Tag: Barry Gardiner

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.

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 staff counted under the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management cost-heading at the Environment Agency have been redeployed to inspect flood defence assets in each of the last five months.

Dan Rogerson

The Environment Agency has not redeployed any non–flood and coastal erosion risk management staff to inspect flood risk management assets in the last five months. The Environment Agency only uses fully trained staff to inspect assets and has trained and used 200 armed forces personnel for this purpose.

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 monitoring stations were in place and returning air quality data for NO2, PM2.5 and PM10 in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.

Dan Rogerson

Defra operates an extensive monitoring network in order to assess air quality in the UK. The number of sites may vary year to year as sites are upgraded or replaced. A summary of the number of monitoring stations for each pollutant by year is provided below.

Year	NO2	PM2.5	PM10
2010	117	78	68
2011	118	78	68
2012	121	80	69
2013	118	83	72
2014	115	80	70

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 and what proportion of flood management assets have been inspected in each year since 2008-09.

Dan Rogerson

Since 2008/9 the Environment Agency has inspected all of its flood risk management assets on a risk based programme. The highest risk assets are inspected every six months, medium risk assets every 12 to 18 months, low risk assets every 24 to 36 months and very low risk assets every 60 months. The Environment Agency currently has around 150,000 flood risk management assets. In March 2014 the Environment Agency carried out a full inspection of all flood risk management assets using military personnel.

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, whether the Government has adopted a formal position on the EU air package; and if he will make a statement.

Dan Rogerson

The Government welcomes the European Commission’s Clean Air Package which was published on 18 December last year. The Commission has recently published several reports updating its impact assessment for the package, and we are in the process of analysing the proposals. The Government is committed to working with the Commission, the European Parliament and other Member States to ensure the package is proportionate, deliverable and achievable.

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 publish the findings of his Department’s root and branch review of the environmental information required from businesses; and when he plans to publish plans for implementing changes to those requirements.

Dan Rogerson

Initial findings of Defra’s root and branch review of the environmental information required from businesses were published on the Smarter Guidance and Data website last November. Findings for marine and carbon information obligations followed in February. These findings can be found at guidanceanddata.defra.gov.uk. I have placed copies in the library of the House.

An implementation plan outlining reform measures for environmental information required from businesses is due to be published on 9 April. This implementation plan will be available on www.gov.uk. Remaining measures featuring farming-related information obligations are due to be published in June.

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