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1700098

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
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	Darwin Plus
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 progress his Department has made on implementing the Darwin Plus fund.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21017
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The UK Government has recently expanded the Darwin Plus programme to better meet the needs of the UK Overseas Territories. In 2023, Defra introduced to Darwin Plus a new local scheme aimed at building capacity and growing local economies in-territory, and a new strategic scheme for fostering greater innovation, ambition and collaboration in and between Territories.</p><p> </p><p>On 22 April 2024, Defra will open the programme to new applications. The longstanding Darwin Plus Fellowships scheme will be rebranded as Darwin Plus People and Skills to appeal to applicants beyond academia. Under its new name, this scheme will welcome applications from Territory nationals and long-term residents for activities which will upskill them and support them to meet long-term strategic outcomes for their natural environments.</p><p> </p><p>The UK Government remains committed to keeping the structure of the programme under review, with a focus on suitability and practical conservation.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 18/04/2024 14:51:23 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700108

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
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: Suffolk
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 trees have been planted on behalf of his Department in (a) Suffolk and (b) Suffolk Coastal constituency since 2020.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21027
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators" target="_blank">Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators</a>. These statistics are reported for each financial year in thousands of hectares.</p><p> </p><p>This Government has not set specific targets for individual constituencies and the reporting statistic the hon. Member has requested is not currently available.</p><p> </p><p>Our England Trees Action Plan has kickstarted tree planting, we have planted nearly 13 million trees over the past 3 years. Last year we planted 3,600 hectares of new woodland and trees outside of woodland, this represents the highest planting rate for nearly a decade and an almost 40% increase on the previous year.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 18/04/2024 14:48:09 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700138

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of clean air zones on levels of air pollution.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	20956
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>The latest air quality data was published in September 2023 as part of the 2022 National Compliance assessment, and is publicly available on the DEFRA UK Air website at the following link: <a href="https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/" target="_blank">Air Pollution in the UK report - Defra, UK</a>. The 2022 Evaluation of Local NO<sub>2</sub> Plans, published in February 2024, provides information regarding the impacts of clean air zones, and is publicly available on the DEFRA website at the following link: <a href="https://randd.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectID=20688&amp;FromSearch=Y&amp;Publisher=1&amp;SearchText=AQ0851%20&amp;SortString=ProjectCode&amp;SortOrder=Asc&amp;Paging=10#Description" target="_blank">Evaluation of Local NO2 Plans - AQ0851 (defra.gov.uk)</a></p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 23/04/2024 10:42:25 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

1700177

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
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	Potatoes: Diseases
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 protect farmers against new strains of potato blight.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Douglas Ross
uin	21221
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a holistic approach that carefully considers all available plant protection methods and keeps the use of pesticides to levels that are ecologically and economically justified. IPM lies at the heart of our approach to minimise the environmental impact of pesticides and is a key tool for businesses facing the challenges of pesticide resistance, removal of pesticides from the market, and changing pest pressures due to climate change. Within the National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (NAP) we will set out our policies to increase the uptake of IPM by farmers, growers, amenity managers and amateur gardeners.</p><p> </p><p>Having an IPM approach can reduce the risks associated with pesticides, combat pesticide resistance, and support sustainable agricultural productivity. IPM aims to diversify crop protection and reduce reliance on the use of chemical pesticides by making use of lower risk alternatives and promoting natural processes. For example, creating habitats for natural predators of plant pests, or using crop rotations to break pest, weed and disease cycles. When alternative methods are ineffective or unavailable, IPM also aims to optimise and minimise the use of chemical pesticides through targeted and precise application.</p><p> </p><p>We have recently commissioned a package of research projects that will bring together scientific evidence underpinning IPM and to look at ways of further encouraging its uptake. This work will support farmers’ access to the most effective IPM tools available and ensure that we understand changing trends in pest threats across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is also a partner in the European Research Area Network (ERA-Net) Co-Fund on Sustainable Crop Production (SusCrop). This research network aims to enhance cooperation and coordination of different national and regional research programmes focussing on agriculture and climate change, sustainable farming systems and biodiversity, sustainable water management, resource efficiency and resilience in the food chain. It also seeks to increase productivity through technological innovation.</p><p> </p><p>Projects within SusCrop ERA-Net include: ‘Eco-friendly solutions for the integrated management of late and early blight of potatoes (ECOSOL)’ which aims to Identify Effective Biological Control Agents and Plant Resistance Inducers for the Control of Potato Late Blight in the field.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 22/04/2024 14:08:00 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4627 label Biography information for Douglas Ross

1700223

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
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	Rights of Way: Finance
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 adequacy of funding available to highway authorities to carry out statutory duties on public rights of way.
tabling member constituency	Croydon North
tabling member printed	Steve Reed
uin	21052
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. This is an above inflation increase.</p><p> </p><p>Local highway authorities themselves are best placed to understand local priorities and allocate funding accordingly to fulfil their statutory rights of way duties.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 18/04/2024 14:45:41 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed