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1143896

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	Clean Air Zones
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by which date her Department will require Leeds and Birmingham City Councils’ approved Clean Air Zone proposals to be introduced; and for what reason the implementation of those Clean Air Zones was delayed beyond the timetable set out in the Government’s 2015 and 2017 plans for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	285442
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 09/09/2019 16:20:45 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1143758

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	Amazonia: 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 support his Department is giving to indigenous people in the Amazon affected by major forest fires; and what steps his Department is taking to discourage forest burning by logging and farming interests in Brazil.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	285148
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2019 answer text <p>The increase in forest fires in the Amazon is a tragedy for all of us, but none more so than the indigenous people who call the Amazon their home. These fires are made more likely by deforestation, and that is why we have invested nearly £120 million of our international climate finance in projects to limit deforestation, support local and indigenous people, prevent forest fires and implement the Forest Code in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes.</p><p> </p><p>We will continue to work with Brazilian partners at federal and sub-national levels to help them protect the Amazon, and to support the transition to a low carbon economy. The first phase of Defra’s £24.9 million Low-carbon Agriculture programme, for example, completed in May this year. It reached over 18,500 beneficiaries in the Amazon and Atlantic forest biomes, avoided the clearance of 175,000 hectares of land, reduced carbon emissions by 52% and delivered a seven-fold increase in livestock productivity.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Richmond Park answering member printed Zac Goldsmith question first answered 05/09/2019 16:06:03 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1143912

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Brexit
	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 meetings her Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	285146
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>We have communicated on a range of topics with local authorities, including in a conference call on 13 August along with other Government departments. Each local Authority has established a Brexit lead officer to liaise with Government.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has identified areas where our exit preparations impact local authorities. For instance Environmental Health Officers are responsible for issuing Export Health Certificates on fish and we have discussed capacity and the requirements with them.</p><p> </p><p>We regularly contribute to a cross-government working group which coordinates engagement with local authorities.</p><p> </p><p>Information on leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement relevant to a particular local authority can then be accessed by the local authority via shared channels, such as:</p><ul><li>MHCLG’s Local government Brexit preparedness page on GOV.UK;</li><li>MHCLG’s weekly e-bulletin to local authorities setting out all relevant updates for the week;</li><li>Presenting information at MHCLG’s monthly delivery board to local authority representatives;</li><li>The Food Standards Agency’s Smarter Comms platform accessed directly by regulatory officers in local authorities;</li><li>Cascading information via MHCLG’s network of nine regional local authority Chief Executives;</li><li>Using MHCLG’s newly established network of Brexit lead officers in each local authority;</li><li>Direct email messages to regulatory leads in relevant local authorities;</li><li>Engaging with and passing information through regulatory bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute or the Association of Port Health Authorities.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Information on a range of Defra’s exit projects if we leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement has been made available to local authorities through these channels. This includes information on:</p><ul><li>Exporting fish and shellfish (Export Health Certificates);</li><li>Importing fish and fisheries products (Catch Certificates);</li><li>Import control systems for animals, products of animal origin and high risk food and feed;</li><li>Food labelling changes;</li><li>The protection of habitats and species;</li><li>Waste;</li><li>Guidance for businesses exporting goods to the EU.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Local authorities have been invited to attend various meetings, including workshops, training events and roadshows on topics including:</p><ul><li>Changes to environmental regulations;</li><li>Changes to food and farming;</li><li>Changes to exports of animals and animal products;</li><li>Changes to imports of animals and animal products;</li><li>MHCLG’s regional roadshows on how local authorities will be affected by exiting the EU without a withdrawal agreement in Wakefield, Birmingham, London and Cambridge;</li><li>Training on catch certificates in Wales, Inverness, Bristol and Newcastle;</li><li>Changes to trading standards regulatory functions in Exeter;</li><li>A series of teleconferences on changes to export health certificates;</li><li>A webinar on changes affecting border or coastal local authorities;</li><li>A workshop on regulatory services hosted by MHCLG with input from other departments including Defra.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice grouped question UIN 284989 285321 286150 question first answered 09/09/2019 15:36:50 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1143897

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions
	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 the national vehicle checking platform being prepared by the Joint Air Quality Unit will enable the public to obtain information about vehicles’ real world emissions; and whether there are plans to use that information (a) as the basis for stricter emission limits for Clean Air Zones in the future and (b) to set a path towards a zero emission road network.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	285139
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 09/09/2019 16:20:14 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1142258

	registered interest
	date	25/07/2019
	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	Plastics: 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, how many tonnes of plastic waste was sent to landfill by each local authority in the most recent year for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	282526
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2019 answer text <p>Local authorities do not report waste sent to landfill by material type and therefore the Government does not hold this data.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 06/09/2019 14:06:14 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1141990

	registered interest
	date	25/07/2019
	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	Palm Oil
	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) ensure that corporations adhere to regulations on the declaration on packaging of the use of palm oil in their products and (b) enforce other regulations on the use by those organisations of that oil in their products.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	282400
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The EU Regulation (1169/2011) on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers requires that where vegetable oils or fats are listed in the ingredients of food, the vegetable origin of the oil must be given (Annex VII, Part A.8.).</p><p> </p><p>Food Business Operators are responsible for ensuring that the correct information is provided on labels and that consumers are not misled.</p><p> </p><p>Along with all food information regulations, these requirements are enforced by Trading Standards Officers.</p> answering member constituency Richmond Park answering member printed Zac Goldsmith question first answered 09/09/2019 11:50:56 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1137507

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	Palm Oil: Imports
	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 amount of imports of products containing palm oil into the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	274629
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government is not taking steps to reduce the amount of imports of products containing palm oil into the UK as we recognise the versatility of palm oil and that replacing it with other fats and oils may have unintended consequences, as alternatives usually require more land for production. This was also shown in a 2016 World Wide Fund for Nature report. The Government is, though, committed to achieving sustainably sourced palm oil, working with the private sector and non-governmental organisations to create a UK market for sustainably sourced palm oil and reduce the environmental impact of palm oil production overseas.</p><p> </p><p>In 2012, the Government established the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to improve reporting, traceability and understanding of supply chains to ensure continuous improvement and increased use of certified palm oil. Latest figures indicate that the UK’s certified sustainable palm oil rose from 16% in 2010 to 75% in 2017. The UK’s Global Resource Initiative (GRI) builds upon the Government’s work convening commodity-specific roundtables, and will identify actions the UK can take across supply chains to improve sustainability of products, including palm oil, and reduce deforestation.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is also a member of the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership that supports a 100% sustainable palm oil supply chain in Europe, and supports the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) which recently secured the Marrakesh Declaration on palm oil, under which seven countries and major companies have agreed principles for responsible palm oil in the region. We recognise that more remains to be done and will continue to explore opportunities to improve the sustainability of palm oil production.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 16/07/2019 15:39:46 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1137497

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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: Ammonia
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason agricultural ammonia emissions are not monitored from the majority of UK farms.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
	tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
	uin	274626
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>Intensive pig and poultry installations are major point sources of ammonia emissions that are regulated under the Industrial Emissions Directive. These farms are required to report their ammonia emissions annually through their pollution inventory return. This requirement applies to installations with more than 40,000 places for poultry, or 2,000 places for production pigs (over 30kg), or 750 places for sows.</p><p> </p><p>Agricultural ammonia emissions from all farm types are estimated on a national scale and reported annually through the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 16/07/2019 13:12:13 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel