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1238714

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Air 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 steps his Department has taken to align the UK's target for PM2.5 with the World Health Organisation's guideline amount.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	97045
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/10/2020 answer text <p>In July 2019, the Government published a report assessing the progress that will be made towards World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines under a range of scenarios. The report concluded that while significant progress would be made by achieving existing 2030 emissions ceilings, additional action would be required in large urban areas such as London to achieve the current WHO guideline level. The analysis did not outline a pathway to achieve the WHO guideline level for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) across the country and did not take into account full economic viability and practical deliverability.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Bill, which will be introduced shortly, will establish a legally binding duty to set a target for PM2.5, demonstrating our commitment to action on the air pollutant that has the most significant impact on human health. We are committed to setting ambitious targets and following an evidence-based process, seeking advice from a range of experts, in addition to giving consideration to the WHO’s air quality guidelines. We are already working with independent experts and engaging with stakeholders on how we will approach setting these targets.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 05/10/2020 12:12:15 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1238922

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Flood Control: 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, what estimates the Environment Agency has made of the funding required for flood risk mitigation projects in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96984
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/10/2020 answer text <p>The Environment Agency’s (EA) Long Term Investment Scenarios (LTIS) for England sets out the total national level of investment required for FCERM. The Environment Agency produced LTIS 2009, 2014 and LTIS 2019. LTIS is used as evidence for government and others considering future policy and investment choices.</p><p> </p><p>The latest LTIS was published in 2019 and shows that the EA’s best estimate of the overall economic optimum level of investment has a long-term annual average of over £1 billion. The 2020 Budget announcement for capital funding is consistent with the ‘optimal’ spend suggested by LTIS. Overall funding is expected to at least meet the LTIS recommendation, allowing for faster progress towards long term adaptation.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 05/10/2020 12:14:54 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1238925

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Flood Control: 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, how much funding the Environment Agency has been allocated for flood risk mitigation projects in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
	tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96985
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/10/2020 answer text <p>Defra provides the majority of its funding for flood and coastal erosion risk management to the Environment Agency (EA) as Grant-in-Aid, which is the mechanism for financing Non-Departmental Public Bodies, such as the EA. The EA spends this funding directly on manging flood risk, but it also passes some of this funding on as capital grants for flood or coastal erosion defence improvements to local authorities or Internal Drainage Boards – local public authorities established in areas of special drainage need which manage water levels within their respective drainage districts.</p><p><br /> The capital funding allocated to the EA for flood and coastal erosion risk management in present and future financial years 2019/20 to 2021/22 can be found in table 1 (page 4) of the document available at the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/funding-for-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-in-england" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/funding-for-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-management-in-england</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Expenditure on flood and coastal erosion risk management by the EA, Defra and Lead Local Flood Authorities for 2010/11 – 2018/19 can be found in table 2 (page 5) of the same document. Figures for 2019/20 spend are still in the process of being audited and will be available in an updated document on GOV.UK soon.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 05/10/2020 12:15:51 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1238804

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Peat
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has set a date for publication of the England Peat Strategy.
	tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Hallam
	tabling member printed	Olivia Blake
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	97063
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/10/2020 answer text <p>In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to publishing an England Peat Strategy to create and deliver a new ambitious framework for peat restoration in England. We intend to publish the strategy later this year.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 05/10/2020 12:08:04 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4864 label Biography information for Olivia Blake

1238811

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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: Waste
	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 reduce the amount of food wasted by (a) consumers, (b) supermarkets and (c) restaurants.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
	tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96919
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/10/2020 answer text <p>In December 2018, the Government launched its Resources and Waste Strategy which sets out our approach to address food waste from farm to fork.</p><p> </p><p>Through Government grant funding of over £3 million this year, the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) aims to reduce food waste across the supply chain and in the home.</p><p> </p><p>We are also fully committed to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 target, which seeks to halve global food waste at consumer and retail levels by 2030.</p><p> </p><p>Consumer campaign initiatives including the lovefoodhatewaste programme and campaign moments such as <em>Crushing it</em> aim to help consumers tackle waste in the home. This is supported by the Courtauld 2025 Commitment, a collaboration across the supply chain which aims to reduce UK food waste by 20% per capita by 2025 through for example supply chain efficiency initiatives and consumer behaviour change prompts such as storage advice. We also work closely with WRAP on its work with the hospitality industry and the provision of resources such as ‘Guardians of Grub: Becoming a Champion’ (<a href="http://www.guardiansofgrub.com/becoming-a-champion" target="_blank">http://www.guardiansofgrub.com/becoming-a-champion</a>) and ‘Target Measure Act’ (<a href="https://www.wrap.org.uk/content/target-measure-act-case-studies-hospitality-and-food-service" target="_blank">https://www.wrap.org.uk/content/target-measure-act-case-studies-hospitality-and-food-service</a>), embedding food waste management at the center of business operations.</p><p> </p><p>Through the £15 million Food Waste Fund we are also making grants available to prevent food waste, including helping food surplus redistributors to get more surplus from the supply chain to those who have a need.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 05/10/2020 11:59:07 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1238998

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Chemicals: Regulation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2020 to Question 64285 on chemicals: regulation, by when she plans that (a) the Health & Safety Executive and (b) the Environment Agency will be fully staffed to deliver the post-transition Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96833
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2020 answer text <p>We have been working closely with the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency and are confident that they will have the right resources in place to carry out their responsibilities in relation to REACH from 1 January 2021. Further recruitment is planned after the end of the Transition Period to ensure both organisations have the right capability and capacity for anticipated increase in work load over the coming years. We will keep this situation under review and make further resources available as needed subject to the outcome of the Spending Review.</p><p> </p><p>Training for staff recruited over the past 18 months has been ongoing and planning for new recruitment includes training time ahead of peaks in workload. There will be a comprehensive training plan for new recruits. The length of time to train individual new recruits will depend on the nature of the role and the background and skills of the successful candidates.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 96834 question first answered 07/10/2020 14:10:46 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1238999

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Chemicals: Regulation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2020 to Question 64285 on Chemicals: Regulation, how many how many full-time equivalent staff the Government is recruiting; and how long it will take to train new recruits.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96834
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2020 answer text <p>We have been working closely with the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency and are confident that they will have the right resources in place to carry out their responsibilities in relation to REACH from 1 January 2021. Further recruitment is planned after the end of the Transition Period to ensure both organisations have the right capability and capacity for anticipated increase in work load over the coming years. We will keep this situation under review and make further resources available as needed subject to the outcome of the Spending Review.</p><p> </p><p>Training for staff recruited over the past 18 months has been ongoing and planning for new recruitment includes training time ahead of peaks in workload. There will be a comprehensive training plan for new recruits. The length of time to train individual new recruits will depend on the nature of the role and the background and skills of the successful candidates.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow grouped question UIN 96833 question first answered 07/10/2020 14:10:46 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1239003

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Rivers: Environment Protection
	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 an assessment of the potential effects of ending the one-out-all-out rule for rivers for (a) ecosystems and wildlife and (b) people who use rivers for leisure purposes.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96835
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>We have not made such an assessment as there are no plans to end the one-out-all-out principle which forms part of the current regulatory framework. However, we are willing to consider further methods to overcome any shortcomings associated with using only one composite assessment in our work on improving the water environment.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 08/10/2020 11:30:05 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1239004

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Water: Environment Protection
	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 introduce new metrics to measure improvements in individual aspects of water quality in (a) rivers and (b) other inland freshwater bodies.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96836
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>Last year, the Government published an indicator framework designed to describe and measure progress towards the 10 goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan, including the goal of clean and plentiful water and the target to return 75% of our surface water to as close as possible to its natural condition, as soon as is practicable. Seven of the 66 indicators, such as pollution loads entering water, specifically cover changes to the water environment. There is always room to refine environmental metrics. The indicator framework serves as a new basis to improve metrics to monitor changes in the natural environment and ensure that we are taking appropriate action.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 08/10/2020 11:25:51 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1239006

	registered interest
	date	29/09/2020
	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	Water: Environment Protection
	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 an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a long-term target to improve quality of freshwater that includes (a) the extent of waters achieving high ecological status, (b) an inland bathing standard, (c) small waters such as headwater streams, small lakes, ponds and ditches and wetland habitats that are not currently covered by the Water Framework Directive; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	type	WrittenParliamentaryQuestion
	uin	96837
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/10/2020 answer text <p>The Government has introduced a long-term target to bring three quarters of England’s rivers and other surface water to as close as possible to their natural condition, as soon as is practicable. This equates to good ecological status.</p><p> </p><p>Inland bathing waters are currenty assessed to the standards set out in the Bathing Water Regulations (2013). They apply where bathing water designations are made following applications from interested parties using the established process. To date only a small number of inland lakes have been designated as bathing waters although Defra is currently consulting on an application for bathing water status in a stretch of the River Wharfe at Ilkley.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that small water bodies are an important component of the aquatic environment. Whilst headwaters should broadly be in as good a condition as the rivers they feed into, the science is not developed enough to allow target setting for the diverse range of headwaters, nor the other types of small water bodies. The Environment Agency is planning to start wider monitoring in some headwater and smaller streams next year as part of its new River Surveillance Network.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 08/10/2020 11:36:39 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas