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1361099

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Nature Conservation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish an updated wildlife control policy in terms of (a) epidemiological-led culling and (b) wildlife monitoring.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	59130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2021 answer text <p>There are no current plans to publish an updated bovine TB policy in terms of epidemiological-led culling of wildlife or wildlife monitoring. Our response in March 2020 to Professor Sir Charles Godfray’s review of government’s bovine tuberculosis eradication strategy set out plans to evolve badger control policy with increased support for badger vaccination, following the wide-scale deployment of effective, industry-led intensive badger culling.</p><p> </p><p>We are now developing measures to make badger vaccination, combined with biosecurity, the focus of addressing risks from wildlife as an exit strategy from intensive culling. Our aim is to allow future badger culls only where the epidemiological evidence points to a reservoir of disease in badgers.</p><p> </p><p>There is little evidence to suggest tuberculosis in other wildlife species is a significant problem that is driving the epidemic in cattle in England. There are no plans, therefore, to control other wildlife species.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 01/11/2021 16:17:14 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran

1361107

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Trees: Conservation
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 (a) plant more trees and (b) preserve existing tree species in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	58859
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2021 answer text <p>The Government has committed to increasing tree planting in the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament.</p><p>As supported in both the England Trees Action Plan (ETAP), published in May and most recently the Net Zero Strategy, published in October, we have set out various commitments to boost tree planting, establishment and management in England; support a thriving green economy through more private investment in trees and woodlands; and bring trees closer to people. In England, we are boosting the existing £640 million Nature for Climate Fund with a further £124 million of new money, ensuring total spend of more than £750 million by 2025 on peat restoration, woodland creation and management – above and beyond what was promised in the manifesto.</p><p>We continue to support activities to enhance production, processing and supply of UK tree seeds from a wider range of species and provenances. One hundred percent of trees planted by Forestry England in a forestry setting are UK grown. This has been the position for the last three years.</p><p>As set out in ETAP we have committed to several increases in tree protection in England. This includes launching three Forestry Innovation Funds to restore vulnerable woodland habitats and help woodlands adapt to a changing climate and recover from the impacts of pests and diseases. Additionally, through the Environment Bill we will reform the current felling license regime to crack down on illegal tree felling, as well as introducing a duty to consult.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/10/2021 16:23:50 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1361149

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Walley's Quarry Landfill
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 scrutinise the Environment Agency’s strategy in respect of Walley’s Quarry landfill.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
uin	59110
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2021 answer text <p>Following my recent discussion with the hon. Member, I have taken a close interest in the issue of Walley’s Quarry. I am regularly updated by officials and the Environment Agency about air quality near the site, and the agency’s plans to improve it. The latest reports show a continuing reduction in hydrogen sulphide, which hopefully will improve further still as a result of the ongoing work at the site.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 22/10/2021 13:41:38 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1361150

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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: Hydrogen Sulphide
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 World Health Organization air quality guidelines on (a) odorous annoyance and (b) health in respect of hydrogen sulphide emissions from landfill sites.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Aaron Bell
uin	59111
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2021 answer text <p>The World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines are internationally recognised guidelines. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has adopted the WHO air quality guidelines with respect to hydrogen sulphide for assessing odour and short-term exposure in their risk assessment for Walleys Quarry Landfill, available here: <a href="https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/west-midlands/walleys-quarry-landfill-sliverdale/user_uploads/walley-s-ea-aq-monitoring-health-risk--assessment-august-final.pdf" target="_blank">https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/west-midlands/walleys-quarry-landfill-sliverdale/user_uploads/walley-s-ea-aq-monitoring-health-risk--assessment-august-final.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The WHO guideline value of 7 µg/m3 (5 ppb) over a 30-minute averaging period is protective of odour annoyance. The WHO guideline value of 150 μg/m3 (107 ppb) as a 24-hour (average) to protect against eye irritation.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 22/10/2021 13:48:04 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4837 label Biography information for Aaron Bell

1361156

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Inland Waterways: East of England
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environment Agency consultation entitled Boat registration charges proposals from 1 January 2022, published in July 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential for increased charges by up to 60 per cent to reduce the overall number of users of the Anglian Waterways.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	59060
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2021 answer text <p>The Environment Agency's proposed approach was discussed with boat user representatives in advance of consultation and was broadly supported. The individual impacts were assessed and included in the consultation, showing more substantial impacts for customers on the Anglian waterways. The Environment Agency has listened to feedback, including from Anglian customers, and will be taking these concerns into account in its final proposals, due to be published shortly.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/10/2021 16:21:26 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1361158

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Inland Waterways: East of England
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environment Agency consultation entitled Boat registration charges proposals from 1 January 2022, published in July 2021, if he will meet boat users from the Anglian Waterways to discuss the impacts of the proposed increases to annual registration charges.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	59062
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2021 answer text <p>The Environment Agency has been engaging with boat user representatives throughout the development of and consultation on their charge proposals, and continues to do so. They are aware of the views raised by boat users from the Anglian Waterways and will be taking these concerns into account in its final proposals, due to be published shortly.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/10/2021 16:17:59 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1361194

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Seasonal Workers: Pilot 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, when the Government's evaluation of the Seasonal Workers Pilot scheme, produced in 2019, will be published; and what recent assessment he has made of the effect of (a) the expansion of the Seasonal Workers Pilot scheme and (b) use of short term work visas on levels of exploitation among seasonal workers.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield Central
tabling member printed	Paul Blomfield
uin	58820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/10/2021 answer text <p>On 22 December 2020, the Government extended the Seasonal Workers Pilot for one year and expanded the number of visas from 10,000 to 30,000.</p><p> </p><p>The extension and expansion of the Pilot for 2021 allows for further review of the Pilot, including how growers will reduce their reliance on migrant labour now we have left the EU, whilst also easing some of the pressure experienced on farms when they are at their busiest.</p><p> </p><p>The Government takes the safety and wellbeing of seasonal workers extremely seriously. The Home Office sponsor licencing system places clear and binding requirements and obligations on the operators of the Seasonal Workers Pilot to safeguard seasonal workers and prevent exploitation of them.  Defra, the Home Office and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), work together to ensure that businesses adhere to the stringent requirements for ensuring safety and wellbeing of seasonal agricultural workers.</p><p /><p>The Seasonal Workers Pilot requires the operators to ensure all seasonal workers, including those on short-term temporary visas recently announced for HGV drivers, poultry workers and butchers, have a safe working environment, are treated fairly and paid properly, and robust systems are in place for the reporting of concerns and rapid action. A prerequisite for becoming an operator is that each organisation must hold and maintain licencing from the GLAA. Defra would be notified should an operator or farm not be meeting the required standards and appropriate action taken.</p><p> </p><p>We intend to publish the first-year review later this year.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 26/10/2021 15:33:15 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4058 label Biography information for Paul Blomfield

1361213

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	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 number of trees that have been planted in England in 2021 to date.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	58808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2021 answer text <p>The Forestry Commission produces <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forestresearch.gov.uk%2Ftools-and-resources%2Fstatistics%2Fstatistics-by-topic%2Fwoodland-statistics%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C9d97e21c36a9411b9eda08d99952c86c%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637709403084793573%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=sMSJWDVYWew6NBGUx05X0G23VxcHJI3aiouobXDjYBc%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Official Statistics on England's woodland area</a> annually for each financial year in thousands of hectares.</p><p>The latest available figures are for 2020-21, reporting 2.06 thousand hectares of new tree planting in England.</p><p>For all new planting of woodland since 2020-21, there is also a published estimate of the approximate number of trees this represents, available from the <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fcollections%2Fforestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C9d97e21c36a9411b9eda08d99952c86c%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637709403084803569%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&amp;sdata=pkhkxioh56QEDJbS8dwCH6QQYIlHy3GG7MvN5cdIG14%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators</a>. These are available for the first quarter of 2021-22, reporting 0.47 thousand hectares (equivalent to 926,000 trees) of new tree planting in England. The planting season is over the winter so is only just starting for 2021-22.</p><p>Planting rates in 2020-21 were impacted by Covid-19. The England Trees Action Plan published in May 2021 stated our aim to at least treble tree planting rates in England by end of this Parliament.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/10/2021 16:15:12 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1361340

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Rivers: Sewage
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 steps his Department has taken to help ensure untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers in Enfield North constituency.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Feryal Clark
uin	59100
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2021 answer text <p>We have made it crystal clear to water companies that they must reduce significantly sewage discharges from storm overflows as a priority. The draft Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat sets out our expectation that companies work to significantly reduce storm overflows for the first time and we expect funding to be approved for water companies to be able to do so. We have announced that we’ll put that instruction on a statutory footing with a new duty on water companies to reduce progressively impacts of sewage discharges.</p><p> </p><p>We are also already taking action through the Environment Bill and have introduced a range of new legally binding commitments on both water companies and Government to tackle this issue.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Bill includes the following new duties directly on water companies to:</p><ul><li>publish statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans, for the first time, setting out how they will reduce overflows, as well as detailing other improvements, and provides the power for Government to direct companies if these plans are inadequate;</li><li>monitor water quality up and downstream of areas potentially affected by discharges;</li><li>publish data on storm overflow operation on an annual basis;</li><li>publish near real time information - within 1 hour - on the operation of storm overflows.</li></ul><p> </p><p>We are also taking action to challenge underperforming companies and are working hard to drive up monitoring and transparency to tackle non-compliance and pollution incidents, including through the work of the Storm Overflows Taskforce.</p><p> </p><p>The Storm Overflows Taskforce, launched last year, is continuing to push forward work with industry, and we won’t hesitate to hold companies to account where necessary. Earlier this year Southern Water was handed a record-breaking £90 million fine, and Thames Water was fined £4 million and £2.3 million for separate incidents.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, the Government has committed to publish a plan next September to set out the detail of how we expect water companies to achieve significant reductions in sewage discharges and the harm they cause.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/10/2021 16:19:10 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4822 label Biography information for Feryal Clark

1361343

registered interest
date	19/10/2021
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	Sewers: Fats
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 steps he has taken to tackle drain blockages and fatbergs.
tabling member constituency	Enfield North
tabling member printed	Feryal Clark
uin	59101
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2021 answer text <p>Defra is considering a range of options to tackle drain blockages and fatbergs. My officials are working to assess the effects of wet wipes containing plastic on sewers and identify possible solutions. The incorrect disposal of wet wipes can be one of the main causes of sewer blockages. Wipes often then combine with fats, oil and grease, which are also often disposed of down sinks into drains, and combine to form fatbergs.</p><p> </p><p>Defra also continues to encourage the water industry and wet wipe manufacturers to work together to raise consumer awareness about the appropriate disposal of wet wipes and other non-flushable products. This will be crucial for generating meaningful behavioural change with consumers and customers.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/10/2021 16:25:16 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4822 label Biography information for Feryal Clark