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1171188

	registered interest
	date	15/01/2020
	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	Food Supply
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how they promote and develop (1) food security, and (2) self-sufficiency, in the production of UK food.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL459
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>Our landmark Agriculture Bill sets out a clear path for future policy to support farming and the environment which includes commitments to regularly review our food security.</p><p> </p><p>As part of the Bill, we are including a new requirement for the UK Government to regularly report on food security to Parliament, demonstrating the importance we place on this subject. The report will contain information on the role of strong domestic production alongside diverse sources of supply. It will encompass a range of current issues relevant to food security including global food availability; supply of food sources; the resilience of the supply chain for food; household expenditure on food; food safety and consumer confidence in food.</p><p> </p><p>The UK has a high degree of food security, built on access to a range of different sources including strong domestic production and imports from other countries, demonstrated by the UK's current production to supply ratio of 75% for indigenous-type foods and 60% for all foods</p><p> </p><p>The National Food Strategy will cover the entire food chain from field to fork, building on work already underway in Defra.</p><p> </p><p>It will address the challenges of supporting people to eat healthy diets, producing food sustainably and protecting national food security, whilst also looking at related issues such as food price and trade.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 21/01/2020 13:10:42 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1176207

	registered interest
	date	04/02/2020
	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	Rivers: Sewage
	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 environmental damage caused by spillages from combined sewer overflows releasing raw sewage into rivers; and what plans they have to prevent such spillages.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL1327
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Combined sewers that carry surface water from roofs and roads together with sewage from homes are a common sewage system. On occasion, storm sewage discharges occur from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) when the risk of sewer flooding is high and pipework capacity is exceeded. This is done to reduce the flood risk to homes and businesses. The Environment Agency (EA) has looked at the reasons for rivers not achieving good ecological status and found that about 3% of water bodies are failing due to the impact of CSOs.</p><p> </p><p>To prevent spillages, between 2015 to 2020 water companies are installing monitors on up to 13,000 of the 15,000 CSOs in England. These will measure how often and for how long they operate, helping inform where improvement works may be required and providing information to the public about spills. This information has been used to help develop the environmental programme that the water companies will be implementing over the next five years. This includes further monitoring of CSOs, over 700 investigations and more than 200 schemes for environmental improvement or to reduce the spills from CSOs.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 17/02/2020 14:54:24 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1179928

	registered interest
	date	24/02/2020
	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	Flooding Lessons Learned Review
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the recommendations contained in the report by Sir Michael Pitt The Pitt Review: Lessons learned from the 2007 floods, published on 25 June 2008, in particular to end developers’ automatic right to connect new developments to public sewers.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL1774
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/03/2020 answer text <p>The Government implemented recommendations from Sir Michael Pitt’s review through the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report on the Post-legislative scrutiny of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 was in its Sixth Report of Session 2016–17, published on 26 April 2017.</p><p> </p><p>The Government response to the Committee’s report notes that planning practice guidance includes a hierarchy for sustainable drainage options that favours non-sewer solutions. Draining to a combined sewer should be the least favoured option in new development, to be considered when sustainable drainage options are not reasonably practicable. Removing the right to connect to an existing sewer therefore would offer no clear benefits over current arrangements and is likely to add costs and delay to the planning process for new housing.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 06/03/2020 11:58:18 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1189682

	registered interest
	date	21/04/2020
	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: Coronavirus
	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 impact of municipal waste site closures on the prevalence of fly tipping; and what advice they provide to local councils about reducing the incidence of fly tipping.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL3200
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2020 answer text <p>Fly-tipping is unacceptable and the Government is committed to tackling this crime.</p><p> </p><p>We are aware of reports of an increase in fly-tipping and that, anecdotally, this may be a result of the decisions taken by local authorities to close household waste recycling centres. However, this does not appear to be consistent across the country. We have requested fly-tipping incident data through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG), chaired by Defra, which includes local authorities and other key stakeholders, to help us to monitor the situation.</p><p> </p><p>We have published guidance to help local authorities prioritise waste services. This recommends keeping household waste recycling centres open if it is safe to do so and that the clearance of fly-tipped material should be given a high priority. The Government has been working with local authorities to explore ways in which household waste recycling centres that have been closed might be re-opened, whilst observing social distancing and other requirements. The Government published guidance on this on 5 May 2020.</p><p> </p><p>Through the NFTPG, we have also disseminated messaging aimed at householders promoting the secure storage of waste, use of registered waste carriers and reiterating that waste must not be fly-tipped.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 05/05/2020 16:32:58 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1195974

	registered interest
	date	14/05/2020
	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	International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to clarify their relationship with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea; and when they expect to conclude the agreements that are necessary before 31 December.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL4520
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2020 answer text <p>The UK has agreed in principle a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). This will ensure the advice we require is in place so that the UK can continue to meet its international and domestic commitments and obligations on sustainability. The MoU will be signed by December 2020, entering into force on 1 January 2021.</p><p> </p><p>The UK has been a member of ICES since its inception in 1902 and we intend to continue playing a strong role in it in the future. UK scientists make a significant contribution to the science that generates ICES’s advice, including annual recommendations for total allowable catches, and they will continue to provide their scientific expertise. The UK will continue to provide strong support for ICES’s scientific activities in 2020 and beyond.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 28/05/2020 15:25:58 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1219453

	registered interest
	date	30/06/2020
	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	Common Frameworks
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in agreeing common frameworks with the devolved administrations, in particular in regard to (1) trade, (2) agriculture, and (3) fisheries, policies.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL6315
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2020 answer text <p>Defra is working closely with the Devolved Administrations to agree the common frameworks that we will need for those returning EU powers that intersect with Devolved competence. We have made significant progress in developing the policy content of the frameworks mentioned and these will be shared for parliamentary scrutiny at the appropriate stage of policy development. The set of principles, including the need to ensure that frameworks support the UK’s international trade obligations, agreed at the Joint Ministerial Committee for EU negotiations in October 2017 guide Defra and the Devolved Administrations in the development of these frameworks.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 14/07/2020 15:35:24 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1231340

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2020
	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	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 recommendations on the standards for food imports which should apply in international trade agreements in the report by Henry Dimbleby National Food Strategy: Part One, published on 29 July.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL7803
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>The Government has a clear manifesto commitment that in all of our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.</p><p> </p><p>We will use all appropriate policy levers available to us to achieve our policy aims ensuring that trade agreements live up to the values of farmers and consumers across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The National Food Strategy recommends that the independent Trade and Agriculture Commission consider this issue. As noted in the public record of its meeting of 21 August, available online, the Commission has already started discussing its response. The membership agreed to deliberate further on some of the report’s recommendations on the international framework of rules and standards.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 17/09/2020 16:08:24 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1240994

	registered interest
	date	06/10/2020
	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	Sewage: Coronavirus
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the Environment Agency, and (2) water companies in England, about testing waste water for COVID-19; and what plans they have to use the results of such tests to detect early warning signs of community COVID-19 outbreaks.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL8823
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2020 answer text <p>Defra, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) have been working together since April 2020 to establish a national monitoring programme to detect fragments of genetic material from the SARS-CoV-2 virus in waste water. The programme was announced by Defra in a press release on 12 June. Data from the programme is being used as an early warning system to detect the presence of the virus in the population. The programme could not have been established without close collaboration with the water companies. Defra, EA and JBC continue to work with water companies to further develop and refine the work programme.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 20/10/2020 16:56:40 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1244105

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2020
	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	Peatlands: Controlled Burning
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Burning as a tool for the restoration of upland blanket bog: Position Statement by Natural England, published in February 2019, which advises that "in exceptional circumstances it may be appropriate to carry out a one-off burn for the purposes of restoration"; and what steps they intend to take in response to that advice before imposing any blanket ban on such burning.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL9241
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2020 answer text <p>The Government has always been clear of the need to phase out rotational burning of protected blanket bog to conserve these vulnerable habitats, and we are looking at how legislation could achieve this. Real progress is being made in promoting sustainable alternatives. We have urged landowners to adopt these and continue to work with them constructively.</p><p> </p><p>Any legislative proposals will be developed with consideration of the expert advice of Natural England. These considerations are complex, but it is important that we take the right steps to restore and protect this valuable habitat.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 29/10/2020 16:11:28 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1248008

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2020
	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	Sky Lanterns
	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 damage caused by sky lanterns; and what plans they have to impose a national ban on such lanterns in rural areas.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL9857
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2020 answer text <p>In 2013, the UK and Welsh Governments jointly commissioned an independent study looking at the impacts of sky lanterns and helium balloons on livestock and the environment. The report concluded that the impact was generally low, though did highlight a potential fire safety risk.</p><p> </p><p>Any action the Government takes must be proportionate to the level of risk and we have concluded, based on the results of this research, that an outright ban would be disproportionate in the circumstances. Should evidence that this approach is no longer sufficient arise, we will take the necessary action.</p><p> </p><p>We do recognise the need to protect our environment and wildlife and have therefore used media messaging to encourage people and businesses to consider the risks before releasing lanterns.</p><p> </p><p>There may be times when a local ban is appropriate as part of a wider strategic approach. and local authorities already have powers to restrict or ban the use of sky lanterns on council or public land. Many councils in England, Scotland and Wales have applied such a ban. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of single-use products.</p><p> </p><p>Voluntary actions and initiatives aimed at minimising the risks associated with sky lanterns and driving up safety standards have been effective. This includes a voluntary Code of Practice for sky lanterns developed by industry with Government support to ensure that they are manufactured to be safe and are sold responsibly. Sky lanterns also fall in scope of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 which oblige producers and distributors to place only safe consumer products on the market.</p><p> </p><p>As the law stands in England, it is conceivable that a magistrates’ court would conclude that a release of sky lanterns constitutes a littering offence. Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 says: “A person is guilty of an offence if he throws down, drops or otherwise deposits any litter in any place to which this section applies and leaves it”. Ultimately it would be for a court to rule whether this phrase would cover sky lantern releases.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 17/11/2020 12:08:26 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering