Tag: Barry Gardiner

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s biodiversity offsetting schemes, what spatial constraints will be placed on the location of such schemes.

Dan Rogerson

Defra is currently considering its policy options on offsetting which include what spatial constraints there might be on the location of offsets.

These considerations are being made in light of feedback and evidence from several sources. These include our public consultation on biodiversity offsetting in England, the Environmental Audit Committee’s report and evidence from the six offsetting pilots.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many non-flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM) staff at the Environment Agency, including such non-FCERM staff funded through the FCERM budget, were redeployed for emergency flood response activities in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15 to date.

Dan Rogerson

The figures are as follows:

(a) 2010-11: No data available

(b) 2011-12: No data available

(c) 2012-13: Approximately 5,000 staff involved in flood response (this included Environment Agency Wales at that time). Of this, approximately 38% (1,900) of staff were from non-flooding and coastal erosion risk management (FCRM) functions. This does not include contractors.

(d) 2013-14: Approximately4,500 staff involved in flood response. Of this, approximately 50% (2,250) of staff were from non-FCRM functions. This does not include the additional staff brought in from Natural Resources Wales, contractors, or the military.

(e) 2014-15: Data not yet available.

More detailed information on the numbers of the non-FCRM staff involved in flood incidents which were funded by FCRM or other budgets is not recorded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide citations of all the scientific literature used by his Department to establish the weightings of risk factors when establishing the metric for biodiversity offsetting.

Dan Rogerson

The current metric was developed for use in the biodiversity offsetting pilots. Defra published a paper at the start of the pilots describing the metric and explaining the rationale behind it. That paper is called “Biodiversity Offsetting Pilots. Technical Paper: the metric for the biodiversity offsetting pilot in England”. Pages 18-19 include the list of references http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/biodiversity/offsetting/documents/110714offsetting-technical-metric.pdf. The time multiplier reflects HM Treasury “Green Book” guidance.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the reasons are for the time taken for the review of the Chalara management plan; why the updated plan was not published by the Government’s March 2014 target; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson

The Government will publish an updated management approach to Chalara alongside updated management approaches to other established tree pests and diseases, and those that pose an imminent threat, in a single Tree Health Management Plan. This Plan will set out the action that the Government and others are taking to protect our tree population from pests and diseases. It will be published alongside the wider Plant Biosecurity Strategy later this spring.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the individual total cost is of each of the biodiversity offsetting pilot schemes in (a) Devon, (b) Doncaster, (c) Essex, (d) Greater Norwich, (e) Nottinghamshire, (f) Warwickshire, (g) Coventry and (h) Solihull to date; and what the estimated total cost is of the schemes.

Dan Rogerson

This information is not held centrally. An evaluation of the pilots is being produced and will be published.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the reason is for the time his Department has taken to revise and publish environmental guidance on gov.uk.

Dan Rogerson

A target has been set to simplify all of Defra and its agencies’ guidance, including general reader and specialist guidance, by March 2015 with an expected reduction in volume of over 80%.

Guidance reform plans have now been prepared for all environmental topics and the Environment Agency started to put revised guidance on GOV.UK on 31 March. Seventy per cent of simplified content for the general reader will be on GOV.UK during April and the rest by June.

Defra and the Government Digital Service (GDS) are working closely together to make the most effective use of resources as GDS migrates Defra’s arm’s length bodies’ web content to GOV.UK. The original target date for completing this migration process was March this year. This timing has been revised to July.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Government’s response to the Government’s Environmental Audit Committee’s Report HC 1195 published on 26 March 2014, what the forecasted costs and savings are under each cost heading for planning authorities of implementing the biodiversity offsetting proposals over a five year period.

Dan Rogerson

The consultation paper “Biodiversity Offsetting in England”, published on 5 September 2013, set out a number of options for taking forward offsetting in England. The accompanying Impact Assessment (Defra 1126) set out the available financial information. However, the costs and benefits to each sector would vary according to the system of offsetting which was adopted. In keeping with the Environmental Audit Committee’s recommendations, the Government will not take any policy decisions on offsetting until the assessment of the six pilots is available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many meetings he has had with the Mayor of London on air quality.

Dan Rogerson

The Secretary of State meets the Mayor of London on a regular basis. They met on 1 May last year specifically to discuss air quality. There has also been correspondence between them on this issue.

In addition, Defra air quality officials are in regular contact with officials at the Greater London Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Environment Agency staff have been redeployed to inspect flood defence assets in each of the last five months.

Dan Rogerson

The Environment Agency has 100 members of staff fully trained in asset inspection who have all been deployed in the last five months. Only trained staff are used to inspect assets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which key delivery partners his Department has met to inform a second consultation on local air quality management as mentioned in the Local Air Quality Management in England: Review-Summary of Responses and Government Reply.

Dan Rogerson

Defra officials have met with lead officials at the Department for Transport and Greater London Authority, and, through the Regional Coordinators Group, local air quality practitioners and environmental health officers from across England. This Group, which meets at least twice a year, includes representatives from other Government Departments and key stakeholders. We will continue to engage fully with these and other delivery partners to help inform our second consultation on revised regulations and guidance for local authorities.