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1351394

	registered interest
	date	18/08/2021
	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	Trapping
	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 prevent birds and small mammals from being caught in glue traps.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	41064
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/09/2021 answer text <p>In our <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare" target="_blank">Action Plan for Animal Welfare</a>, published in May this year, we announced that we would look to restrict the use of glue traps as a means of pest control. Accordingly, we are supporting the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East’s Glue Traps (Offences) Private Members Bill, which proposes to ban the use of glue traps for catching rodents. The Bill was introduced to Parliament on 16 June, and we will work closely with her over the coming months as the Bill progresses through Parliament.</p><p> </p><p>Anyone using glue traps already has a responsibility under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to act within the law to ensure their activities do not cause any unnecessary suffering. The industry’s code of best practice (<a href="https://www.pmalliance.org.uk/codes-of-best-practice/" target="_blank">https://www.pmalliance.org.uk/codes-of-best-practice/</a>), produced after consultation with Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Natural England, provides clear principles for the legal use of glue traps, including measures to protect non-target animals.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 07/09/2021 16:22:58 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1348252

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2021
	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	Waste Management: 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, when his Department plans to publish the formula for new burdens funding for the proposed changes to waste management.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	35800
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government will ensure that local authorities are resourced to meet any new burdens arising from our collections and packaging reforms, including up front transition costs and ongoing operational costs.</p><p> </p><p>We are working to assess net additional costs to local authorities, in line with the new burden’s doctrine. We will engage with the Local Government Association on these cost estimates, including the appropriate timing for funding to be provided to authorities. We will share information on cost estimates and funding timelines with local authorities in due course.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/07/2021 15:30:41 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1348256

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2021
	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	Waste Management
	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 the Government is taking to ensure that changes to waste management reflect differing local contexts including (a) availability of space for waste storage, (b) differing collection frequency needs and (c) difficulties in separating food waste in areas where residents predominantly live in flats; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities are empowered to make adjustments in accordance with those contexts.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	35801
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>We want to make recycling easier and ensure that there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. The Environment Bill stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households. This core set includes paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities can still decide to collect the recyclable waste streams co-mingled (i.e. multiple waste streams collected together) in cases where it is not technically or economically practicable to collect the recyclable waste streams separately from each other, or there is no significant environmental benefit in doing so, subject to completing a written assessment. The only exception to this is that food and garden waste must always be collected separately from the dry recyclable waste streams. Local authorities may apply these exceptions in circumstances where there is a lack of available storage space to collect recycling streams separately – including blocks of flats. We have recently consulted on plans to develop further guidance on written exemptions and best practice for local authorities. This guidance will take into consideration views provided by stakeholders during our recent public consultation.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities will also maintain the ability to decide the frequency of recyclable waste collections, except for food waste which will need to be separately collected on a weekly basis.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, local authorities will be provided with new burdens funding to support adjustments to their waste collection services necessitated by our reforms. We are working to assess the net additional costs of our reforms as provided in the Impact Assessment accompanying our second public consultation on recycling consistency. As part of this process we will engage with local authorities to consider the appropriate nature and timing of funding.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 27/07/2021 15:25:07 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1348258

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2021
	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	Waste Disposal
	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 the Government has made of the potential merits of giving local authorities increased powers to direct waste producers, including property managers for properties with shared services, to sort waste appropriately.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	35802
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>In respect of household waste, local authorities already have powers under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) to serve a notice requiring an occupier to put their waste for collection in a specified kind and number of receptacles. Clause 57(5) of the Environment Bill amends section 46(2) of the EPA so that, subject to it being reasonable, an English waste collection authority (WCA) may require separate receptacles or compartments of receptacles to be used for the purposes of complying with its duties under new section 45A or 45AZA. This would mean that an English WCA can require different recyclable waste streams to be put in different receptacles.</p><p> </p><p>A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirements imposed by section 46 shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. An authorised officer may issue a fixed penalty notice under section 47ZA of the EPA to enable a person to discharge any liability to conviction for the offence.</p><p> </p><p>If a person has failed to comply with a section 46 requirement, WCAs can also give a written notice under section 46A of the EPA if the failure has caused or is or was likely to cause a nuisance or has been or is or was likely to be detrimental to any amenities of the locality. If a written warning gets ignored, they can issue a financial penalty under section 46B. They also are not required to collect the waste if it is put out in contravention of a section 46 requirement.</p><p> </p><p>Regarding household waste from non-domestic premises and relevant waste (which is commercial and industrial waste, which is similar in nature and composition to household waste), the Environment Bill requires that the person that presents waste for collection under the arrangements must present it separated in accordance with the arrangements (which must comply with the requirements in the Environment Bill). This would therefore include the waste producer but also a property manager if they were presenting the waste on behalf of a number of properties.</p><p> </p><p>Under section 47 of the Environmental Protection Act, a WCA may already serve a notice against a business if their waste is not stored in receptacles of a particular kind and it is likely to cause a nuisance or to be detrimental to the amenities of the locality. Clause 57(6) of the Environment Bill amends s47(3) of the EPA so that WCAs can require separate receptacles or compartments to be used for the purposes of complying with the requirements in new s45AZB.</p><p> </p><p>We are not currently planning on amending this legislation to change the powers that local authorities have. Our consultation on 'Consistency in Household and Business Recycling,' recently closed and we are considering responses to our proposals on the detail around enforcement.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 35803 35804 question first answered 27/07/2021 15:27:47 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1348259

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2021
	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	Waste Disposal
	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 it his policy to increase local authority powers to recover the full costs from waste producers and property managers of collecting and disposing of the contents of a contaminated bin and other failures to follow a reasonable requirement to separate waste for recycling.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	35803
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>In respect of household waste, local authorities already have powers under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) to serve a notice requiring an occupier to put their waste for collection in a specified kind and number of receptacles. Clause 57(5) of the Environment Bill amends section 46(2) of the EPA so that, subject to it being reasonable, an English waste collection authority (WCA) may require separate receptacles or compartments of receptacles to be used for the purposes of complying with its duties under new section 45A or 45AZA. This would mean that an English WCA can require different recyclable waste streams to be put in different receptacles.</p><p> </p><p>A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirements imposed by section 46 shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. An authorised officer may issue a fixed penalty notice under section 47ZA of the EPA to enable a person to discharge any liability to conviction for the offence.</p><p> </p><p>If a person has failed to comply with a section 46 requirement, WCAs can also give a written notice under section 46A of the EPA if the failure has caused or is or was likely to cause a nuisance or has been or is or was likely to be detrimental to any amenities of the locality. If a written warning gets ignored, they can issue a financial penalty under section 46B. They also are not required to collect the waste if it is put out in contravention of a section 46 requirement.</p><p> </p><p>Regarding household waste from non-domestic premises and relevant waste (which is commercial and industrial waste, which is similar in nature and composition to household waste), the Environment Bill requires that the person that presents waste for collection under the arrangements must present it separated in accordance with the arrangements (which must comply with the requirements in the Environment Bill). This would therefore include the waste producer but also a property manager if they were presenting the waste on behalf of a number of properties.</p><p> </p><p>Under section 47 of the Environmental Protection Act, a WCA may already serve a notice against a business if their waste is not stored in receptacles of a particular kind and it is likely to cause a nuisance or to be detrimental to the amenities of the locality. Clause 57(6) of the Environment Bill amends s47(3) of the EPA so that WCAs can require separate receptacles or compartments to be used for the purposes of complying with the requirements in new s45AZB.</p><p> </p><p>We are not currently planning on amending this legislation to change the powers that local authorities have. Our consultation on 'Consistency in Household and Business Recycling,' recently closed and we are considering responses to our proposals on the detail around enforcement.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 35802 35804 question first answered 27/07/2021 15:27:47 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1348260

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2021
	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	Waste Disposal
	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 it his policy to increase local authority powers to direct property managers to make suitable provision for waste storage within properties they manage, including for separate collection of recyclable materials, where such decisions are not directly in the control of residents.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	35804
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>In respect of household waste, local authorities already have powers under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) to serve a notice requiring an occupier to put their waste for collection in a specified kind and number of receptacles. Clause 57(5) of the Environment Bill amends section 46(2) of the EPA so that, subject to it being reasonable, an English waste collection authority (WCA) may require separate receptacles or compartments of receptacles to be used for the purposes of complying with its duties under new section 45A or 45AZA. This would mean that an English WCA can require different recyclable waste streams to be put in different receptacles.</p><p> </p><p>A person who fails, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirements imposed by section 46 shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. An authorised officer may issue a fixed penalty notice under section 47ZA of the EPA to enable a person to discharge any liability to conviction for the offence.</p><p> </p><p>If a person has failed to comply with a section 46 requirement, WCAs can also give a written notice under section 46A of the EPA if the failure has caused or is or was likely to cause a nuisance or has been or is or was likely to be detrimental to any amenities of the locality. If a written warning gets ignored, they can issue a financial penalty under section 46B. They also are not required to collect the waste if it is put out in contravention of a section 46 requirement.</p><p> </p><p>Regarding household waste from non-domestic premises and relevant waste (which is commercial and industrial waste, which is similar in nature and composition to household waste), the Environment Bill requires that the person that presents waste for collection under the arrangements must present it separated in accordance with the arrangements (which must comply with the requirements in the Environment Bill). This would therefore include the waste producer but also a property manager if they were presenting the waste on behalf of a number of properties.</p><p> </p><p>Under section 47 of the Environmental Protection Act, a WCA may already serve a notice against a business if their waste is not stored in receptacles of a particular kind and it is likely to cause a nuisance or to be detrimental to the amenities of the locality. Clause 57(6) of the Environment Bill amends s47(3) of the EPA so that WCAs can require separate receptacles or compartments to be used for the purposes of complying with the requirements in new s45AZB.</p><p> </p><p>We are not currently planning on amending this legislation to change the powers that local authorities have. Our consultation on 'Consistency in Household and Business Recycling,' recently closed and we are considering responses to our proposals on the detail around enforcement.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 35802 35803 question first answered 27/07/2021 15:27:48 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1344827

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2021
	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	Dogs: Animal Breeding
	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 illegal puppy smuggling and inhumane breeding practices.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	29106
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2021 answer text <p>The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June. This will allow us to protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on puppy smuggling and other low welfare movements of pets into Great Britain. The Bill reduces the number of pet dogs, cats and ferrets that can be moved under the pet travel rules which apply to non-commercial movements from 5 per person to 5 per vehicle for ferries and rail routes and 3 per person if a foot passenger or via air travel.</p><p>The Bill also includes a power to make regulations about the importation of pet animals into Great Britain for the purpose of promoting animal welfare. This will enable us to go further in the future and explore measures to prohibit or restrict imports of puppies below a minimum age, heavily pregnant dams, or dogs which have been subjected to mutilations such as cropped ears or docked tails.</p><p>The Government is planning to launch a consultation later this year on the proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. The consultation will allow us to refine the scope of the measures.</p><p>Significant steps have also been taken to improve and update the laws on dog breeding in England. Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a twelve-month period needs to have a valid licence from their Local Authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by Local Authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 16/07/2021 13:53:13 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1344828

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2021
	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	Dogs: 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 steps steps he is taking to tackle the promotion of cropping dogs ears on social media.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	29107
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2021 answer text <p>This Government is committed to eradicating the illegal cropping of dogs ears, not just addressing the practice’s promotion on social media. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is already an offence in England and Wales to carry out a non-exempted mutilation e.g. where it is not carried out for medical purposes, including the cropping of a dog’s ears. Now that The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 has come into force, anyone convicted of such an offence faces being sent to prison for up to 5 years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both.</p><p> </p><p>The Government published its Action Plan for Animal Welfare on 12th May, which can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare/action-plan-for-animal-welfare" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare/action-plan-for-animal-welfare</a>. This is a wide-reaching and ambitious plan to set out our current and future work on animal welfare. The Government has a manifesto commitment to crack down on puppy smuggling and one of our key reforms in the plan is to end this abhorrent, cruel practice and low-welfare pet imports. As part of the Action Plan, we are now making some significant changes to domestic law through the recently introduced Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. This Bill was introduced in Parliament on the 8 June and will progress through Parliament when parliamentary time allows. The Bill includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and on the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation. These power will allow us to go further and prioritise the welfare of dogs by prohibiting the importation and non-commercial movement of dogs into GB that have been subject to low welfare practices, such as ear cropping or tail docking, in line with our domestic legislation on these practices.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile my Department maintains a national communications campaign (Petfished) to raise awareness of issues associated with low-welfare and illegal supply of pets. This includes providing clear signposting on where responsible breeders and rehoming centres can be found and encouraging prospective buyers to research the seller thoroughly before they visit and decide to purchase. The campaign provides a list of red flags for buyers to look out for when searching for a pet online. More information can be found here: <a href="https://getyourpetsafely.campaign.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://getyourpetsafely.campaign.gov.uk/</a>. We have also endorsed The Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) which was created to combat growing concerns about the irresponsible advertising of pets for sale, rehoming and exchange and backed a set of Minimum Standards that PAAG developed which several of the UK’s largest classified websites have agreed to meet.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 16/07/2021 13:39:53 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1344832

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2021
	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	Beverage Containers: 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 effect of the timescale to introduce a deposit return scheme on the amount of plastic waste the UK will export overseas by 2024.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	29108
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2021 answer text <p>In the Resources and Waste Strategy, we have committed to taking actions which will help to stimulate private investment in reprocessing and recycling infrastructure. The introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, alongside the other Collection and Packaging Reforms (Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (EPR) and consistency in household and business recycling in England), is expected to increase and incentivise appetite for commercial infrastructure investment, giving investors greater confidence in the growing UK reprocessing market and reducing the reliance on exporting material overseas. Alongside this, the HMT plastic packaging tax is expected to increase demand for secondary material plastic and increasing reprocessing infrastructure will help meet this demand.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 16/07/2021 13:38:55 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1344833

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2021
	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	Plastics
	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 reduce the use of single use plastics; and what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of a target of 50 per cent reduction by 2025.
	tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
	tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
	uin	29109
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government's 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042, including from single-use plastics. We are making great strides to tackle plastic pollution across the country. In December 2018 we published the Resources and Waste Strategy, which sets out how we want to achieve this and move towards a circular economy and keep resources in the system for as long as possible.</p><p> </p><p>We have made significant progress on reducing single-use plastic products. In October 2020, we introduced measures to restrict the supply of plastic straws, plastic drink stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. The single-use carrier bag charge, which has led to a 95% reduction in the use of single-use carrier bags by the main supermarkets, has been increased to 10p and extended to all retailers to encourage customers to bring their own bags to carry shopping and reduce the volumes of single-use plastic being used. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and materials to take a systematic approach to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products, including problematic packaging materials. However, we must think carefully about introducing bans and other policy solutions to avoid unintended consequences, such as a switch to another single-use material.</p><p> </p><p>Our Environment Bill will enable us to significantly change the way we manage waste and take forward a number of proposals from the Resources and Waste Strategy. The Bill will include powers to create Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, introduce Deposit Return Schemes, and give us the power to set new charges for other single-use plastic items. Our consultations on an EPR scheme for packaging and a DRS for drinks containers closed on 4 June. From April 2022, we will introduce a new tax on plastic packaging, set at £200 per tonne for packaging that does not contain at least 30% recycled content. The tax is estimated to lead to around 40% more recycled plastic being used in packaging in 2022/23, saving nearly 200,000 tonnes of CO2. In effect a tonne of recycled plastic will be over £600 more valuable. This will create a market for recycled content, which we expect to drive investment in further capacity in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has put together a package of over £100 million for research and innovation to tackle the issues that arise from plastic waste. £38 million was set aside through the Plastics Research and Innovation Fund, the last funding competition of which opened in June 2020.  The Resource Action Fund included £10 million specifically to pioneer innovative approaches to boosting recycling and reducing litter. The Government has also announced £60 million of funding through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, alongside a £150 million investment from industry, towards the development of smart, sustainable plastic packaging (SSPP), which will aim to make the UK a world leader in sustainable packaging for consumer products. Two SSPP funding opportunities have been open for bids in 2021: the SSPP Demonstrator Round 2 and the SSPP business-led research and development competition.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has not made an assessment of the impact of a target to reduce single-use plastics by 50% by 2025. However, the Environment Bill includes a requirement for the Government to set at least one long-term target on resource efficiency and waste reduction. Work is already underway on developing these targets, in order to help guide the government the Resources and Waste Targets Expert Group has been formed. More information can be found at:  <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/resources-and-waste-targets-expert-group" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/resources-and-waste-targets-expert-group</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Moreover, the Government is exploring packaging recycling targets under our proposals for extended producer responsibility for packaging. The consultation on our more detailed proposals closed on 4 June 2021.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 16/07/2021 13:36:01 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes