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1140862

registered interest
date	22/07/2019
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	Biodiversity
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 enhance biodiversity.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	280128
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/07/2019 answer text <p>Domestic biodiversity policy is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only, except in relation to our international activity.</p><p>The 25 Year Environment Plan marks a step-change in ambition for wildlife and the natural environment internationally and in England. It sets out over two hundred actions to enhance the environment and has long-term goals for recovering nature.</p><p>We are already delivering the 25 Year Plan commitments. We are bringing forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years with ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age: air quality, thriving plants and wildlife, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and clean and plentiful water.</p><p>Agri-environment schemes provide financial incentives for farmers and land managers to look after the environment. We are developing a new Environmental Land Management scheme that will reward farmers and land managers for delivering environmental outcomes such as conserving and restoring habitats which will support our biodiversity goals.</p><p>We work with partners to support the recovery of threatened species and their habitats. For example, Natural England are working with landowners and conservation organisations on the Back from the Brink programme, which aims to put over 100 threatened species on the road to recovery by 2020.</p><p>At sea, we are expanding our protected areas. An ambitious third tranche of 41 Marine Conservation Zones were designated in May 2019.</p><p>Nature matters, but the ongoing decline in nature is a global problem that requires leadership and global action. Our Darwin Initiative programme funds projects to protect biodiversity and the natural environment in developing countries, with £10.3 million awarded in 2018/19. The UK Government is investing more than £36 million between 2014 and 2021 to counter the illegal wildlife trade and we are introducing one of the world’s toughest ivory bans.</p><p>The UK has committed to continuing its leading role in global biodiversity conservation, including calling for at least 30 per cent of the ocean to be in Marine Protected Areas by 2030 and negotiating hard to agree a global post-2020 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity that is both ambitious and transformational.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 29/07/2019 16:41:17 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1140863

registered interest
date	22/07/2019
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	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
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 he has made of the effectiveness of the badger culling programme.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	280129
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2019 answer text <p>During 2018, badger culling operations in 32 areas of England were all successful in meeting their targets. According to Natural England’s chief scientist, the results show that industry-led badger culling continues to deliver the level of effectiveness required by the policy to be confident of achieving disease control benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Assessments of the effectiveness of badger culling are published annually on gov.uk at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers</a></p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 31/07/2019 10:21:43 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1140864

registered interest
date	22/07/2019
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	Sewage: 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 steps he is taking to ensure water companies reduce the number of pollution incidents.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	280130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/07/2019 answer text <p>Since 1995 over £25 billion has been invested in improving sewage treatment and sewerage collection systems. This has achieved a 61% reduction in the amount of phosphorus and a 72% reduction in the amount of ammonia discharged to rivers. Bathing waters and rivers are cleaner than ever but there is still more to do. The recent deterioration in the environmental performance of the water industry, particularly in respect of pollution incidents is unacceptable. The Environment Agency (EA) expect the industry to minimise serious pollution incidents and approach a zero target by 2020.</p><p> </p><p>The EA has begun a new Improving Water Company Performance programme which will toughen regulation to encourage the companies to meet their environmental targets. The programme will include:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>Enhancing the EA’s regulatory tools and approaches, including more inspections, increasing the number of in-depth audits and greater use of technology to remotely monitor operations twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.</p></li><li><p>Maximising the use of enforcement and sanctions powers so they act as a powerful deterrent.</p></li></ul><ul><li><p>Updating the Environmental Performance Assessment targets for the 2021-2025 period to include a broader range of measures with tightened standards where appropriate.</p></li><li><p>Working with Ofwat to develop greater links between environmental performance and financial penalties and incentives.</p></li></ul><ul><li><p>Requiring water companies to produce root cause analysis reports for serious pollution incidents and to learn from them.</p></li><li><p>Requiring water companies to produce a pollution reduction plan signed off at CEO level which they will be accountable for.</p></li><li><p>Requesting that they proactively share good practice as an industry wide response to the problems we are facing</p></li></ul> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 29/07/2019 16:43:20 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1139241

registered interest
date	16/07/2019
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	Construction and Furniture: Health Hazards
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 benefits to air quality of introducing fire toxicity assessments to fire safety tests of upholstered goods and construction materials.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	277635
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is the lead Government department on fire safety regulations and has responsibility for product safety.</p><p> </p><p>Defra’s Air Quality division has not made any assessment of the potential benefits to air quality of introducing fire toxicity assessments to fire safety tests of upholstered goods and construction materials.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 22/07/2019 14:37:22 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138614

registered interest
date	12/07/2019
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	Bottles: Deposit Return Schemes
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 a return scheme for plastic bottles of all sizes for the economy.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	276508
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>We are currently analysing the responses and evidence submitted to the consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 17/07/2019 15:42:55 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1138134

registered interest
date	10/07/2019
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	Recreation Spaces
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 merits of increasing green spaces in the UK to reduce the effect of flash flooding.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	275672
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>As set out in our 25 Year Environment Plan, this Government recognises the importance of green spaces for health and happiness as well as for environmental benefits such as sequestering carbon, absorbing noise, cleansing pollutants, absorbing surface water and reducing high temperatures. In the right place, using green spaces in towns and cities to help divert or store flood water can be beneficial, including using sustainable drainage systems such as permeable surfaces and ponds or natural flood management techniques in towns and cities as well as upstream.</p><p> </p><p>As we build more homes, preserving and creating green spaces in towns is more important than ever. We want to encourage local authorities to consider all flood management opportunities and developers to take into account all the benefits when deciding how much land to allocate as green space.</p><p> </p><p>To support this we have worked with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to revise the National Planning Policy Framework to further encourage sustainable drainage systems, and published our Surface Water Management Action Plan which includes actions that will join up planning for surface water management and build local authority capacity. In addition, Natural England is developing a framework of national standards for green infrastructure in close consultation with stakeholders.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 15/07/2019 12:16:36 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham