Browse content similar to Live Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
the Yemen conflict. Join me for a round-up of business in the Houses | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
of Parliament. Firstly, questions to the Environment Secretary. -- | :00:00. | :00:15. | |
backbencher's. Scott Mann. Thank you. The issue of chemical spills is | :00:16. | :00:23. | |
one that we take very seriously. Such spills caused significant | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
damage to biodiversity and specifically to fish, and we work to | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
analyse the pH levels and dissolved solids in order to prevent future | :00:35. | :00:42. | |
occurrences. I am grateful. Will the Minister ask his department to | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
review the decision of the Environment Agency not to pursue | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
legal action on the major pollution incident relating to the quarry in | :00:50. | :00:59. | |
2014? Legal proceedings were brought, and a decision made by | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
Truro Crown Court under the honourable Judge Carr to instead | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
impose an enforcement order. ?70,000 has been contributed by the company | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
but much more importantly five new lagoons have been put in place in | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
order to deal with the incident, and chemical processes are being used to | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
prevent a recurrence. I would emphasise that we are discussing the | :01:24. | :01:37. | |
time are and not the Dee. -- Taymar. Cornwall is well-known for mineral | :01:38. | :01:45. | |
extraction. On fracking, the government has gone back on it | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
pledges in monitoring and preventing chemical spills from fracking rigs. | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
While he is considering the prevention of the Taymar, are their | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
submissions levels to monitor the presenting chemical leaks in the | :02:04. | :02:05. | |
river Dee? An ingenious connection between the | :02:06. | :02:18. | |
to-macro. The nature of extraction is quite different but the | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
Environment Agency takes responsibilities seriously, whether | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
we are talking about quarrying or tracking, and in no particular | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
concerns, I would be happy to sit down and discussed them in more | :02:31. | :02:39. | |
detail. -- fracking. In the wake of the scandal of the Volkswagen | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
engines, it is extremely important both that we have monitoring in | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
place to check the real levels of omission of Niger in dioxide but | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
also that we have proper fines in place. -- nitrogen dioxide. We will | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
be looking carefully at the proposals put forward by the | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
commission last week. I am grateful for that positive response from the | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
Minister. Does he agree with me that it is now time to break the | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
relationship between industry, testers and regulators, so that it | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
is truly independent and government agencies, whether in his department | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
or the DFC, act wholly in the public interest? -- DFT. It is incredibly | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
important that regulators are entirely independent of the industry | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
be regulating. This is an issue for DFT but the reason why these | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
proposals are interesting for ourselves and DFT is that they | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
include both the commitment to spot checks, a clear indication, and a | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
separation between the regulator and the industry. Car emissions remain a | :03:51. | :04:00. | |
contributed to add quality in the country. Given that many of the | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
former local authorities that cover my constituency were among the first | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
to sign up and clean air act 1954, and we have seen much of that | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
progress go backwards as a result of poor egg quality in urban areas, | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
isn't it now time for a new clean air act fit for the 21st century? -- | :04:21. | :04:29. | |
air quality. It is a significant concern but air quality has improved | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
over the last 30 years very significantly. Sulphur dioxide, | :04:35. | :04:42. | |
nitrogen dioxide, have improved. But, and again, also, however, we | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
will be working very closely with individual local authorities through | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
a clean air zone, in order to meet the ambience air-quality directive | :04:53. | :05:02. | |
of 40 micrograms per cubic metre. On ongoing discussions, as per our | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
enquiry into air-quality, will the Minister be holding the car | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
manufacturers to account to ensure that those car owners drag Britain | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
and Ireland who have been affect by these defeats devices will be | :05:20. | :05:29. | |
compensated? -- defeat. This is a DFT lead at exactly the issue that | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
was raised in relation to the commission's proposals address is | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
the relationship between the manufacture, the vehicle owner and | :05:40. | :05:41. | |
the kinds of fines that can be imposed, and that is why member | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
states will look closely at the proposal. Commitments to this UN | :05:45. | :05:56. | |
target of halving food waste is immensely important, the work has | :05:57. | :06:04. | |
been taken forward by a campaign, and by RAP which will delve on the | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
work we have achieved since 2009 which has reduced household food | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
waste by 17%. I thank you for your reply and he is right to highlight | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
the reduction in household food waste but he will know that that is | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
not Mac by the food industry, so could he explain why government | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
whips objected to the honourable member for Bristol East's food | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
reduction Bill last Friday? Would it not be much better to get this Bill | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
into committee where its provisions and positive course of action that | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
it proposals can be considered and we can end the scandal of food | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
waste? I would like to pay tribute to the honourable member for Bristol | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
East on this issue. We do have significant concerns about the | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
targets set within that Bill and the fact that we believe that pervert | :06:57. | :07:04. | |
incentives are involved. Voluntary measures have increased by 70% the | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
amount that retailers have managed to be distributed to charities. The | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
key is to get councils and retailers to work on a unified system. -- | :07:16. | :07:23. | |
reverse. Was visiting the anaerobic digestion plants belonging to seven | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
Trent, I was impressed by the energy recovery from food waste, but would | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
the Minister agree that there is still too much edible food going | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
into waste, and what plans is the government going to intercept that | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
while it is still edible for redistribution? The average | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
household in the UK is wasting over ?60 a month on food waste. It is | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
very clear that we need to make sure firstly that the food is not wasted | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
in the first place, make sure it is not wasted on the way from the farm | :08:01. | :08:03. | |
gate to the house, make sure it is prevented, make sure it cannot | :08:04. | :08:11. | |
that's -- that it is not consumed by humans, it can be consumed by | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
animals. The soil Association estimate that between 20 and 40% of | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
UK food and vegetables are rejected before they reach the shops. They | :08:23. | :08:30. | |
are deemed as wonky vegetables. They failed to reach cosmetic | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
requirements. Will the Minister ensure that supermarkets and | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
manufactures transparently published their supply chain waste. This is | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
vital if we are to achieve meaningful reduction. Absolutely | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
agree that it is vital and we have had a round recently with the | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
retailers on this. One of the solutions, not a total solution, | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
pioneered by Tesco, is to look at individual varieties of potato which | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
result in much less food waste on the way from the farm gate to the | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
shelf. You are correct that it is vital. My constituents in Kettering, | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
especially those from the wartime generation, are horrified by the | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
amount of food wasted. How can we get back to the principal that you | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
do not put more food on your plate than you can eat, and what food is | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
on your plate you consume? The honourable member has drawn | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
attention to one of the essential things in any of this, which is | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
human behaviour and culture. Certain things should be done by government | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
and retailers bet in the end a lot of responsibility rests on all of us | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
in how much food we buy, how we use that food, and how much we grow | :09:44. | :09:56. | |
away. 246 schemes will begin construction in 2016-17 as part of | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
our first ever six-year programme of investment in flood defences. This | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
3.2 billion of investment represents a real terms increase on the last | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
Parliament and will protect an additional 300,000 homes. I | :10:12. | :10:19. | |
congratulate you on championing this cause. When it comes to investing in | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
both new flood defences and improving existing ones, getting the | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
support of authorities, drainage boards and the private sector is | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
important? Will she paid tribute to Mike McDonald in my constituency who | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
helped set up the community interest Company in investing in sea defences | :10:37. | :10:43. | |
in West Norfolk? I thank my honourable friend for his question. | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
He is absolutely right. When we see internal drainage boards working | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
with local businesses, local councils, we can get really good | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
local solutions. The community interest company is a particularly | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
interesting structure, which has been pioneered by him and his | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
constituent in North West Norfolk, and it is a very interesting model | :11:08. | :11:08. | |
which can be used elsewhere. Sheffield remains ?20 million short | :11:09. | :11:20. | |
of it investments needed to protect its city. I know that Apartment is | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
going to hold a teleconference, but will the Minister commit to visiting | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
the city to see what we have planned to prevent up to ?1 billion worth of | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
damage. I thank the honourable member for her question but as part | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
of the National resilience review, Sheffield is one of the core cities | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
which will be looked at to make sure that it is sufficiently resilient to | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
funding. I am sure as part of that review, there will be a visit to | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
Sheffield to make sure that that very important city has the | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
protection it needs. Flood reinsurance will help many | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
householders recently affected by floods, but it will not cover | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
leasehold properties with more than three units or businesses. One such | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
unit in my constituency, the residents now face a premium of | :12:21. | :12:29. | |
?4000 extra a year, in excess of ?40,000. Will the Minister meet with | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
me to look at how we can provide a solution to this problem. Thank you | :12:36. | :12:43. | |
for the question. In terms of small businesses, we are providing ?6 | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
million to help small businesses as a result of this winter's floods and | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
the issue he has brought to our attention is an important issue and | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
ministers will be Berry happy to meet him to discuss it. In relation | :12:56. | :13:03. | |
to the defence programme and the defence programme, can the Minister | :13:04. | :13:13. | |
confirm whether they will be making a donation to be drawn down to | :13:14. | :13:21. | |
victims? I thank the honourable gentleman for his question. We have | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
not ruled out an application to the EU Solidarity fund, we have got | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
until the end of February two apply and we have got to find that the | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
total cost of the floods until a potential application will be made. | :13:35. | :13:43. | |
We need to make sure that we have got everything in place with regards | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
to funding, with funding already in place by the 29th of December for | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
the floods that happened in December. We have got ?200 million | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
available to help fix the damage and get communities back on their feet. | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
The devastating floods across the country are everywhere out | :14:03. | :14:09. | |
documented, as are the Government 's decisions to cancel schemes. | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
Communities have suffered ruinous consequences and it is imperative | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
the Government does everything possible to maximise resources from | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
other areas. The Minister has just mentioned the EU Solidarity fund. | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
Time is running out for an application for Cumbria. Will to | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
just get on with the job and do it now, please? -- will she just get | :14:32. | :14:39. | |
on. This Government has invested more on floods than ever before, a | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
real times increase than under Labour. Labour spent ?1.5 billion, | :14:47. | :14:54. | |
we are spending ?2 billion in this Parliament. We have got money to | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
affected communities as soon as possible. That is our priority. With | :14:59. | :15:08. | |
permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to take questions five, nine and ten | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
together. We launched the great British trade unit together in | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
January, bringing together expertise from our Department, Defra and teams | :15:18. | :15:25. | |
around the world to promote great British food. I am pleased to say | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
that food and drink manufacturers have already agreed to expand their | :15:30. | :15:39. | |
exports by one third by 2020. I am concerned that the Secretary of | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
State is anti-European. She is denying our European colleagues the | :15:44. | :15:48. | |
opportunity to drink great British beer. Whilst we imported 1400 and | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
?80 million worth of beer last year, we only exported 494 million. Given | :15:54. | :16:00. | |
that we breathe the best beer in the world, that figure should be much | :16:01. | :16:08. | |
higher. -- event that we grew. Can she tell us what she is doing to | :16:09. | :16:15. | |
encourage our European friends to stop up? I know that they is my | :16:16. | :16:25. | |
colic's passion and I congratulate him for championing this. One of our | :16:26. | :16:38. | |
food pioneers comes from a beer manufacturer. In China recently, we | :16:39. | :16:49. | |
did promotions of great British beer in a pub there. A large part of the | :16:50. | :17:01. | |
success of our food industry is not least in countries -- in counties | :17:02. | :17:09. | |
like Essex down to the scale of the workforce. Can you tell me how this | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
will encourage more people into the industry, particularly through | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
apprenticeships? My honourable friend is absolutely right. There | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
are fantastic job is to be had in the feed industry, write three from | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
farming, engineering, technology. We need more apprentices in this vital | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
sector. We have an ambition to triple the number of apprentices by | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
2020 and I will hold a roundtable shortly to make sure they commit to | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
that goal. The great British food unit and the Minister will know that | :17:51. | :17:57. | |
some of the greatest food on the palate comes from the Gloucester old | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
spot pig and the Gloucestershire cheese. There is no better place to | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
see this than the Gloucestershire service station on the M5, described | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
by the Daily Telegraph as probably the best service station in the | :18:17. | :18:25. | |
country. Where the Minister to find herself near the service station any | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
time soon, I would be happy to give her a warm welcome and Gloucester | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
spot sausage there. I thank my honourable friend for his extremely | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
kind invitation. I think it's bad to say I've had one -- it's best and | :18:41. | :18:50. | |
there to say it's one of the best invitations I've had all year. Next | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
time I am driving along the M5, I will be happy to meet him at this | :18:55. | :19:03. | |
amazing service station. The Secretary of State has made the | :19:04. | :19:05. | |
honourable gentleman's day, month and possibly year. Two pick-up a | :19:06. | :19:20. | |
more serious point after that, to produce great British food, you need | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
great British technology. We had news yesterday that our leading food | :19:27. | :19:39. | |
technology innovator is to be taken over by a Chinese company. | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
Overnight, that innovation will be wiped out. Isn't that something we | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
should debate very seriously in this House before it goes through? I | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
thank the honourable gentleman for his point. We are investing in | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
science and technology. Last year, the Prime Minister announced a food | :20:01. | :20:03. | |
tech innovation network and if you look at Defra's capital budget, we | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
are doubling our spend on investment in science and animal health | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
research, precisely so we can take advantages of these huge | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
opportunities. Mr Speaker, the great British food unit depends on great | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
British farmers to produce the goods for the unit. Many farmers are still | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
experiencing problems with the RPI. One of my constituents was only told | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
late on Friday afternoon of failure to issue his and at by to mouth -- | :20:40. | :20:46. | |
and only by e-mail. What is the Secretary of State going to do about | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
that? The honourable lady is right. Farmers are facing difficult cash | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
flow at the moment. We are doing all we can to get payments out. It is | :20:57. | :21:08. | |
the most complicated payment policy ever implemented, but ?1 billion has | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
gone out to farmers and we are working to make sure the final | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
farmers get their money as soon as possible. Scotch whiskey is a great | :21:19. | :21:28. | |
Scottish and UK success story, with exports totalling ?4 billion | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
annually. With the Minister agree that reducing the 76% tax burden on | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
an average bottle of scotch in the coming budget would send an | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
important message that the Government supports the industry and | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
would she speak to her friend the Chancellor and ensure that such a | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
reduction is included in this deal? I am sure the Chancellor and the | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
Treasury team had heard what he has got to say. I agree with him that | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
Scotch whiskey is our top international export and I think | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
other exports like scotch gin, which I promoted recently with the | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
Scottish drink Trail, taking people -- Scottish June trial, taking | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
people around Scotland, and also play a massive part. We have got | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
fantastic products in Scotland and across the UK and this is all about | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
promoting them around the world. I am happy to work with him on that. | :22:25. | :22:38. | |
Could I ask my right honourable friend in supporting Dorset food and | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
exports, both internally and around the world, to pay particular tribute | :22:43. | :22:54. | |
to some notable producers in my constituency. Gucci also take into | :22:55. | :23:07. | |
account, -- could she is all that she does take into account the | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
living wage? A lot of these producers are very small and these | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
will be a heavy burden on them. I would be delighted to visit some of | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
the fantastic producers in Dorset that he has mentioned, like more | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
they'll vary and see what they had to offer. We are working to reduce | :23:31. | :23:42. | |
regulation on our food and farmers and over the course of this | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
Parliament, we are looking to reduce costs by ?500 million so we can see | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
more new businesses open, more people selling their food in | :23:55. | :24:02. | |
Britain. Farmers in many part of the country have been affected by the | :24:03. | :24:10. | |
winter flooding, identifying 600 farmers in Cumbria alone who | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
suffered budding after storm Desmond. -- who suffered flooding. | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
The floods have been short lived but in their wake they leave a lot of | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
problems. In England we have established a farmer comfrey fund to | :24:28. | :24:34. | |
help farmers get back on their feet. In Northern Ireland, there is a long | :24:35. | :24:43. | |
established relationship in regards to Loch earn. That is established | :24:44. | :24:53. | |
with the national Government that. I wonder if there has been any | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
relationship established to try to stop the Loch flooding? As the | :25:00. | :25:11. | |
honourable gentleman knows, that is devolved but I am happy to be part | :25:12. | :25:19. | |
of that conversation. Mr Speaker, areas in the south of my | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
constituency have had large areas of their land flooded to hold water to | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
prevent houses being flooded. The farmers agree with that but they do | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
not agree with the Environment Agency saying it could take up to | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
six years for the water to drain off of that land. What can my honourable | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
friend do to speed up how quickly that is drained off that land? | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
There is an important role for natural flood plains to alleviate | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
the risk of flooding in urban areas, and we are looking to use the | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
countryside stewardship scheme to promote this and help deal with the | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
flooding issues. Specifically, about the length of time the land will be | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
flooded, I will take that up the Environment Agency and see what can | :26:10. | :26:16. | |
be done. I am still waiting to hear the date for the meeting with the | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
MPs along the river War two talk about this farmland in my | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
constituency. We need to look what can be done upstream to stop the | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
water threatening houses, so when can we have this meeting? I am sure | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
my ministerial colleague who takes responsibility for that will be | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
wanting to meet the honourable gentleman to discuss concerns. He | :26:46. | :26:47. | |
has had many meetings with many honourable members who have been | :26:48. | :26:55. | |
affected by the flooding. Thank you. His secretary of state says DEFRA | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
wants to spend more on flood defences by reducing the millions | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
paid in penalties to the EU every year, yet the National Audit Office | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
says the rural payments fiasco could cost the country a whopping ?180 | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
million a year in penalties. Can the Minister confirm this latest | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
estimates of fines going to Brussels rather than British agriculture or | :27:22. | :27:24. | |
flooding? The horizontal regulation that governs the system was changed, | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
this has been identified, they have increased penalties that can be | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
charged by the commission, and the frequency of those. That is the | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
issue that raises concern here, not any particular issue with the rural | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
payments system. We are spending 2.3 billion a year on defence, we have | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
made available 200 billion to help people get back on their feet after | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
recent episode. ... This recent episode. The improvement area report | :27:56. | :28:02. | |
has been overwhelmingly positive, this is quite rare in these kind of | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
monitoring reports. I would like to pay tribute to Welp are back where | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
the combination of saving the ladybirds spider and getting schools | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
involved through the initiative, these are great, great projects. Can | :28:19. | :28:26. | |
I thank my honourable friend for the hedgehog Summit on Monday? Would my | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
honourable friend like to share what measures he is proposing with my | :28:34. | :28:35. | |
right honourable friend as well to increase the number of hedgehogs | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
which is he knows have declined by 30 and 50% over the last 15 years? | :28:41. | :28:48. | |
Firstly, I pay tribute to the honourable member who has become a | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
champion on the issue of hedgehogs. Clearly, the most important thing | :28:53. | :28:59. | |
with hedgehogs are their habitats, so there are schemes on hedgerows, | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
and on woodland planting, 11 more -- 11 billion more trees over the next | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
five years. We need to think about hedgehogs within a suburban context | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
and the possibility of providing access and corridors from garden | :29:17. | :29:23. | |
fences. The 12 major improvement areas with the right response to the | :29:24. | :29:30. | |
report, but they were supposed to create 1000 hectares of woodland, | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
1000 hectares of new chalk grassland, and over 1500 hectares of | :29:34. | :29:40. | |
wetland. How many hectors of each of those have actually been created? | :29:41. | :29:48. | |
The answer is that I cannot give the figure on every single one of those | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
fondly issue of chalk grassland, where the target was 1000 hectors, | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
one single project achieved 1700 and is of chalk grassland. A wonderfully | :29:59. | :30:09. | |
precise answer! Worthy of a boffin, but he is as and esteemed Minister. | :30:10. | :30:16. | |
Northern Ireland, I am proud to say we have eight areas of outstanding | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
beauty. We have ten special protection areas. The charity 's | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
work very hard, including the RS EB, when they campaign about having | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
wildlife in urban areas. What are you doing and what discussions have | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
you had in preserving the countryside and ensuring that more | :30:38. | :30:40. | |
houses are not expanding from urban areas into rural areas? Well, we | :30:41. | :30:49. | |
work very closely with our Northern Ireland counterpart and some of | :30:50. | :30:51. | |
these issues are devolved but we would love to work more closely on | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
these issues and if there are opportunities to do that, I would be | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
delighted to engage more closely. I recently visited... Oh, sorry, | :31:02. | :31:11. | |
number eight. As a result of the Gutmann's ?2.3 billion programme, | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
more than 420,000 acres of farmland will be better protected by 2021. | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
That means that over the course of this decade, from 2000 to 2021, we | :31:21. | :31:29. | |
will see 1 million acres of farmland at a protected from flooding. I | :31:30. | :31:36. | |
recently visited the river steeping in my constituency with the | :31:37. | :31:39. | |
Environment Agency and saw the huge amount of damage that badgers are | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
doing to flood defences around that area. Can my right honourable friend | :31:44. | :31:55. | |
usher me -- assure me that the Environment Agency's approved method | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
of artificial sets to be locate badgers will have a meaningful | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
effect on the river bank and secure the area for the future? I was | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
pleased to meet my honourable friend and local internal drainage boards | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
to discuss flooding in his constituency. I am pleased to hear a | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
solution has been found by the Environment Agency, and I note that | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
100,000 acres of agricultural land in his constituency will be | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
protected as part of our six-year programme. Whilst the government is | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
prevaricating, farms and businesses in northern England and Scotland are | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
struggling to cope with the aftermaths aftermath of floods. Why | :32:38. | :32:44. | |
do need to find the total cost before applying to the EU Solidarity | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
fund and will she be able to do this in time to meet the deadline? You | :32:49. | :32:54. | |
should be aware that we have made a farming recovery fund available, we | :32:55. | :32:57. | |
have paid out money to farmers, that is worth up to ?20,000 for each | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
farmer. As soon as the floods to lace, we looked on satellite | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
mapping, we identified affected farmers, we got on with paying them | :33:10. | :33:15. | |
and sorting out the issue. Number 11. Mr Speaker, access to fast | :33:16. | :33:22. | |
reliable broadband is important for rural areas. There are two | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
indicative measures we have taken. By the end of last year, anyone who | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
wishes to access the service can access it, but more importantly, the | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
universal service obligation which will be in place by 2020. In 2012, | :33:40. | :33:46. | |
and I criticised the government's abandoning of the universal Lord ban | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
commitment, the then secretary of state said, and I quote, we have a | :33:52. | :33:59. | |
plan, and we will deliver on it. In 2016, farmers can still not get the | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
broadband access they need to fill out the forms his department makes | :34:05. | :34:07. | |
mandatory online. What is the plan now? Farmers are able to make | :34:08. | :34:16. | |
applications on paper but it is also true, as you are more aware than | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
myself, this is an extremely difficult thing to do in rural | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
areas. We have done seven interesting pilots with operations | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
to look at different technological solutions, but the key indicator is | :34:30. | :34:32. | |
the universal service obligation of 10 megabytes by 2020. In Devon and | :34:33. | :34:43. | |
Somerset, it is hampered by poor performance by BT open Reach, and | :34:44. | :34:49. | |
they still have a virtual monopoly. Isn't it time the government did | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
something to tackle this monopoly? -- Openreach. The reason why the | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
seven pilots have been interesting is that they are community led | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
pilots which have lot at ten cultural issues. -- technological | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
solutions. We will need all of these solutions and different parties in | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
order to deliver the difficult challenge of rural broadband. | :35:16. | :35:24. | |
Following the severe flooding of the north of England over Christmas, the | :35:25. | :35:27. | |
government is working to help communities get back on their feet | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
and restore critical infrastructure. We are taking forward to important | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
areas of work, and National flood resilience review, to assess how the | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
country can be better protect it from future flooding and | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
increasingly extreme weather events, and in those areas affected by | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
flooding, we are taking a catchment -based approach, looking at what | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
improvements are needed for flood defences and upstream options for | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
slowing the river flow. Can the secretary of state say what | :35:57. | :35:59. | |
discussions she has had with supermarket and farms regarding food | :36:00. | :36:07. | |
waste by the supermarkets? I have held a round table, not just with | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
supermarket but also with food manufacturers because we need to | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
address food waste right through the food chain. We are working on the | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
next step which will have voluntary target to get road supermarket and | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
the food manufacturers to a better level. Can the Minister confirm that | :36:29. | :36:37. | |
the government will reallocate fishing quotas from those who only | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
hold it as an investment to active small-scale fishermen such as those | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
who fish out of low stock and bring real benefits to the local | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
community? My honourable friend will be aware that we had a manifest to | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
commitments to rebalance grudges and we have commenced that this year. We | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
have been clear that we will give the first 100 times and 10% | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
thereafter to the under tens, and this year we will give them an extra | :37:07. | :37:15. | |
thousand tonnes of fish. The recent Tesco case has shown the importance | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
of the grocery adjudicator but can I ask the secretary of state whether | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
she shares the view of the NFU, and the farmers union of Wales that now | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
is the time that we consider extending the remit of the | :37:31. | :37:33. | |
adjudicator right across the supply chain from Gates to play, even if | :37:34. | :37:40. | |
that requires change? -- gate. I am aware of the representations by the | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
NFU and the conclusions made by the committee. I know that colleagues | :37:46. | :37:48. | |
are about to commence a review of the role of the grocery code | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
adjudicator so far, and it may well be that as part of that they look at | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
how the code is in fermented. There would be challenges to trying to | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
regulate things that far up with having thousands and thousands of | :38:04. | :38:06. | |
different relationships to police, we hear what is being said and we | :38:07. | :38:14. | |
will look at this certainly. Cross compliance rules prevent hedge | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
cutting in August yet the only birds who are nesting in August seem to be | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
the prolific wood pigeon but this is preventing vital work for farmers | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
getting on to that land in August. Would ministers agreed to look at | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
this and see what can be done to change these rules? My honourable | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
friend will be pleased to hear I am always looking at the Cross | :38:39. | :38:40. | |
compliance rules to look at proportionality. I don't agree that | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
it is just wood pigeon being protected and stop yellow hammers | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
and other rest is that we are trying to recover the recovery of also | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
breed. Thank you. One of the less well-publicised deals the UK has | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
been negotiating with European partners is the circular economy | :39:02. | :39:03. | |
package which could not only bring about significant environmental | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
benefits but also create jobs and benefits too. The government does | :39:08. | :39:10. | |
not seem to have a strategy of achieving the ambitious waste | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
targets or and letting the economic abilities. When will we have a | :39:17. | :39:26. | |
proper waste resources strategy? The circle economy package is absolutely | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
essential, we are looking closely at this, we sat down with a number of | :39:30. | :39:32. | |
people last week, specifically to question this. The key is getting | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
the right balance between preventing the resources being wasted in the | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
first place and the targets which the EU have said. I absolutely agree | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
this is vital and I'm happy to include Shadow Secretary of State in | :39:46. | :39:54. | |
discussions going forward. The Ella MacArthur foundation says the huge | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
growth in plastics production means that why 2050 there could be more | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
waste aspic in the sea than fish. 5% of plastics are recycled, 40% ends | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
up in landfill, a third ends up polluting ecosystems. What is the | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
Secretary of State is doing to combat plastic pollution and for | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
starters, how about doing what President Obama has done and ban | :40:17. | :40:24. | |
micro beads in cosmetic products? We are looking at the issue of micro | :40:25. | :40:27. | |
beads but I point out that the plastic bag charge we have | :40:28. | :40:31. | |
introduced a seen an 80% reduction in the use of plastic bags. -- has | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
seen. Will the secretary of state join me in welcoming the | :40:39. | :40:41. | |
multi-million pound investment between the Environment Agency and | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
my local authority on the river Avon in my constituency? This will help | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
to reduce flooding for hundreds of homes and businesses across the | :40:51. | :40:56. | |
constituency, and prevent further flooding should the risk happen in | :40:57. | :41:03. | |
the future. I congratulate the Environment Agency and his local | :41:04. | :41:06. | |
authority on that work, and what we are doing is part of the National | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
resilience review is making sure we are properly protected across the | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
country. We are investing a record amount in flood defences, and we are | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
doing it in a way that is fair so that our flooding formula reflects | :41:19. | :41:21. | |
the number of houses protected and businesses protected wherever you | :41:22. | :41:22. | |
live. I welcome the announcement of | :41:23. | :41:32. | |
further marine attraction zones, however back in 2012, many of my | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
constituents were concerned that that to protect our local island. | :41:39. | :41:47. | |
Tap the 11th hour. Why was Hill Brie island not included in this local -- | :41:48. | :41:56. | |
this latest round? We ruled out Cobra Island because the things were | :41:57. | :42:05. | |
not there for us to designate that island. The single farm payment is | :42:06. | :42:15. | |
at salute the essential -- is absolutely essential, so can the | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
Secretary of State assure me that work is being done to make sure that | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
next year we catch up so that we are not late in paying farmers then? I | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
completely agree with my friend. Farmers are facing cash flow issues | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
and that is why we are putting as much resource as possible into the | :42:37. | :42:46. | |
RPA. We have paid out ?1 billion. The cases we are now dealing with | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
are more obligated cases, for example a cross-border ones, which | :42:53. | :43:04. | |
take more time. We have enabled farmers to apply on line this year | :43:05. | :43:12. | |
so that it will be faster next year. Will the Secretary of State | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
committed to maintaining the ban fox hunting with hounds? We have been | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
very clear that we will have a free vote on this issue in Government | :43:22. | :43:29. | |
time. Well the Secretary of State undertake that the great British | :43:30. | :43:39. | |
food unit will promote these super food that is very black pudding. I | :43:40. | :43:51. | |
have been able to try very black pudding and I hope it will become | :43:52. | :44:03. | |
known around the world. We reached a pollution limits just days into | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
2016, mirroring what happened in 2015. Does the Minister think her | :44:10. | :44:18. | |
department is doing enough to tackle air pollution? We published plans | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
just before Christmas to ensure that we comply with a pollution levels. | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
The level of roadside nitrogen dioxide level has fallen over the | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
last four years. We do need to do more and that is why we issued the | :44:37. | :44:44. | |
plans just before Christmas. Seafood is nutritional and healthy and many | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
thousands of people in the Cleethorpes and Grimsby area work in | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
the industry. What initiatives are her department planning to promote | :44:53. | :44:59. | |
the CeBIT industry? -- to promote the seafood industry? We have | :45:00. | :45:07. | |
outlets around the world and regionally to help local businesses, | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
wherever they are, promote their food based in the UK and around the | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
world. Seafood is an important part of that. It was her signature on a | :45:19. | :45:30. | |
paper from last year promising to promote Frak King. Can I suggest | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
within her role, she should be standing up for the environment and | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
rural areas, not people that want to do Frak King? As was made very clear | :45:43. | :45:53. | |
in a recent report, shale gas cracking has minimal impact on the | :45:54. | :45:59. | |
environment provided it is done correctly. This will have to be the | :46:00. | :46:10. | |
last one because progress has been so slow. As my honourable friend | :46:11. | :46:17. | |
thought about the impact of marine conservation | :46:18. | :46:27. | |
zones of potentially meaning small boats cannot fish in their own | :46:28. | :46:36. | |
grounds? I can absolutely assure him that that has been taken into | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
account. Designation does not mean you ban fishing. It can just mean | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
limitations. I am sorry to disappoint colleagues but we really | :46:51. | :46:53. | |
must move on. Questions on the electoral commission now and | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
questions on the Church Commissioners. The electoral | :46:59. | :47:15. | |
commission recently wrote to the public affairs committee about the | :47:16. | :47:22. | |
potential impact worthy referendum to be held in June a copy of this is | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
available on the website. He will | :47:28. | :47:28. |