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1242366

	registered interest
	date	12/10/2020
	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	Fly-tipping
	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 tackle the illegal dumping of waste.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	102197
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2020 answer text <p>The illegal dumping of waste, including fly-tipping, is an unacceptable blight on local communities and the environment. The government is committed to cracking down on the waste and carelessness that destroys our natural environment and kills marine life. We are also committed to increasing the penalties for fly-tipping.</p><p> </p><p>Over the last five years we have strengthened and expanded the powers available to tackle the illegal dumping of waste. Local authorities have the power to issue fixed penalty notices of up to £400 to those caught fly-tipping or to householders who pass their waste to a fly-tipper. Vehicles of those suspected of committing a waste crime, including illegal dumping, can be searched and seized.</p><p> </p><p>Those accused of illegal dumping can be prosecuted and, on conviction, can face a fine, up to 12 months imprisonment, or both in a Magistrates Court; or a fine, up to 5 years imprisonment, or both, in a Crown Court. Local authorities carried out a total of 2,397 prosecutions for fly-tipping offences in England in 2018/19, an increase of 7% on 2017/18. The value of total fines increased by 29% to £1,090,000 compared to 2017/18.</p><p> </p><p>We have invested £60 million in the Environment Agency’s waste crime enforcement work since 2014. This year’s Budget committed the government to investing £7.2 million in the development of electronic waste tracking, as well as £0.5 million in 2020/21 to support innovative approaches to tackling fly-tipping.</p><p> </p><p>In the Resources and Waste Strategy we committed to reforming the regulation of waste carriers, tightening up the regulation of the waste exemptions regime and improving intelligence sharing and joint working between enforcement agencies. The Joint Unit for Waste Crime, led by the Environment Agency and including the National Crime Agency, HMRC, the Police and others, was established earlier this year and has already had a number of operational successes.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Bill includes a number of measures to help tackle waste crime. It will enable Government to mandate the use of electronic waste tracking; simplify the process for enforcement authorities to enter premises under a warrant; introduce a new power to search for and seize evidence of waste crime; and reduce the cost and bureaucracy when the police seize vehicles involved in waste crime on behalf of the Environment Agency.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 20/10/2020 16:50:18 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1247280

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	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	Odour Pollution: Complaints
	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 odour complaints the Environment Agency received about each of the sites it regulates in each month since January 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	109738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>The Environment Agency receives reports of odour from members of the public via the National Pollution Reporting Hotline. The numbers in the table below represent all reports received since January 2019 from members of the public across England, rather than those that have been assessed by a local Environment Agency officer and confirmed to be correctly attributed to a site that the Environment Agency regulates. The Environment Agency does not collate figures centrally for that number.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p><strong>Jan</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Feb</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Mar</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Apr</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>May</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Jun</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Jul</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Aug</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Sep</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Oct</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Nov</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Dec</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Year Totals</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2019</strong></p></td><td><p>883</p></td><td><p>1,311</p></td><td><p>755</p></td><td><p>1,122</p></td><td><p>1,223</p></td><td><p>1,265</p></td><td><p>2,267</p></td><td><p>2,219</p></td><td><p>1,571</p></td><td><p>1,034</p></td><td><p>1,093</p></td><td><p>1,867</p></td><td><p>16,610</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p>4,160</p></td><td><p>2,181</p></td><td><p>1,474</p></td><td><p>1,468</p></td><td><p>1,212</p></td><td><p>1,755</p></td><td><p>1,673</p></td><td><p>1,854</p></td><td><p>2,223</p></td><td><p>992</p></td><td><p>NA</p></td><td><p>NA</p></td><td><p>18,992</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/11/2020 16:39:17 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1247281

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	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	Hydrogen Sulphide: Newcastle-under-Lyme
	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 trends in the level of hydrogen sulphide in the air in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	109739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>Defra's national monitoring network does not monitor hydrogen sulphide levels.</p><p>The Environment Agency (EA) monitors specific sites within the Newcastle-under-Lyme area. In particular, on the Walley's Quarry Landfill site, the EA carried out an ambient air monitoring study between January 2019 and June 2019. The EA deployed a Mobile Monitoring Facility (MMF) to the north of Walleys landfill site between 15 January 2019 and 12 February 2019. Comparison of the hydrogen sulphide data with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines showed that concentrations were below health limits but exceeded odour limits for 6% of this monitoring period. The MMF was then relocated approximately 60 metres to the east between 28 February 2019 and 25 June 2019. Comparison of the hydrogen sulphide data with the WHO guidelines showed that concentrations were below health limits but exceeded odour limits for 1% of the monitoring period.</p><p>The EA will be continuing with its regular odour assessments and site inspections and will take appropriate action as part of its regulation of the Walley's Quarry Landfill site, should it identify any areas where the Operator is not compliant with their permit conditions.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/11/2020 17:37:06 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1247283

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	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	Landfill: Newcastle-under-Lyme
	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 effect on air quality levels in Newcastle-under-Lyme of the environmental permit variation application to increase the annual waste inputs from 250,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes at the Walleys Quarry landfill site.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	109740
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>The Environment Agency (EA) conducted an emissions to air assessment of the new application and is satisfied that air quality levels will not be impacted and there will be no additional emissions from landfill gas or risk of additional odour.</p><p>The operator's Odour Management Plan complies with EA guidance and reflects the industry best practice. The EA is satisfied it will minimise the risk of odour pollution, and that they have sufficient controls within the permit conditions to enable further measures to be implemented if required. The benefit of the variation is that the Operator could complete the landfill sooner (by 2024 not 2026) accelerating the progressive capping of the site.</p><p>The operator's gas management plan complies with the relevant landfill directive and permit conditions and the EA does not consider emissions from the installation will cause significant pollution to the environment or harm to human health. The increase in annual tonnages at the site would not change the amount of gas produced but would bring forward the peak gas production rate. The site is already permitted to operate a gas utilisation plant which has the capacity to combust the maximum volume of gas which will be produced.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/11/2020 17:37:50 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1247285

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	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	Landfill: Odour 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 recent assessment he has made of the fitness for purpose of odour regulations as they relate to landfill sites.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	109741
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>No recent assessments have been made of odour regulations. The government considers that current provisions under the Environmental Permitting and Statutory Nuisance regimes provide adequate protection.</p><p> </p><p>Landfill sites in England must be operated in accordance with an environmental permit, regulated by the Environment Agency. Where issues could be a statutory nuisance under Section 79(1)(d) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local councils are responsible for investigating these complaints.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/11/2020 16:42:17 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1247286

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	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	Landfill: Odour 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 support his Department provides to local authorities to (a) monitor and (b) tackle issues relating to (i) air quality and (ii) odour caused by landfill emissions.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
	uin	109742
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>Landfill sites are regulated under Environmental Permitting Regulations by the Environment Agency (EA). The EA operates a national network of air quality monitoring sites on behalf of Defra. These are designed to provide a representative sample of air quality across the UK, and will not be specific to individual regulated sites. In addition to its statutory air quality activities, the EA can use air quality monitoring equipment in some circumstances to monitor for certain trace gases that form odorous compounds. This is carried out using the EA’s mobile monitoring facilities.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/11/2020 17:40:24 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1242921

	registered interest
	date	13/10/2020
	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 steps his Department plans to take to protect Marine Protected Areas.
	tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
	tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
	uin	102946
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2020 answer text <p>Marine protection is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only.</p><p> </p><p>We have essentially completed building our comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas, with 177 sites covering 40% of English waters. All Marine Protected Areas are protected through the planning and licensing regime to ensure activities such as offshore developments do not cause damage. For fishing, good progress has been made to protect sites in the inshore area with over 90 marine protected areas now with byelaws in place to prevent activities such as trawling which could damage protected features on the seabed. The Common Fisheries Policy has inhibited our ability to properly protect offshore areas. At the end of the Transition Period, we will use new powers contained in the Fisheries Bill to put byelaws in place as we have done in the inshore environment. A Call for Evidence for the first sites will be launched shortly, followed by the formal consultation in early 2021. As part of the Environment Bill targets work, we are developing a target requiring that our Marine Protected Areas are effectively protected so that they achieve their conservation objectives.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 21/10/2020 14:51:39 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare

1244903

	registered interest
	date	20/10/2020
	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	Game: Animal Welfare
	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 plans his Department has to encourage the use of alternatives to cages on farms that breed partridges and pheasants.
	tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
	tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
	uin	106514
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2020 answer text <p>We are committed to maintaining our position as world leaders in animal welfare and want to improve and build upon that record, working in partnership with farmers to support healthier, higher welfare animals. We are exploring options with all the industry sectors, including the gamebird industry, to see how welfare standards can be further enhanced and in a way that is sustainable.</p><p> </p><p>The welfare of gamebirds is currently protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering. This is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes, which encourages the adoption of high standards of husbandry.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 28/10/2020 13:48:38 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare

1216233

	registered interest
	date	22/06/2020
	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	Disability: Food
	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 work with food providers to ensure that disabled families have adequate access to food supplies.
	tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
	tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
	uin	62687
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2020 answer text <p>We know the difficulties that people with disabilities currently face in accessing food and are taking steps to support this group. We have brokered discussions between charities and retailers to help ensure that services are accessible for disabled people.</p><p> </p><p>We know that a large number of vulnerable people continue to rely on friends, family and wider community support. Where that is not possible, there are a number of options available for people to access support.</p><p> </p><p>Individuals can request help from an NHS volunteer responder, by calling or visiting the Royal Voluntary Service website:</p><p><a href="https://volunteering.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/nhs-volunteer-responders-portal/isolating" target="_blank">volunteering.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/nhs-volunteer-responders-portal/isolating</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Individuals can use one of the increasing range and number of local, regional and national commercial services that provide home delivery of groceries. They can also call their local authority, who will be able to help refer them to local voluntary and commercial shop and drop services and may be able to offer other support too.</p><p> </p><p>Most supermarkets also offer protected in-store shopping hours to vulnerable groups including people with disabilities and their carers.</p><p><br></p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 30/06/2020 14:44:03 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare

1235026

	registered interest
	date	16/09/2020
	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	Furs: Import Controls
	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 plans the Government has to further restrict the fur trade after the transition period.
	tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
	tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
	uin	91168
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/09/2020 answer text <p>I refer the hon Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Totnes on 30 June 2020, PQ UIN 62631.</p><p>[<a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-06-22/62631" target="_blank">www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-06-22/62631</a>]</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 91202 question first answered 25/09/2020 13:50:12 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare