Live Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions House of Commons

the Yemen conflict. Join me for a round-up of business in the Houses

of Parliament. Firstly, questions to the Environment Secretary. --

backbencher's. Scott Mann. Thank you. The issue of chemical spills is

one that we take very seriously. Such spills caused significant

damage to biodiversity and specifically to fish, and we work to

analyse the pH levels and dissolved solids in order to prevent future

occurrences. I am grateful. Will the Minister ask his department to

review the decision of the Environment Agency not to pursue

legal action on the major pollution incident relating to the quarry in

2014? Legal proceedings were brought, and a decision made by

Truro Crown Court under the honourable Judge Carr to instead

impose an enforcement order. ?70,000 has been contributed by the company

but much more importantly five new lagoons have been put in place in

order to deal with the incident, and chemical processes are being used to

prevent a recurrence. I would emphasise that we are discussing the

time are and not the Dee. -- Taymar. Cornwall is well-known for mineral

extraction. On fracking, the government has gone back on it

pledges in monitoring and preventing chemical spills from fracking rigs.

While he is considering the prevention of the Taymar, are their

submissions levels to monitor the presenting chemical leaks in the

river Dee? An ingenious connection between the

to-macro. The nature of extraction is quite different but the

Environment Agency takes responsibilities seriously, whether

we are talking about quarrying or tracking, and in no particular

concerns, I would be happy to sit down and discussed them in more

detail. -- fracking. In the wake of the scandal of the Volkswagen

engines, it is extremely important both that we have monitoring in

place to check the real levels of omission of Niger in dioxide but

also that we have proper fines in place. -- nitrogen dioxide. We will

be looking carefully at the proposals put forward by the

commission last week. I am grateful for that positive response from the

Minister. Does he agree with me that it is now time to break the

relationship between industry, testers and regulators, so that it

is truly independent and government agencies, whether in his department

or the DFC, act wholly in the public interest? -- DFT. It is incredibly

important that regulators are entirely independent of the industry

be regulating. This is an issue for DFT but the reason why these

proposals are interesting for ourselves and DFT is that they

include both the commitment to spot checks, a clear indication, and a

separation between the regulator and the industry. Car emissions remain a

contributed to add quality in the country. Given that many of the

former local authorities that cover my constituency were among the first

to sign up and clean air act 1954, and we have seen much of that

progress go backwards as a result of poor egg quality in urban areas,

isn't it now time for a new clean air act fit for the 21st century? --

air quality. It is a significant concern but air quality has improved

over the last 30 years very significantly. Sulphur dioxide,

nitrogen dioxide, have improved. But, and again, also, however, we

will be working very closely with individual local authorities through

a clean air zone, in order to meet the ambience air-quality directive

of 40 micrograms per cubic metre. On ongoing discussions, as per our

enquiry into air-quality, will the Minister be holding the car

manufacturers to account to ensure that those car owners drag Britain

and Ireland who have been affect by these defeats devices will be

compensated? -- defeat. This is a DFT lead at exactly the issue that

was raised in relation to the commission's proposals address is

the relationship between the manufacture, the vehicle owner and

the kinds of fines that can be imposed, and that is why member

states will look closely at the proposal. Commitments to this UN

target of halving food waste is immensely important, the work has

been taken forward by a campaign, and by RAP which will delve on the

work we have achieved since 2009 which has reduced household food

waste by 17%. I thank you for your reply and he is right to highlight

the reduction in household food waste but he will know that that is

not Mac by the food industry, so could he explain why government

whips objected to the honourable member for Bristol East's food

reduction Bill last Friday? Would it not be much better to get this Bill

into committee where its provisions and positive course of action that

it proposals can be considered and we can end the scandal of food

waste? I would like to pay tribute to the honourable member for Bristol

East on this issue. We do have significant concerns about the

targets set within that Bill and the fact that we believe that pervert

incentives are involved. Voluntary measures have increased by 70% the

amount that retailers have managed to be distributed to charities. The

key is to get councils and retailers to work on a unified system. --

reverse. Was visiting the anaerobic digestion plants belonging to seven

Trent, I was impressed by the energy recovery from food waste, but would

the Minister agree that there is still too much edible food going

into waste, and what plans is the government going to intercept that

while it is still edible for redistribution? The average

household in the UK is wasting over ?60 a month on food waste. It is

very clear that we need to make sure firstly that the food is not wasted

in the first place, make sure it is not wasted on the way from the farm

gate to the house, make sure it is prevented, make sure it cannot

that's -- that it is not consumed by humans, it can be consumed by

animals. The soil Association estimate that between 20 and 40% of

UK food and vegetables are rejected before they reach the shops. They

are deemed as wonky vegetables. They failed to reach cosmetic

requirements. Will the Minister ensure that supermarkets and

manufactures transparently published their supply chain waste. This is

vital if we are to achieve meaningful reduction. Absolutely

agree that it is vital and we have had a round recently with the

retailers on this. One of the solutions, not a total solution,

pioneered by Tesco, is to look at individual varieties of potato which

result in much less food waste on the way from the farm gate to the

shelf. You are correct that it is vital. My constituents in Kettering,

especially those from the wartime generation, are horrified by the

amount of food wasted. How can we get back to the principal that you

do not put more food on your plate than you can eat, and what food is

on your plate you consume? The honourable member has drawn

attention to one of the essential things in any of this, which is

human behaviour and culture. Certain things should be done by government

and retailers bet in the end a lot of responsibility rests on all of us

in how much food we buy, how we use that food, and how much we grow

away. 246 schemes will begin construction in 2016-17 as part of

our first ever six-year programme of investment in flood defences. This

3.2 billion of investment represents a real terms increase on the last

Parliament and will protect an additional 300,000 homes. I

congratulate you on championing this cause. When it comes to investing in

both new flood defences and improving existing ones, getting the

support of authorities, drainage boards and the private sector is

important? Will she paid tribute to Mike McDonald in my constituency who

helped set up the community interest Company in investing in sea defences

in West Norfolk? I thank my honourable friend for his question.

He is absolutely right. When we see internal drainage boards working

with local businesses, local councils, we can get really good

local solutions. The community interest company is a particularly

interesting structure, which has been pioneered by him and his

constituent in North West Norfolk, and it is a very interesting model

which can be used elsewhere. Sheffield remains ?20 million short

of it investments needed to protect its city. I know that Apartment is

going to hold a teleconference, but will the Minister commit to visiting

the city to see what we have planned to prevent up to ?1 billion worth of

damage. I thank the honourable member for her question but as part

of the National resilience review, Sheffield is one of the core cities

which will be looked at to make sure that it is sufficiently resilient to

funding. I am sure as part of that review, there will be a visit to

Sheffield to make sure that that very important city has the

protection it needs. Flood reinsurance will help many

householders recently affected by floods, but it will not cover

leasehold properties with more than three units or businesses. One such

unit in my constituency, the residents now face a premium of

?4000 extra a year, in excess of ?40,000. Will the Minister meet with

me to look at how we can provide a solution to this problem. Thank you

for the question. In terms of small businesses, we are providing ?6

million to help small businesses as a result of this winter's floods and

the issue he has brought to our attention is an important issue and

ministers will be Berry happy to meet him to discuss it. In relation

to the defence programme and the defence programme, can the Minister

confirm whether they will be making a donation to be drawn down to

victims? I thank the honourable gentleman for his question. We have

not ruled out an application to the EU Solidarity fund, we have got

until the end of February two apply and we have got to find that the

total cost of the floods until a potential application will be made.

We need to make sure that we have got everything in place with regards

to funding, with funding already in place by the 29th of December for

the floods that happened in December. We have got ?200 million

available to help fix the damage and get communities back on their feet.

The devastating floods across the country are everywhere out

documented, as are the Government 's decisions to cancel schemes.

Communities have suffered ruinous consequences and it is imperative

the Government does everything possible to maximise resources from

other areas. The Minister has just mentioned the EU Solidarity fund.

Time is running out for an application for Cumbria. Will to

just get on with the job and do it now, please? -- will she just get

on. This Government has invested more on floods than ever before, a

real times increase than under Labour. Labour spent ?1.5 billion,

we are spending ?2 billion in this Parliament. We have got money to

affected communities as soon as possible. That is our priority. With

permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to take questions five, nine and ten

together. We launched the great British trade unit together in

January, bringing together expertise from our Department, Defra and teams

around the world to promote great British food. I am pleased to say

that food and drink manufacturers have already agreed to expand their

exports by one third by 2020. I am concerned that the Secretary of

State is anti-European. She is denying our European colleagues the

opportunity to drink great British beer. Whilst we imported 1400 and

?80 million worth of beer last year, we only exported 494 million. Given

that we breathe the best beer in the world, that figure should be much

higher. -- event that we grew. Can she tell us what she is doing to

encourage our European friends to stop up? I know that they is my

colic's passion and I congratulate him for championing this. One of our

food pioneers comes from a beer manufacturer. In China recently, we

did promotions of great British beer in a pub there. A large part of the

success of our food industry is not least in countries -- in counties

like Essex down to the scale of the workforce. Can you tell me how this

will encourage more people into the industry, particularly through

apprenticeships? My honourable friend is absolutely right. There

are fantastic job is to be had in the feed industry, write three from

farming, engineering, technology. We need more apprentices in this vital

sector. We have an ambition to triple the number of apprentices by

2020 and I will hold a roundtable shortly to make sure they commit to

that goal. The great British food unit and the Minister will know that

some of the greatest food on the palate comes from the Gloucester old

spot pig and the Gloucestershire cheese. There is no better place to

see this than the Gloucestershire service station on the M5, described

by the Daily Telegraph as probably the best service station in the

country. Where the Minister to find herself near the service station any

time soon, I would be happy to give her a warm welcome and Gloucester

spot sausage there. I thank my honourable friend for his extremely

kind invitation. I think it's bad to say I've had one -- it's best and

there to say it's one of the best invitations I've had all year. Next

time I am driving along the M5, I will be happy to meet him at this

amazing service station. The Secretary of State has made the

honourable gentleman's day, month and possibly year. Two pick-up a

more serious point after that, to produce great British food, you need

great British technology. We had news yesterday that our leading food

technology innovator is to be taken over by a Chinese company.

Overnight, that innovation will be wiped out. Isn't that something we

should debate very seriously in this House before it goes through? I

thank the honourable gentleman for his point. We are investing in

science and technology. Last year, the Prime Minister announced a food

tech innovation network and if you look at Defra's capital budget, we

are doubling our spend on investment in science and animal health

research, precisely so we can take advantages of these huge

opportunities. Mr Speaker, the great British food unit depends on great

British farmers to produce the goods for the unit. Many farmers are still

experiencing problems with the RPI. One of my constituents was only told

late on Friday afternoon of failure to issue his and at by to mouth --

and only by e-mail. What is the Secretary of State going to do about

that? The honourable lady is right. Farmers are facing difficult cash

flow at the moment. We are doing all we can to get payments out. It is

the most complicated payment policy ever implemented, but ?1 billion has

gone out to farmers and we are working to make sure the final

farmers get their money as soon as possible. Scotch whiskey is a great

Scottish and UK success story, with exports totalling ?4 billion

annually. With the Minister agree that reducing the 76% tax burden on

an average bottle of scotch in the coming budget would send an

important message that the Government supports the industry and

would she speak to her friend the Chancellor and ensure that such a

reduction is included in this deal? I am sure the Chancellor and the

Treasury team had heard what he has got to say. I agree with him that

Scotch whiskey is our top international export and I think

other exports like scotch gin, which I promoted recently with the

Scottish drink Trail, taking people -- Scottish June trial, taking

people around Scotland, and also play a massive part. We have got

fantastic products in Scotland and across the UK and this is all about

promoting them around the world. I am happy to work with him on that.

Could I ask my right honourable friend in supporting Dorset food and

exports, both internally and around the world, to pay particular tribute

to some notable producers in my constituency. Gucci also take into

account, -- could she is all that she does take into account the

living wage? A lot of these producers are very small and these

will be a heavy burden on them. I would be delighted to visit some of

the fantastic producers in Dorset that he has mentioned, like more

they'll vary and see what they had to offer. We are working to reduce

regulation on our food and farmers and over the course of this

Parliament, we are looking to reduce costs by ?500 million so we can see

more new businesses open, more people selling their food in

Britain. Farmers in many part of the country have been affected by the

winter flooding, identifying 600 farmers in Cumbria alone who

suffered budding after storm Desmond. -- who suffered flooding.

The floods have been short lived but in their wake they leave a lot of

problems. In England we have established a farmer comfrey fund to

help farmers get back on their feet. In Northern Ireland, there is a long

established relationship in regards to Loch earn. That is established

with the national Government that. I wonder if there has been any

relationship established to try to stop the Loch flooding? As the

honourable gentleman knows, that is devolved but I am happy to be part

of that conversation. Mr Speaker, areas in the south of my

constituency have had large areas of their land flooded to hold water to

prevent houses being flooded. The farmers agree with that but they do

not agree with the Environment Agency saying it could take up to

six years for the water to drain off of that land. What can my honourable

friend do to speed up how quickly that is drained off that land?

There is an important role for natural flood plains to alleviate

the risk of flooding in urban areas, and we are looking to use the

countryside stewardship scheme to promote this and help deal with the

flooding issues. Specifically, about the length of time the land will be

flooded, I will take that up the Environment Agency and see what can

be done. I am still waiting to hear the date for the meeting with the

MPs along the river War two talk about this farmland in my

constituency. We need to look what can be done upstream to stop the

water threatening houses, so when can we have this meeting? I am sure

my ministerial colleague who takes responsibility for that will be

wanting to meet the honourable gentleman to discuss concerns. He

has had many meetings with many honourable members who have been

affected by the flooding. Thank you. His secretary of state says DEFRA

wants to spend more on flood defences by reducing the millions

paid in penalties to the EU every year, yet the National Audit Office

says the rural payments fiasco could cost the country a whopping ?180

million a year in penalties. Can the Minister confirm this latest

estimates of fines going to Brussels rather than British agriculture or

flooding? The horizontal regulation that governs the system was changed,

this has been identified, they have increased penalties that can be

charged by the commission, and the frequency of those. That is the

issue that raises concern here, not any particular issue with the rural

payments system. We are spending 2.3 billion a year on defence, we have

made available 200 billion to help people get back on their feet after

recent episode. ... This recent episode. The improvement area report

has been overwhelmingly positive, this is quite rare in these kind of

monitoring reports. I would like to pay tribute to Welp are back where

the combination of saving the ladybirds spider and getting schools

involved through the initiative, these are great, great projects. Can

I thank my honourable friend for the hedgehog Summit on Monday? Would my

honourable friend like to share what measures he is proposing with my

right honourable friend as well to increase the number of hedgehogs

which is he knows have declined by 30 and 50% over the last 15 years?

Firstly, I pay tribute to the honourable member who has become a

champion on the issue of hedgehogs. Clearly, the most important thing

with hedgehogs are their habitats, so there are schemes on hedgerows,

and on woodland planting, 11 more -- 11 billion more trees over the next

five years. We need to think about hedgehogs within a suburban context

and the possibility of providing access and corridors from garden

fences. The 12 major improvement areas with the right response to the

report, but they were supposed to create 1000 hectares of woodland,

1000 hectares of new chalk grassland, and over 1500 hectares of

wetland. How many hectors of each of those have actually been created?

The answer is that I cannot give the figure on every single one of those

fondly issue of chalk grassland, where the target was 1000 hectors,

one single project achieved 1700 and is of chalk grassland. A wonderfully

precise answer! Worthy of a boffin, but he is as and esteemed Minister.

Northern Ireland, I am proud to say we have eight areas of outstanding

beauty. We have ten special protection areas. The charity 's

work very hard, including the RS EB, when they campaign about having

wildlife in urban areas. What are you doing and what discussions have

you had in preserving the countryside and ensuring that more

houses are not expanding from urban areas into rural areas? Well, we

work very closely with our Northern Ireland counterpart and some of

these issues are devolved but we would love to work more closely on

these issues and if there are opportunities to do that, I would be

delighted to engage more closely. I recently visited... Oh, sorry,

number eight. As a result of the Gutmann's ?2.3 billion programme,

more than 420,000 acres of farmland will be better protected by 2021.

That means that over the course of this decade, from 2000 to 2021, we

will see 1 million acres of farmland at a protected from flooding. I

recently visited the river steeping in my constituency with the

Environment Agency and saw the huge amount of damage that badgers are

doing to flood defences around that area. Can my right honourable friend

usher me -- assure me that the Environment Agency's approved method

of artificial sets to be locate badgers will have a meaningful

effect on the river bank and secure the area for the future? I was

pleased to meet my honourable friend and local internal drainage boards

to discuss flooding in his constituency. I am pleased to hear a

solution has been found by the Environment Agency, and I note that

100,000 acres of agricultural land in his constituency will be

protected as part of our six-year programme. Whilst the government is

prevaricating, farms and businesses in northern England and Scotland are

struggling to cope with the aftermaths aftermath of floods. Why

do need to find the total cost before applying to the EU Solidarity

fund and will she be able to do this in time to meet the deadline? You

should be aware that we have made a farming recovery fund available, we

have paid out money to farmers, that is worth up to ?20,000 for each

farmer. As soon as the floods to lace, we looked on satellite

mapping, we identified affected farmers, we got on with paying them

and sorting out the issue. Number 11. Mr Speaker, access to fast

reliable broadband is important for rural areas. There are two

indicative measures we have taken. By the end of last year, anyone who

wishes to access the service can access it, but more importantly, the

universal service obligation which will be in place by 2020. In 2012,

and I criticised the government's abandoning of the universal Lord ban

commitment, the then secretary of state said, and I quote, we have a

plan, and we will deliver on it. In 2016, farmers can still not get the

broadband access they need to fill out the forms his department makes

mandatory online. What is the plan now? Farmers are able to make

applications on paper but it is also true, as you are more aware than

myself, this is an extremely difficult thing to do in rural

areas. We have done seven interesting pilots with operations

to look at different technological solutions, but the key indicator is

the universal service obligation of 10 megabytes by 2020. In Devon and

Somerset, it is hampered by poor performance by BT open Reach, and

they still have a virtual monopoly. Isn't it time the government did

something to tackle this monopoly? -- Openreach. The reason why the

seven pilots have been interesting is that they are community led

pilots which have lot at ten cultural issues. -- technological

solutions. We will need all of these solutions and different parties in

order to deliver the difficult challenge of rural broadband.

Following the severe flooding of the north of England over Christmas, the

government is working to help communities get back on their feet

and restore critical infrastructure. We are taking forward to important

areas of work, and National flood resilience review, to assess how the

country can be better protect it from future flooding and

increasingly extreme weather events, and in those areas affected by

flooding, we are taking a catchment -based approach, looking at what

improvements are needed for flood defences and upstream options for

slowing the river flow. Can the secretary of state say what

discussions she has had with supermarket and farms regarding food

waste by the supermarkets? I have held a round table, not just with

supermarket but also with food manufacturers because we need to

address food waste right through the food chain. We are working on the

next step which will have voluntary target to get road supermarket and

the food manufacturers to a better level. Can the Minister confirm that

the government will reallocate fishing quotas from those who only

hold it as an investment to active small-scale fishermen such as those

who fish out of low stock and bring real benefits to the local

community? My honourable friend will be aware that we had a manifest to

commitments to rebalance grudges and we have commenced that this year. We

have been clear that we will give the first 100 times and 10%

thereafter to the under tens, and this year we will give them an extra

thousand tonnes of fish. The recent Tesco case has shown the importance

of the grocery adjudicator but can I ask the secretary of state whether

she shares the view of the NFU, and the farmers union of Wales that now

is the time that we consider extending the remit of the

adjudicator right across the supply chain from Gates to play, even if

that requires change? -- gate. I am aware of the representations by the

NFU and the conclusions made by the committee. I know that colleagues

are about to commence a review of the role of the grocery code

adjudicator so far, and it may well be that as part of that they look at

how the code is in fermented. There would be challenges to trying to

regulate things that far up with having thousands and thousands of

different relationships to police, we hear what is being said and we

will look at this certainly. Cross compliance rules prevent hedge

cutting in August yet the only birds who are nesting in August seem to be

the prolific wood pigeon but this is preventing vital work for farmers

getting on to that land in August. Would ministers agreed to look at

this and see what can be done to change these rules? My honourable

friend will be pleased to hear I am always looking at the Cross

compliance rules to look at proportionality. I don't agree that

it is just wood pigeon being protected and stop yellow hammers

and other rest is that we are trying to recover the recovery of also

breed. Thank you. One of the less well-publicised deals the UK has

been negotiating with European partners is the circular economy

package which could not only bring about significant environmental

benefits but also create jobs and benefits too. The government does

not seem to have a strategy of achieving the ambitious waste

targets or and letting the economic abilities. When will we have a

proper waste resources strategy? The circle economy package is absolutely

essential, we are looking closely at this, we sat down with a number of

people last week, specifically to question this. The key is getting

the right balance between preventing the resources being wasted in the

first place and the targets which the EU have said. I absolutely agree

this is vital and I'm happy to include Shadow Secretary of State in

discussions going forward. The Ella MacArthur foundation says the huge

growth in plastics production means that why 2050 there could be more

waste aspic in the sea than fish. 5% of plastics are recycled, 40% ends

up in landfill, a third ends up polluting ecosystems. What is the

Secretary of State is doing to combat plastic pollution and for

starters, how about doing what President Obama has done and ban

micro beads in cosmetic products? We are looking at the issue of micro

beads but I point out that the plastic bag charge we have

introduced a seen an 80% reduction in the use of plastic bags. -- has

seen. Will the secretary of state join me in welcoming the

multi-million pound investment between the Environment Agency and

my local authority on the river Avon in my constituency? This will help

to reduce flooding for hundreds of homes and businesses across the

constituency, and prevent further flooding should the risk happen in

the future. I congratulate the Environment Agency and his local

authority on that work, and what we are doing is part of the National

resilience review is making sure we are properly protected across the

country. We are investing a record amount in flood defences, and we are

doing it in a way that is fair so that our flooding formula reflects

the number of houses protected and businesses protected wherever you

live. I welcome the announcement of

further marine attraction zones, however back in 2012, many of my

constituents were concerned that that to protect our local island.

Tap the 11th hour. Why was Hill Brie island not included in this local --

this latest round? We ruled out Cobra Island because the things were

not there for us to designate that island. The single farm payment is

at salute the essential -- is absolutely essential, so can the

Secretary of State assure me that work is being done to make sure that

next year we catch up so that we are not late in paying farmers then? I

completely agree with my friend. Farmers are facing cash flow issues

and that is why we are putting as much resource as possible into the

RPA. We have paid out ?1 billion. The cases we are now dealing with

are more obligated cases, for example a cross-border ones, which

take more time. We have enabled farmers to apply on line this year

so that it will be faster next year. Will the Secretary of State

committed to maintaining the ban fox hunting with hounds? We have been

very clear that we will have a free vote on this issue in Government

time. Well the Secretary of State undertake that the great British

food unit will promote these super food that is very black pudding. I

have been able to try very black pudding and I hope it will become

known around the world. We reached a pollution limits just days into

2016, mirroring what happened in 2015. Does the Minister think her

department is doing enough to tackle air pollution? We published plans

just before Christmas to ensure that we comply with a pollution levels.

The level of roadside nitrogen dioxide level has fallen over the

last four years. We do need to do more and that is why we issued the

plans just before Christmas. Seafood is nutritional and healthy and many

thousands of people in the Cleethorpes and Grimsby area work in

the industry. What initiatives are her department planning to promote

the CeBIT industry? -- to promote the seafood industry? We have

outlets around the world and regionally to help local businesses,

wherever they are, promote their food based in the UK and around the

world. Seafood is an important part of that. It was her signature on a

paper from last year promising to promote Frak King. Can I suggest

within her role, she should be standing up for the environment and

rural areas, not people that want to do Frak King? As was made very clear

in a recent report, shale gas cracking has minimal impact on the

environment provided it is done correctly. This will have to be the

last one because progress has been so slow. As my honourable friend

thought about the impact of marine conservation

zones of potentially meaning small boats cannot fish in their own

grounds? I can absolutely assure him that that has been taken into

account. Designation does not mean you ban fishing. It can just mean

limitations. I am sorry to disappoint colleagues but we really

must move on. Questions on the electoral commission now and

questions on the Church Commissioners. The electoral

commission recently wrote to the public affairs committee about the

potential impact worthy referendum to be held in June a copy of this is

available on the website. He will