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1090897

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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	Marine Protected Areas
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 estimate he has made of the cost of enforcing marine protected areas per sq km in (a) the UK and (b) UK overseas territories in each of the last four years.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	233444
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>a) We do not currently hold the requested data, however, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) estimates compliance costs for each Marine Protected Area (MPA) byelaw it makes. These estimates are documented in the impact assessment (IA) accompanying each byelaw, which are available on GOV.UK. These estimates include compliance activity such as monitoring and boardings to detect and deter offences, but do not include costs related to any prosecutions for offences committed. These figures relate to England only. There are additional costs arising from the enforcement of Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities (IFCA) byelaws but these are not currently centrally compiled.</p><p> </p><p>b) Under the Blue Belt programme, £2 million per year over the past 4 years has been allocated to the MMO to support surveillance and enforcement of designated MPAs, and to support the development of legal frameworks and surveillance and enforcement strategies for further MPA designations.</p><p>At the start of the Blue Belt programme, there was 2.5 million km² of MPAs around the UK overseas territories and by 2020, there will be over 4 million km². Additional funding support for enforcement of Pitcairn Island was provided by Pew Charitable Trusts during years 2015-present.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 21/03/2019 10:10:10 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1090954

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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	Flood Control: West Midlands
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 assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of flood defences in the West Midlands.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	233453
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>The Environment Agency (EA) and its partner Risk Management Authorities continually assess the adequacy of flood defences across the West Midlands. This includes developing future schemes, maintaining existing assets and operating equipment in response to current flood risk.</p><p> </p><p>The EA asset maintenance programme covers over 3,600 assets in the West Midlands, including barriers, embankments, trash screens and pumps. These assets are all maintained on an annual cycle to ensure their good condition and operational effectiveness at the cost of £3.2 million for 2018/19. 16,906 inspections have been completed on these assets so far in the financial year 2018/19.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the planning and development of new schemes, the EA oversees a programme to efficiently fund, design and build schemes. This currently includes investigating the potential for flood schemes at Binley Road and The Riddings, Earlsdon, in Coventry.</p><p> </p><p>Many assets, equipment and staff are currently in operation at numerous locations across the West Midlands protecting communities and the wider economy from the impacts of flooding.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 21/03/2019 10:07:40 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1090974

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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	Water Companies: Standards
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 water companies on improving their performance; if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	233597
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the water companies on improving their performance. In a published letter to Water UK on 31 January, the Secretary of State set out his key expectations for water companies following Ofwat’s initial assessment of business plans.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 25/03/2019 10:08:52 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1090975

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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	Ivory
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 help end the trade in ivory overseas; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	233598
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The UK Government recently brought global leaders together in London for the fourth international illegal wildlife trade (IWT) conference. It was attended by 1,300 representatives from 73 countries and over 400 charities, conservation groups and businesses. Sixty-four countries and the UK adopted the London 2018 declaration: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/declaration-london-conference-on-the-illegal-wildlife-trade-2018. This declaration includes commitments to tackle the illegal trade in ivory and to close ivory markets.</p><p> </p><p>We established the international Ivory Alliance 2024, which was launched at the London IWT conference and is chaired by Defra’s Secretary of State; this brings together global leaders, conservationists and public figures to close ivory markets and improve enforcement. It aims to reduce the poaching of elephants for their ivory by one third by 2020 and by two thirds by 2024, through tackling ivory demand and lobbying for domestic market closure, stronger enforcement of bans or other ivory legislation in key demand and transit markets.</p><p> </p><p>Through our Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, the UK has to date provided £18.5 million to support 61 projects to combat IWT, addressing many different ways of tackling IWT such as demand reduction, strengthening enforcement and providing alternative livelihoods. This includes projects that tackle the poaching of elephants and trade in ivory. The UK Government remains committed to stopping the abhorrent illegal wildlife trade.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 25/03/2019 10:13:18 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1090979

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using large-scale hydrogen conversion projects to deliver improvements in air quality.
tabling member constituency	Redcar
tabling member printed	Anna Turley
uin	233602
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>This question concerns both energy and air quality. Defra is the Government Department with policy responsibility for air quality and energy policy is within the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.</p><p> </p><p>We are working across Government to ensure future electricity, heat and industrial policies will together improve air quality and tackle climate change. Phasing out coal-fired power stations, improving energy efficiency, and shifting to cleaner power sources will reduce emissions of air pollution, as well as carbon.</p><p> </p><p>As we phase out oil and coal heating, we will ensure this transition improves air quality wherever possible and cost-effective to do so.</p><p> </p><p>Although Defra is unable to comment on hydrogen specifically, as part of our cross-departmental review into the role of biomass for heat and power, we have established a framework of principles and processes to ensure air quality is considered at the outset of policy development and appropriate tools and evidence are used to assess the impact on public health.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 21/03/2019 10:16:44 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4449 label Biography information for Anna Turley

1090992

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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	Disposable Wipes: Biodegradability
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 the Government is taking to ban the marketing of single-use wipes as flushable if they do not conform to the Water UK approved fine to flush standard.
tabling member constituency	Cheltenham
tabling member printed	Alex Chalk
uin	233610
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy, the actions we will take to encourage producers to take more responsibility for the lifespan of their products and make sure these are more carefully designed with resource efficiency, and waste prevention in mind. This includes wet wipes.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is working with the water industry and wet wipe manufacturers to prevent wet wipes entering our waterways and damaging our marine environment. I hosted a cross industry wet wipes roundtable in November 2016, to tackle the issue of wipes being incorrectly flushed and causing sewer blockages. Following the meeting, revised wet wipe industry guidance requires a ‘Do Not Flush’ label to be displayed far more prominently on non-flushable wipes.</p><p> </p><p>We support the water industry’s ongoing work on their voluntary ‘Fine to Flush’ label, to ensure that any wipes which are marked as being ‘flushable’, are plastic free and are truly flushable, meaning they can enter the sewage system without causing blockages or harming the environment. We are actively encouraging the water and wet wipe industries to work together to develop an agreed ‘flushability’ standard for those wipes that are intended for disposal via toilets.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 25/03/2019 10:05:50 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk

1091004

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the gasification of plastic waste.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	233460
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>Defra has not carried out such an assessment but liaises with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on its work to determine all the potential benefits from gasification and pyrolysis of waste, including plastics.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to improving the recovery of value from residual waste and encourages the development of innovative, emerging technologies to help divert waste from landfill providing they do not compete with greater recycling, reuse and prevention. We recognise the potential that these technologies can have in the decarbonisation of several sectors such as heat and transport.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 21/03/2019 10:14:20 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1091036

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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	Floods: Lancashire
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 he has made of the effect of recent flooding incidents in Lancashire on (a) local residents, (b) roads and (c) sheep; and what measures he will put in place to reduce the risk of flooding in the future.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	233456
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>On 16 March 2019 there was heavy rainfall across Lancashire, and reports of flooding to highways and alongside rivers. The Environment Agency (EA) issued flood warnings for Colne Water at Lenches, around Waterside Industrial Estate, the River Ribble at Samlesbury and Walton-le-Dale. Despite heavy rainfall affecting roads in East Lancashire and in the Ribble Valley no properties were reported as having been flooded. No road or property flooding was reported in Preston, however fire crews were called to a flooded field at Samlesbury where 170 marooned sheep were successfully rescued by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.</p><p> </p><p>The EA is delivering a joint capital programme with other Risk Management Authorities to better protect over 34,000 homes from flooding in Lancashire between 2015 and 2021 at an estimated cost of £100 million. This programme has already delivered better protection to nearly 28,000 homes and over 1,000 businesses.</p><p> </p><p>Planned future measures include the Preston South Ribble Scheme, which will improve flood mitigation to around 3,600 residential properties as well as over 300 businesses. This scheme, which is approaching the design stage, is expected to cost around £40 million and take 5-6 years to complete. Ground investigation surveys are due to start on 25 March 2019.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 25/03/2019 09:56:10 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1091050

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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, what information his Department holds on the average reading for an air quality sample in (a) the UK, (b) Hampshire and (c) Portsmouth.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	233628
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>Defra’s national network of air quality monitors currently comprises 272 sites across the UK and is managed by the Environment Agency. Sites are organised into networks that gather information for a wide range of pollutants in towns, cities as well as in rural areas. Some monitoring sites are focused on measuring specific sources – e.g. road traffic or industry whilst others are focused on background concentrations.</p><p> </p><p>All monitoring data is made available on our UK-AIR website. Data from the Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) is reported in near-real-time and is updated every hour. The website URL is: <a href="https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/</a>.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, National Statistics are produced annually which analyse trends and levels of air pollution for the UK AURN. The website URL is: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-quality-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-quality-statistics</a>.</p><p> </p><p>On the AURN there are 5 sites within Hampshire (including Southampton and Portsmouth) and 2 sites in Portsmouth. The annual statistics tool on UK-AIR can be used to determine annual mean concentrations of the measured air pollutants.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, local authorities submit their monitoring data and local actions to Defra in their Annual Status Reports. This is a requirement under the Local Air Quality Management process, underpinned by the Environment Act 1995.</p><p> </p><p>Annual mean concentrations of air pollutants in 2003 and 2018 from the Portsmouth sites on the AURN are shown in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>AURN Site</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Pollutant</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Annual Mean Concentration (µg/m<sup>3</sup>)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portsmouth</p></td><td><p>Nitrogen dioxide</p></td><td><p>2003</p></td><td><p>26</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portsmouth</p></td><td><p>Nitrogen dioxide</p></td><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portsmouth</p></td><td><p>PM<sub>10</sub></p></td><td><p>2003</p></td><td><p>24</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portsmouth Anglesea Road</p></td><td><p>Nitrogen dioxide</p></td><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>31</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portsmouth Anglesea Road</p></td><td><p>PM<sub>10</sub></p></td><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>19</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey grouped question UIN 233630 question first answered 21/03/2019 15:14:52 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1091051

registered interest
date	18/03/2019
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, under what circumstances the Government can impose clean air zone on local authorities.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	233629
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>This is a devolved matter and the below information relates to England only. Local authorities already have the power to create clean air zones.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is working closely with those English local authorities where exceedances have been identified to introduce measures to bring forward compliance with nitrogen dioxide limits as soon as possible.</p><p> </p><p>The Government will assess local authority plans to make sure they are effective, fair, good value and will deliver the required improvements in air quality in the shortest time possible. If local plans do not meet that test, the Government will reject the plans and require authorities to take action to achieve legal compliance, which could include a clean air zone.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 21/03/2019 12:50:29 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan