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  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016, how she plans to ensure that effective national strategies on flooding and flood defences are created and maintained.

    Rory Stewart

    The Environment Agency (EA) has a duty under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 to develop, maintain, apply and monitor a national flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy for England. The strategy was published in 2011. The Act also lays down that the EA must report to the Minister on flood and costal erosion risk management including the application of the national strategy. The EA publishes this report annually.

    In addition Government is undertaking a National Flood Resilience Review which will assess how the country can be better protected from future flooding and increasingly extreme weather events. It will focus on four key areas: updating our climate modelling and stress-testing the nation’s resilience to flood risk; assessing the resilience of our important infrastructure like electricity substations; our temporary defences; and our future investment strategy. The Government launched a call for evidence on 2 February. The Review will align closely with Defra’s work on catchment-level management of the water cycle in the Government’s 25 year Environment Plan.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how responsibility for maintaining local watercourses will be shared.

    Rory Stewart

    Following discussions between Defra, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Somerset Rivers Authority, the Secretary of State for DCLG confirmed that authorities in Somerset will be able to raise extra funding via a shadow precept from April 2016.

    The Government also provides funding to Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) to carry out their duties under the Flood and Water Management Act. As part of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2016-17, the DCLG has proposed protecting LLFA funding in real terms over the life of this Parliament.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to reduce the administrative burden placed on fishing boats under 10 metres.

    George Eustice

    I am keen to ensure that administrative burdens on the small-scale fleet are kept to the minimum possible, while still allowing for effective management of the fishery. Improvements to the services offered to fishermen by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) include:

    • Simplification of the application process under the new European Maritime and Fisheries Fund scheme;
    • The introduction of exemptions under the Landings Obligation so that industry does not have to bear a disproportionate cost of disposing of unwanted fish;
    • Streamlining application forms to reduce size and make them easier to understand; and,
    • Moving to permanent vessel licences, eliminating the need to replace them every five years.

    Defra and the MMO will continue to engage with individuals within the ten metres and under fishing community in order to identify additional areas where administrative burdens might be reduced, or where other improvements could be made.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to assure the future funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit for the next five years.

    Rory Stewart

    The Government remains committed to tackling wildlife crime. We are currently allocating our Spending Review settlement. Future funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit will be decided as part of that process.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to encourage households to (a) reduce food waste and (b) increase awareness of food waste.

    Rory Stewart

    Working through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), we are increasing awareness of food waste and helping households waste less and save money through the Courtauld Commitment and the Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaign. These have contributed to a 15% reduction in the amount of household food and drink waste between 2007 and 2012, from 8.3m tonnes to 7.0m tonnes.

    WRAP is currently running the LFHW ‘10 cities’ campaign across the UK. The campaign includes activities in each city including cascade training, practical cookery classes and demonstrations, a kitchen skills programme, food champion networks and memorable experiential events.

    WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, which is expected to be launched in March and will build on this progress.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the work of Taste of Ulster; and if she will introduce similar organisations throughout the UK to promote food products.

    George Eustice

    I fully support the excellent work that Taste of Ulster is doing to showcase the finest food and drink from Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland’s Year of Food and Drink is running concurrently with the Year of Great British Food, and we are working closely with colleagues from Northern Ireland which includes some food pioneers from Northern Ireland’s food industry to ensure that our shared message about the wonderful food and drink produced throughout the UK and the outstanding food heritage of our nation reaches the widest possible audience.

    This year’s celebrations of food include promoting Protected Food Names. I am delighted that there are three Protected Food Names from Northern Ireland: Armagh Bramley Apples, New Season Comber Potatoes and Lough Neagh Eels and that there are four more in the pipeline.

    Food NI and the Taste of Ulster campaign provides a strong model of the food sector taking the lead in forming a consortium to promote the excellence of Northern Irish food. Similar initiatives exist in other parts of the UK, and I strongly encourage and support their work.

  • Philip Hollobone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Philip Hollobone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Hollobone on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to prevent the mis-selling of domestic energy to pensioners.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Energy companies are required under their licence conditions to ensure all information that they or their representatives provide to domestic customers during a marketing activity is complete, accurate and easily understood.

    Ofgem has powers to investigate and impose sanctions, such as financial penalties, on energy companies when they are found to have breached their licence conditions, including mis-selling.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department plans to begin a procurement process for a technology to reuse plutonium stored at Sellafield before 2020.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Safely and securely managing plutonium remains a government priority. My Department is working across government, with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and industry to develop a solution.

    NDA submitted advice to support DECC in its considerations on the policy options for separated plutonium held in the UK, in December 2015. The report gives a view on the balance of attractiveness and risk of each reuse option (reuse as MOX and assessment of the credible alternatives PRISM and Candu); as well as immobilisation and continued storage. This, together with other sources of information and evidence, is informing DECC’s consideration of the options for the way forward.

    Only when Government is confident that an option could be implemented safely and securely, in way that is affordable, deliverable, and offers value for money, will it be in a position to proceed.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding the Government has allocated to the continued assessment of options for plutonium management in the financial years (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In Spending Review 2015, the Government committed £11bn net funding to NDA over five years (in addition to its forecast commercial income). Government is satisfied with the provision made in the NDA’s budget to continue to make meaningful progress on the plutonium disposition programme.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect on uptake of renewable energy production of increasing VAT on domestic solar photovoltaic installations.

    Andrea Leadsom

    A recent European Court ruling found that the reduced rate of VAT on certain ‘energy saving materials’ was in breach of EU law. As a result HMRC recently consulted on how that reduced rate of VAT is applied and are currently considering the responses to that consultation. If it is decided that a change to VAT is appropriate, we will consider options on how to maintain a suitable rate-of-return for investors.