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1133999

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Climate Change
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle anthropogenic climate change and global warming.
	tabling member constituency	Crewe and Nantwich
	tabling member printed	Laura Smith
	uin	268492
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>The government introduced legislation for a new net-zero emissions target for 2050, which was passed by Parliament last month.</p><p> </p><p>Defra works closely with the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the natural resources sector, including agriculture, forestry, land-use, waste and resources, and fluorinated gases, as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy.</p><p> </p><p>The UK was the first country in the EU to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which will through reducing the use of hydrofluorocarbon greenhouse gases lead to a reduction of emissions by 85% by 2036.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We support nature-based solutions through our international aid programmes on forestry and mangroves/blue forests that act as effective carbon sinks as well as provide for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.</p><p> </p><p>We will publish the England Peat Strategy to protect existing carbon stores and as part of this we are establishing a Lowland Agricultural Peat Taskforce to develop a more sustainable future for agriculture on lowland peatland in England. Following on from our Resources and Waste Strategy, we are consulting on food waste collection schemes which will divert food waste from landfill.</p><p> </p><p>As the cornerstone of new agricultural policy, the new Environmental Land Management Scheme will pay public money for the provision of environmental public goods, such as the mitigation of and adaption to climate change. This year, we will start developing a new emissions reduction plan for agriculture, in which we will set out our long-term vision for a more productive, low-carbon farming sector.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The action we are taking will continue our tradition in climate leadership.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/07/2019 16:04:10 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4648 label Biography information for Laura Smith

1134047

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Plastics
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the effect of plasticulture on the environment; and what support his Department is giving to farmers to tackle plastic waste within their businesses.
	tabling member constituency	Delyn
	tabling member printed	David Hanson
	uin	268406
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>This is a devolved matter and the answer applies to England only.</p><p>Our Resources and Waste Strategy, published in December last year, builds on commitments in our 25 Year Environment Plan and sets out plans to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. This is a seismic shift – it is not just about single use plastics, for example, but about all plastics, including those used in agriculture.</p><p>Plastics are used on farms for a number of reasons. Wrapping hay and silage bales, transporting feed and fertiliser, and insulating and protecting soil and horticultural crops, for example. The materials used are mostly recyclable, however attempts to collect it for recycling have often been unsuccessful, due to high levels of contamination making the recycling process uneconomic. The Government recognises the issues caused by inappropriate disposal of agricultural plastic, and we are working with the Environment Agency and the Waste and Resources Action Programme to explore how Government policy can address them.</p><p>Plastics used in agriculture are ultimately a small proportion of the total volume of plastics used, and the Government is taking a prioritised approach to tackling the overarching problem of plastic pollution. Earlier this year we published consultations on a number of key policy measures to significantly change the way that we manage our waste and to reduce the impacts of plastic on the environment: reforming existing packaging waste regulations; exploring the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks containers; and increasing consistency in the recycling system, along with a parallel consultation on the plastic packaging tax that the Chancellor announced in the Budget last year. We will publish the Government responses to these consultations on the GOV.UK website in due course.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/07/2019 13:28:22 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	533 label Biography information for Lord Hanson of Flint

1134172

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Air Pollution
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people in England are living in an area with an illegal level of air pollution.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	268387
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK meets legal limits for concentrations of all air pollutants, with the exception of nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>). Calculating peoples’ annual NO<sub>2</sub> exposure is not straightforward, because an individual’s exposure varies as they move about their daily life. The Government therefore does not hold estimates of the number of people exposed to NO<sub>2</sub> levels above legal limits.</p><p> </p><p>The vast majority of exceedances of the NO<sub>2</sub> limits occur at roadside locations within ten metres of the kerb. We are working with a number of local authorities to reduce roadside NO<sub>2</sub> concentrations, and our latest modelling indicates that 9% of the road links assessed exceeded NO<sub>2</sub> limits.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/07/2019 09:30:33 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1134175

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Recycling
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce waste to landfill and (b) increase waste to recycling.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	268388
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to increasing both the quantity and quality of waste materials that are recycled and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.</p><p>The Waste Infrastructure Delivery Programme was established to provide support to local authorities to help accelerate the building of infrastructure needed to treat residual waste and increase recycling, minimising waste going to landfill to help meet our landfill diversion targets, which we reached in 2013.</p><p>One of the proposals in our recent consultation ‘Consistency in household and business recycling collections in England’ was for all collectors of waste to collect a core set of materials from households and businesses. We believe that this will improve the opportunity for householders to increase what they can recycle.</p><p>We are analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish the Government’s response to it shortly.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/07/2019 15:28:53 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1134178

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Forests: Fires
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department takes to (a) prevent, (b) tackle and (c) deal with the aftermath of forest fires.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	268390
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office has overall responsibility for wildfires and publishes data which shows most fires in grassland, woodland and crops are set deliberately.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Data provided by the Home Office is analysed and published by the Forestry Commission in addition to guidance that explains how owners can 1) reduce the risk of wildfire damaging their woodlands and 2) help woodlands recover from forest fires. The Forestry Commission holds workshops on Wildfire Prevention; over 150 land managers from the private and public sector have attended these. The Forestry Commission has an incident specific contingency plan for dealing with severe wildfire. In January 2019 this plan was tested in a major exercise which included staff from Defra, the Environment Agency, Public Health England, Natural England, Avon and Somerset Police, Forestry England and Forest Research.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Defra are currently undertaking a review of wildfire in relation to moorland and peatland management recognising that woodland habitats are a factor in such wildfires.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 02/07/2019 15:51:13 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1134197

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Climate Change
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the UK is taking steps with the Government of China to promote natural climate solutions at the UN’s Climate and Biodiversity Summits in 2020, and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	268449
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>Yes. The Government is a world leader in calling for nature based solutions to be recognised as critical in addressing climate action. I met the Environment Minister for China at the G20 to discuss this and The Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of Parties to be held in China next year.</p><p> </p><p>The UN Climate Action Summit this September provides a more immediate opportunity to deliver ambitious initiatives that tackle both climate change and biodiversity loss. The UK is co-leading the Resilience and Adaptation theme for the Summit and is actively engaging with other partners who are leading and developing the other themes. This includes China, who is co-leading the Nature Based Solutions theme for the Summit.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 01/07/2019 13:32:16 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1134198

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Climate Change
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to pursue and implement nature-based solutions domestically to (a) mitigate and (b) adapt to climate change and (c) protect and restore nature; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	268450
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>Nature-based solutions are key to tackling and strengthening resilience to climate change impacts. Our wetlands, forests and grasslands capture carbon – and provide other environmental benefits, such as flood management, pollination, and biodiversity. The Government is deploying such solutions to improve our natural environment and our Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan sets out key policies on how improving nature can help tackle climate change.</p><p> </p><p>Tree planting is one of the main contributors to nature-based carbon sequestration. Our manifesto committed to planting 11 million trees by 2022, and a further 1 million trees in our towns and cities. We also have a long term aspiration to increase woodland cover in England from 10% to 12% by 2060. To achieve these goals, in the Autumn Budget the Chancellor announced £10m for an Urban Trees Challenge Fund – which is now open for applications - and £50m to help plant new woodlands through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee.</p><p> </p><p>Peatlands are our largest terrestrial carbon store. Organic or peat soils make up 11% of England’s total land area, over 70% of which are drained or in poor condition. We have committed to publishing an England Peatland Strategy. The strategy sets out our vision to reverse decline in peatlands and restore them. Work is underway on four large-scale peatland restoration projects across England, to which we have allocated £10m, and will restore 5,851 ha of degraded peatlands. We are also improving saltmarshes.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England has an ongoing uplands programme with landowners and we will also be setting up a Lowland Agricultural Peatland Taskforce to help sustainably manage and restore peatland habitats. Once restored, our healthy functioning peatlands will provide a range of public benefits in addition to carbon storage, including flood mitigation and biodiversity rich habitats.</p><p> </p><p>Under the new Environmental Land Management Scheme we will pay public money for the provision of environmental public goods. These public goods will include the mitigation of and adaption to climate change.</p><p> </p><p>We also support nature-based solutions through our international aid programmes on forestry and mangroves/blue forests.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 02/07/2019 10:47:30 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1133850

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Radioactive Waste
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the environmental effects of the dumping of radioactive waste in Hurd Deep and Atlantic Deep as detailed in the Ministry of Defence archived document entitled British Isles Explosive Dumping Grounds.
	tabling member constituency	Edinburgh North and Leith
	tabling member printed	Deidre Brock
	uin	267753
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>Dumping of radioactive waste (before being banned under the London Convention of 1972 for highly contaminated and in 1993 for low contaminated waste) was subject to approval by the MAFF Approval Committee, whose procedures included careful checks on the containment and transport of the waste. Both the Hurd Deep and Atlantic Deep sites have been subject to monitoring.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Hurd Deep:</strong></p><p> </p><p>From 1946 to 1993, the UK disposed of amounts of both civilian and radioactive waste at sea, in accordance with national policy and legislation, and with later international agreements regulating such disposals. These disposals were seen at the time as routine and uncontroversial.</p><p> </p><p>The total estimated activities in curies (TBq) for these dumpings were: Alpha activity, 400 curies (14.8 TBq); Beta-Gamma activity, 1,200 curies (44.4 TBq). The very low active waste (mainly sludges) dumped into the Hurd Deep was packed in approved light metal drums to permit rapid dispersion of the contents. The UK regularly monitors the Channel Island States and report the results in the annually produced RIFE (Radioactivity in Food and the Environment) report series. These reports can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/radioactivity-in-food-and-the-environment-rife-reports" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/radioactivity-in-food-and-the-environment-rife-reports</a></p><p> </p><p>In addition, Cefas and the Food Standards Agency have jointly published a peer reviewed paper (MARINE RADIOACTIVITY IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS, 1990 – 2009) which looked further at time trends over around 20 years. UK monitoring shows that there is no evidence for significant releases of radioactivity from the Hurd Deep site and the effects of discharges from local sources have continued to be of negligible radiological significance.</p><p> </p><p><strong>North Atlantic Dump site:</strong></p><p> </p><p>The Nuclear Energy Agency’s (NEA) surveillance of the North-East Atlantic dump site used by OECD/NEA member countries (including the UK) started in 1977 and ended in 1995. In 1985, the OECD/NEA Co-ordinated Research and Environmental Surveillance Programme (CRESP) delivered a report on the dump site. The report concluded that the North-East Atlantic dump site posed negligible human radiological risk although the report noted that in the absence of baseline data on the benthic biology, it was difficult to draw firm conclusions about the environmental impacts. A new report on the dump site conducted by CRESP in 1996 reached the same conclusions.</p><p> </p><p>A summary of the “Historic Dumping of Low-Level Radioactive Waste in the North-East Atlantic” was recently compiled by the Radioactive Substances Committee of OSPAR. OSPAR’s document can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.ospar.org/site/assets/files/1173/factsheet_historic_dumping_final.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ospar.org/site/assets/files/1173/factsheet_historic_dumping_final.pdf</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/06/2019 15:32:54 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4417 label Biography information for Deidre Brock

1133868

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Wood-burning Stoves
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government is reviewing the planning regulations on the installation of wood burning stove chimneys near residential properties as part of the ongoing review into domestic fuel burners.
	tabling member constituency	Cheltenham
	tabling member printed	Alex Chalk
	uin	267761
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>No. The focus is on the fuels used and guidance on how stoves should be best used.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/06/2019 15:44:57 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk

1133881

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Air Pollution: Schools
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on improving air quality around schools.
	tabling member constituency	Twickenham
	tabling member printed	Sir Vince Cable
	uin	267708
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Ministers across Government Departments about air pollution and how to reduce it.</p><p> </p><p>No estimate has been made by the Government. Local authorities are best placed to target action to improve local air quality, and are required to review and assess local air quality and to take action where there are high levels of air pollution. They have discretionary powers to restrict car access to schools and enforce anti-idling laws outside schools. In March this year Public Health England published the report <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/795185/Review_of_interventions_to_improve_air_quality.pdf" target="_blank">Review of interventions to improve outdoor air quality and public health</a>. This recommended that local authorities, as part of their local Review of interventions to improve outdoor air quality and public health consider a range of interventions to reduce air pollution in the vicinity of schools and reduce children’s exposure accordingly.</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s Air Quality Grant Programme provides funding to local authorities for projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions which may include action targeting schools. The Government has awarded over £60 million in funding since the air quality grant started in 1997, including £3 million in 2018/19.</p><p> </p><p>The following air quality grant award money has been allocated specifically to improve air quality around schools since 2017:</p><p> </p><p><strong>2016/17</strong></p><ul><li>London Borough of Islington Local school focused awareness and engagement campaign (£50,000).</li><li>Sheffield City Council Air Aware communications campaign (engaging local GPs, community groups and schools) (£50,000)</li></ul><p><strong>2017/18</strong></p><ul><li>Blaby District Council Schools and SMEs behavioural change and action plan (£59,000).</li><li>Canterbury City Council Awareness campaign in schools and community on transport and domestic burning stoves (£33,354).</li><li>East Sussex County Council (with West Sussex, Brighton, Chichester, Horsham, Adur, Crawley, Mid Sussex, Worthing, Lewes) Action plan for schools and businesses in AQMAs (£105,900).</li><li>Spelthorne Borough Council (Surrey Air Alliance) Awareness campaign in schools across the county (£145,188).</li></ul><p><strong>2018/19</strong></p><ul><li>Colchester Borough Council Engagement and awareness project throughout the transport network to promote air quality awareness and transport choices in schools (£249,100)</li><li>Hertsmere Borough Council Cleaner Air 4 Hertsmere Schools awareness project to influence travel behaviour (£37,500).</li><li>Islington London Borough Council NO2 indoor study in school to test sensor performance and efficiency of filter systems (£20,000)</li><li>Slough Borough Council Testing of Vaisla sensors around schools to monitor AQ and use data to promote behaviour change (£99,125).</li></ul> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey grouped question UIN 267709 267710 267711 question first answered 26/06/2019 12:05:28 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	207 label Biography information for Sir Vince Cable