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1131451

registered interest
date	11/06/2019
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	Water Supply
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to balance the demands for water from a growing population with the amount of water in the environment that can sustainably be withdrawn as a result of the impact of climate change.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL16245
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The government is working closely with other water regulators and the water industry to improve the resilience of water supplies. The government recognises continued action is required and it is committed to a ‘twin track approach’, of reducing demand for water and increasing supply in parallel.</p><p> </p><p>Water companies have a statutory duty to provide clean and reliable water to customers under the Water Industry Act 1991. To fulfil this duty there is a statutory requirement to maintain water resources management plans, which balance water supply and demand at least twenty-five years into the future.</p><p> </p><p>The government, the Environment Agency and Ofwat issued guidance to water companies in 2016 on how they should be planning to supply water to a growing population, while protecting and enhancing our environment, including taking appropriate action to respond to climate projections. Water companies are currently revising their plans.</p><p> </p><p>The government is taking steps to improve water resources planning to ensure that there is better collaboration between water companies and other water using sectors on their water supply resilience. This includes the Environment Agency developing a National Framework for water resources, which use evidence to illustrate the regional and national challenge of water availability. The government has also consulted on legislative improvements to ensure that water companies’ plans are informed by effective collaboration.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency is also implementing the abstraction plan, published in 2017. This includes work to bring together the Environment Agency, abstractors and catchment groups to develop local solutions to protect and enhance the environment, and improve access to water.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 24/06/2019 12:25:41 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1131452

registered interest
date	11/06/2019
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	Tree Planting
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards meeting the pledge to plant 11 million trees between 2015 and 2020; and whether those trees are additional rather than replacement trees.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL16246
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government is on course to plant 11 million trees this Parliament 2017-22. Woodland creation is a key activity in our 25 year Environment Plan.</p><p> </p><p>The Forestry Commission routinely publish statistics on planting rates for new woodland creation as part of their Corporate Performance Indicators. The latest figures show that from April 2017 to March 2019 at least 3.64 million trees have been planted, equivalent to approximately 2,318 hectares of woodland creation. These figures concern additional rather than replacement trees and as such exclude trees planted to restock woodland after timber harvesting operations.</p><p> </p><p>Government’s support for this woodland creation has predominantly been from the Countryside Stewardship scheme. Further Government support has been through the Environment Agency and National Forest Company.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In the Autumn Budget the Government announced an additional £60 million for tree planting initiatives, comprising £10 million to fund urban tree planting and £50 million for a Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme. This will add to other new planting in the pipeline, supported by the High Speed 2 Woodland Fund, the Woodland Carbon Fund and Government’s kick start investment in the Northern Forest.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 25/06/2019 16:06:32 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1131453

registered interest
date	11/06/2019
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	Sites of Special Scientific Interest
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the target of restoring 50 per cent of Sites of Special Scientific Interest by 2020 has been dropped; and if so, why.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL16247
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The target in the England Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 is still in place. We and Natural England are increasingly focused on delivering the more ambitious target, under our 25 Year Environment Plan. This commits to restoring 75% of our one million hectares of land and freshwater in protected sites to favourable condition.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 25/06/2019 13:37:44 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1131454

registered interest
date	11/06/2019
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	Food
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what cross-departmental actions are being taken to develop an integrated food policy addressing nutrition, food inequalities and good farming practice.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL16248
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>Government is committed to publishing a new National Food Strategy after the UK has left the EU. We are currently in the scoping phase and the Terms of Reference will be published shortly following the cross-Government agreement process.</p><p> </p><p>Defra’s Secretary of State has invited Henry Dimbleby, as Defra’s lead Non-Executive Director, to lead an independent review to inform this strategy. Subsequently the Government will develop a National Food Strategy white paper informed by this independent review, among other things. This is planned for six months after the publication of the review.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has engaged with other Government departments that have an interest in the Food Strategy. As many potential issues for inclusion fall outside Defra’s direct remit, effective and sustained cross Government working will be critical to the Strategy’s success.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 25/06/2019 16:18:07 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1086366

registered interest
date	11/03/2019
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	Eggs: Imports
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to permit the sale of eggs and egg products from non-EU countries produced in barren battery cages; and if such sales are permitted, what assessment they have made of the impact on eggs produced in the UK to different welfare standards.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL14399
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government is proud of this country’s high standards of food safety and animal welfare, including for farm animals.</p><p>In the UK and EU, barren battery cages for commercial production of eggs have been banned since 2012.</p><p>Once we have left the EU there will be an opportunity to consider further our position towards these imports.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 25/03/2019 18:00:15 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1079611

registered interest
date	01/03/2019
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	Agriculture: Seasonal Workers
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether consideration will be given to extending the pilot replacement Seasonal Agricultural Workers (SAWs) Scheme to allow previous licensed SAWs operators to recruit sufficient skilled seasonal manual workers for the coming growing season.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL14153
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The Seasonal Workers Pilot is different to the previous Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme, which ran until 2013.</p><p> </p><p>The pilot will be run by two operators who will act as third party providers of labour. The Home Office have concluded that two scheme operators is the optimal number for managing this pilot. Defra ran a competitive selection process to select the two operators.</p><p> </p><p>The pilot is not designed to meet the full labour needs of the horticultural sector. Rather, the Government is seeking to evaluate the pilot’s ability to assist in alleviating labour shortages during peak production periods. We wish to assess fully this pilot before taking any decisions on future arrangements.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 15/03/2019 12:10:32 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1056465

registered interest
date	06/02/2019
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	Waste: Export Controls
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what emergency plans are in place to deal with the potential stockpiles of waste which would no longer have valid export licences if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL13519
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2019 answer text <p>There is a process in place to ensure the continuity of notified waste shipments in the case of a no-deal scenario, which was set out by the European Commission in November last year. We have received agreement to roll over 98% of existing consents for waste exports to the EU from the UK - agreeing 545 out of the 556 current approvals. This means that 99.7% of the waste which requires consent has a valid export licence from 30 March this year if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.</p><p> </p><p>We expect to reach agreement on the outstanding approvals and we are confident that leaving the EU without a deal would not have a significant impact on the continued export of the UK’s notified waste shipments that have already been agreed.</p><p> </p><p>In December last year, the Environment Agency began assessing waste disposal capacity particularly in the south east of England, in case waste that cannot be exported should need to be disposed of. Staff across the Environment Agency are engaging with operators to identify where issues, including stockpiling, may arise. The Environment Agency is ready to respond to requests from industry for additional storage of waste and will process any such requests as promptly as it can.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 19/02/2019 14:03:37 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1054357

registered interest
date	04/02/2019
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	Plants: Research
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide open access to the results of plant and seed research.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL13409
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>Government-funded plant and seed research is predominantly commissioned by the Research Councils and Defra. Such research is undertaken by a number of organisations, each of which have different routes for publication.</p><p> </p><p>Since 2005, Research Councils UK have had open access policies that support and provide guidance about publishing on open platforms. This guidance can be found on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) website. Independent advice commissioned by the Government has reinforced this guidance. Most recently, a report entitled “<em>Open Access to Research- 2018; Independent Advice</em>” was published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in February 2019.</p><p> </p><p>In line with Government policy on transparency, Defra is committed to publishing the reports generated by its research programmes. Final reports from Defra-funded research are quality assured and published on the “Defra Science Search” website.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 11/02/2019 11:47:05 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1052389

registered interest
date	31/01/2019
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	Animal Welfare: Sentencing
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce legislation to increase the maximum sentence for animal cruelty offences from six months to five years imprisonment before the end of this parliamentary session.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL13334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2019 answer text <p>The Government will introduce the necessary legislation to increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty from 6 months’ imprisonment to 5 years’ imprisonment, as soon as Parliamentary time allows.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 11/02/2019 11:48:59 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

1038912

registered interest
date	10/01/2019
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	Food: Imports
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the availability of fresh, frozen, and chilled food warehousing space should imported food be delayed as a consequence of a no-deal Brexit.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Whitchurch
uin	HL12749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2019 answer text <p>The UK has a high degree of food security built upon a diverse range of sources, and this will continue to be the case whether we leave the EU with or without a deal.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has well established ways of working with the food industry to mitigate disruption across the supply chain, and we are using these to support preparations for leaving the EU. Consumers will continue to have access to a range of different products.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 22/01/2019 12:14:42 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	3792 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Whitchurch