s questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many callouts have been made to HMS Gannet for maintenance issues relating to (a) roofing, (b) loss of heating and hot water, (c) electrics, (d) pest control and (e) damp and mould since April 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The information required to answer the hon. Member’s questions is held by Ministry of Defence contractors. Defence Infrastructure Organisation officials are working with them to produce a consolidated response which will take some time. I will write to him by early June 2024, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Animals in Science Regulation Unit's Annual Report 2022 on 25 April, what assessment they have made of the adequacy of sanctions such as inspector advice and compliance letters in response to animal welfare failings, including animals dying because of a lack of food or water.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office takes non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 very seriously. The Animals in Science Regulation Unit responds to and applies sanctions in cases of non-compliance in accordance with its compliance policy, which aims to reduce the risk of future non-compliance. More rigorous sanctions are used in cases where animal welfare is impacted or there are significant systems failures.
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit will continue to assess the proportionality of its responses to cases of non-compliance.