Tag: Kerry McCarthy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what timetable she proposes for deciding on the funding allocation to the National Wildlife Crime Unit from March 2016.

Rory Stewart

The Government has committed to providing funding to help secure the National Wildlife Crime Unit until at least the end of March next year.

With the Spending Review concluded, Defra is now looking at what this settlement means in terms of the detailed allocation of its budgets. Ministers will be making decisions about the funding of the NWCU beyond March as part of this process and will confirm the funding position as soon as possible in the new year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-01-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed changes to the Landfill Communities Fund on the number of community projects supported by that Fund each year.

Damian Hinds

The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is a tax credit scheme into which landfill operators contribute voluntarily. The government does not generate estimates for the number of projects supported by the scheme each year. ENTRUST, the regulator of the LCF, publishes information about projects funded by the scheme. This information is available on their website at:

http://www.entrust.org.uk/environmental-bodies/project-search/

Further information on the impact of the changes to the LCF announced at Autumn Statement 2015 is set out in Reform and value of the Landfill Communities Fund. This document can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reform-and-value-of-the-landfill-communities-fund/reform-and-value-of-the-landfill-communities-fund

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure the UK meets (a) the EU target to 50 per cent of municipal waste by 2020 and (b) the proposed EU target to recycle 65 per cent of such waste by 2030.

Rory Stewart

The UK recycling rate has increased from 11% at the turn of the century, to 44.9% now. This progress is thanks in large part to the hard work of Local Authorities and householders.

The Government is committed to meeting the 2020 EU recycling target of 50% of household waste.

Local Authorities are best placed to determine the most appropriate waste collection and recycling services in their areas and we work with them and the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) to promote best practice.

I have asked WRAP to look at what further measures can be taken to improve recycling rates and, in particular the benefits and opportunities there are from having greater consistency in the materials collected and collection systems to enable Local Authorities to recycle more, and to make it easier for householders to put the right materials in the right bin.

The UK is still assessing the implications of the proposed recycling targets for 2030.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish her Department’s Spending Review Settlement letter from HM Treasury.

George Eustice

The Spending Review settlement for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was presented to the House on 25 November 2015, as part of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015. Further details of Defra’s spending priorities for 2015-2020 are set out in its Single Departmental Plan published on 19 February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria Natural England uses to assess applications for badger cull licences; and when such decisions on such applications will be announced.

George Eustice

Natural England assesses badger control licence applications using guidance issued under section 15(2) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (NERC). The guidance can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-natural-england-preventing-spread-of-bovine-tb.

Decisions on this year’s licence applications will be announced before the start of badger control operations.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans that the national litter strategy will include beach and aquatic litter.

Rory Stewart

The Litter Strategy for England will focus on three key themes: education and awareness; punishing offenders; and better cleansing and litter infrastructure, which should lead to a reduction in the amount of litter reaching local areas, including our beaches and the aquatic environment. To develop the Litter Strategy we are working with a range of interested stakeholders, including representatives from the Marine Conversation Society, Thames21 and the Canal and Rivers Trust.

The UK Marine Strategy Part Three, published in December last year, sets out the actions we are taking to improve the marine environment. It covers measures that contribute to reducing the sources of marine litter, including sources of beach and aquatic litter, and to remove what has already reached our beaches and aquatic environment. Actions related specifically to UK beaches include Defra-funded beach cleaning schemes on priority beaches.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the appropriateness of the application of the CITES Annex 1 listing to elephants; and what assessment she has made of the potential effect of that listing on the domestic trade in ivory.

Rory Stewart

All proposals for the 17^th Conference of Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are currently being assessed against the established scientific criteria for listings set out in the Convention. Where justified by the scientific evidence, the UK will advocate further protection to support the survival of endangered species. This includes in negotiations with the Member States of the EU to ensure that our positions on proposals are taken into account before the final negotiating position for the EU and its Member States is agreed.

If the elephant uplisting proposal is successful at CoP17, it will prohibit international, commercial trade in ivory apart from in exceptional circumstances. The commercial use of ivory would generally be prohibited domestically, subject to certain exemptions, such as for worked, older pre-Convention items.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the framework for her Department’s 25-year plan for the environment; and what the timetable will be for (a) consulting on the plan and (b) publishing the final plan.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

We will publish a 25 Year Environment Framework this autumn, starting off a period of public engagement to help shape the 25 Year Environment Plan which we aim to publish in 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much (a) her Department and (b) each of its arm’s length bodies has spent on staff redundancies in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

The cost of compulsory redundancies is set out in Defra’s Annual Report and Accounts. These are published annually on GOV.UK and links are provided below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defra-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-to-2013

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-report-and-accounts-2011-to-2012–6

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-report-and-accounts-2010-11

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-12-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he made of the effect on (a) environmental bodies, (b) biodiversity conservation, (c) pollution prevention, (d) waste reduction and (e) public parks of the proposed reduction in the Landfill Communities Fund.

Damian Hinds

Since its introduction in 1996, the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) has contributed over £1.4bn to community projects in areas affected by a local landfill site and the government acknowledges the positive impact of this funding for communities. However, as the LCF is a tax credit scheme, it reduces the government’s tax revenues and we therefore have a responsibility to seek value for money for the taxpayer.

Despite difficult decisions on spending, the government has decided to retain and reform the LCF. The value of the LCF for 2016-17 will therefore be set at £39.3m. The government is committed to providing the best value for communities, and over the next five years £20m of the additional Landfill Tax revenues resulting from this change will be used by the Environment Agency to address waste crime.

The government wants LCF money to get to communities more quickly. Our reforms will encourage money to be spent in the communities that need it. The LCF will provide £39.3m additional funding for communities in 2016/17 alone and we hope more unspent funds, which this year totalled £118m, will also reach projects as soon as possible.