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1178965

registered interest
date	21/02/2020
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	High Speed 2 Line: Forests
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 protect ancient woodlands that will be affected by the HS2 development.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	18877
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/03/2020 answer text <p>HS2 is an exceptionally important infrastructure project, and there are significant compensation packages in place to mitigate for the unavoidable loss of 39.2 hectares resulting from HS2.</p><p>HS2 is using a combination of approaches to compensate for the ancient woodlands lost during construction, including soil translocation from affected ancient woodlands to other woodlands to improve their biodiversity, restoring existing ancient woodland and planting new woodland.</p><p>The HS2 Woodland Fund is the compensation strategy for ancient woodland loss, with £5 million provided for HS2 Phase 1. This has been made available to fund projects that will help support woodland creation, as well as restore and enhance woodland on private land or in partnership with multiple landowners. This fund is overseen by the Forestry Commission. £1.6 million of this fund has already been committed, supporting around 121 hectares of new native woodland creation and the restoration of 174 hectares of plantations within ancient woodland sites. £2 million more has been provisionally allocated for Phase 2a.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 03/03/2020 15:26:01 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

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
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

1258436

registered interest
date	04/12/2020
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	Recreation Spaces
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing legally binding targets on widespread access to nature and green space.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	125314
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/12/2020 answer text <p>Defra is currently undertaking a number of measures to improve widespread access to nature and green space. The 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our comprehensive and long-term approach to protecting and enhancing our natural landscapes in England for the next generation and to helping people improve their health and wellbeing by using green spaces. There is lots of work already ongoing to deliver on this approach, such as the National Framework of Green Infrastructure Standards for England, the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, the Green Social Prescribing Project, the Children and Nature Programme, the financial provisions of the Agriculture Act 2020 through the Environmental Land Management scheme, the England Coast Path and a new northern National Trail based on Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Bill will give the Secretary of State the power to set long-term, legally binding environmental targets across the breadth of the natural environment. It will specifically require the government to set at least one target each in four priority areas: air quality, biodiversity, water, and waste reduction and resource efficiency. The power to set targets will not be limited to these four priority areas. Long-term targets could be set in respect of any matter which relates to the natural environment, or people’s enjoyment of it, to drive significant improvement of the environment.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 09/12/2020 17:38:18 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1289033

registered interest
date	23/02/2021
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	Watersure
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including (a) people in receipt of attendance allowance and (b) additional benefit recipients in the qualification criteria for the WaterSure Scheme, as outlined in the Water Industry (Charges) (Vulnerable Groups) Regulations 1999.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	157314
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2021 answer text <p>To be eligible for WaterSure, customers must be in receipt of means tested benefits, which provides an appropriate measure for assessing income, and have either three or more children under 19 or a medical condition requiring the extra use of water.</p><p> </p><p>Attendance Allowance is not included as an eligible benefit as it is a non means-tested benefit. Without an income-related criterion, those who are able to afford their water bill may receive financial support funded by other lower income households.</p><p> </p><p>Since the introduction of WaterSure, the legislation has been updated to add and remove benefits, making sure that WaterSure continues to support those most in need of assistance. The Government does not intend to change the eligibility criteria for WaterSure at this time.</p><p> </p><p>Water companies also offer social tariffs, payment breaks, payment matching, debt advice and referral arrangements, and some have independent charitable trusts that make awards to help customers in times of need. The eligibility criteria for social tariffs is not set by the Government, allowing water companies to address the local and regional needs of their customers.</p><p> </p><p>We have asked the independent Consumer Council for Water to undertake a review of existing financial support schemes to ensure consumers who struggle with their water bills can get the support they need. The review will be published this spring.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 01/03/2021 16:49:29 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1289943

registered interest
date	25/02/2021
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	Hunting: Foxes
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 his Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the Hunting Act 2004 to prohibit trail hunt organisers from (a) organising trail hunts in close proximity to areas of high density fox populations and (b) using animal-based scents to set trail hunts.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	159045
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/03/2021 answer text <p>This government will not amend the Hunting Act 2004 and therefore we have not made any assessment of any potential amendments.</p><p> </p><p>The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act, and completely bans hare coursing. The full details of the Hunting Act 2004 exemptions are available online at: <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/37/schedule/1" target="_blank">www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/37/schedule/1</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law. Enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 02/03/2021 15:35:02 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1300143

registered interest
date	08/03/2021
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	Hedgehogs: 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 protect the UK's hedgehog population.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	164645
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2021 answer text <p>The Environment Bill contains measures that will help improve the status of threatened species, including by setting at least one biodiversity target in law, as well as strengthening the biodiversity duty on public authorities to take action to conserve and enhance biodiversity.</p><p>We are also taking action, through our net gain provisions in the Bill, to support the role of new development in helping protect and create the habitat that our native species, including hedgehogs, need to thrive.</p><p>We are working with stakeholders and end users to determine the specific actions that will be paid for under our new schemes that reward environmental land management. We will set out more details on this later this year. The Agricultural Transition Plan set out examples of the types of actions that we envisage paying for under the schemes, including creating, managing and restoring habitats such as woodland, heathland and species-rich grassland, which could all benefit species such as hedgehog.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 16/03/2021 13:02:35 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1300144

registered interest
date	08/03/2021
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	Food: Production
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 has taken to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from food production in the run up to COP26.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	164646
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2021 answer text <p>Sustainable agriculture and land use are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and objectives of the Paris Agreement. The 2019 IPCC land-use report set out the critical role that sustainable land use must play in climate mitigation and building resilience. The COP26 Nature Campaign aims to raise the profile of this agenda, building on the Just Rural Transition launched at the UN Climate Action Summit and providing a platform to highlight actions that leading countries are taking to deliver change.</p><p> </p><p>Reaching our Net Zero target is one of this Government's top priorities. We know that this will be a challenge, requiring action across the economy. It will mean changes to the way land is managed to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. We will support the sector to make these changes through the schemes set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan.</p><p> </p><p>The Agricultural Transition Plan published on 30 November 2020 outlined how the Government will support farmers and land managers by investing the money freed up from phasing out direct payments to pay for improvements to the environment, improve animal health and welfare and reduce carbon emissions. Simultaneously, we need to protect and increase our carbon stores, increasing afforestation and peat restoration rates across England, whilst supporting the adaptiveness and resilience of these ecosystems to risks which may arise under a changing climate. Our new environmental land management schemes will help deliver on this and include the Sustainable Farming Incentive, a universal scheme open to all farmers, which will support sustainable approaches to farm husbandry to deliver for the environment, such as actions to improve soil health and water quality, enhance hedgerows and promote integrated pest management.</p><p> </p><p>We will also take steps to reduce emissions through our animal health and welfare schemes and transitional support schemes. For example, we will support action to identify and eliminate Bovine Viral Diarrhoea, which raises greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. And we will provide grants towards the cost of equipment, technology and infrastructure that will improve farmers’ efficiency, benefiting the environment. These could include precision agriculture and low-emission nutrient application equipment.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/03/2021 12:16:47 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1308062

registered interest
date	12/04/2021
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, if his Department will assess the potential merits of implementing a deposit return scheme that includes containers of all sizes earlier than 2023.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	179615
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2021 answer text <p>The Government committed, in its 2019 manifesto, to introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle drinks containers.</p><p> </p><p>On 24 March we published our second consultation on implementing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. Further details of the proposed deposit return scheme, including the size of drinks containers being considered as part of the scope of the scheme, are presented in this second consultation.</p><p> </p><p>Timelines have been reviewed to ensure we allow sufficient time for the roll out and implementation of a complex policy, and we therefore propose to implement the scheme in 2024, with views on this being taken in the consultation.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 20/04/2021 13:07:19 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1310607

registered interest
date	20/04/2021
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 discussions he has had with water companies on the discharging of raw sewage into English rivers.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	184560
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/04/2021 answer text <p>Tackling the harm caused by sewer overflows is a top priority for this department.</p><p> </p><p>To achieve this, the new Storm Overflows Taskforce - bringing together Government, the water industry, regulators and environmental NGOs - has agreed to set a long-term goal to eliminate harm from storm overflows. The Taskforce is meeting regularly and working on plans to start making progress towards that goal, and they have commissioned research to gather evidence on the costs, benefits and feasibility of different options.</p><p> </p><p>We are also introducing new duties that will require the Government to publish a plan by September 2022 to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows and to report progress to Parliament on implementing that plan. We are also introducing duties requiring water companies and the Environment Agency to publish data on storm overflow operations on an annual basis. These legally binding obligations on water companies and Government will reduce pollution in rivers, protecting wildlife and public health.</p><p> </p><p>The Environment Secretary and the Environment Agency Chair have met with underperforming water companies to discuss how Government and industry can work together to drive better environmental performance. The Environment Secretary has set out clear expectations for water companies to improve their environmental performance in the future. I have also met water company CEOs and made clear that the volume of sewage discharged into rivers and other waterways in extreme weather must be reduced.</p><p> </p><p>Water companies are committed in the five-year business planning period (2020-25) to a significant programme of improvements to the monitoring and management of storm overflows at a cost of around £1.1 billion. This investment includes undertaking 800 investigations and 798 improvement schemes to provide environmental improvements by reducing spills from frequently spilling overflows.</p><p> </p><p>With regards to penalties and enforcement, the Environment Agency currently regulates water companies in their operation of storm overflows to ensure they only discharge under strict permitted conditions. Where discharges occur outside of these conditions, the Environment Agency investigates and takes appropriate action, which includes enforcement action if necessary.</p><p> </p><p>Environment Agency action has resulted in 48 prosecutions against water companies in the last six years, securing fines of £35 million. £10.4 million has also been donated to environmental and wildlife trusts organisations in the same period through enforcement undertakings, a voluntary agreement which will include a donation to environmental charities to restore any harm done. The Environment Agency will continue to take enforcement action against water companies which fail to uphold the law or cause serious environmental harm.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 26/04/2021 13:44:19 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana

1359567

registered interest
date	15/10/2021
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	Hunting Act 2004
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the Hunting Act 2004 to prevent dogs from (a) seeking out, (b) injuring and (c) killing wild mammals.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Zarah Sultana
uin	56640
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2021 answer text <p>The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act, and completely bans hare coursing. The Government does not therefore see the need to review the Hunting Act 2004.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 20/10/2021 12:15:52 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4786 label Biography information for Zarah Sultana