Rory Stewart: Overall, the phosphate levels in Hertfordshire’s rivers have remained stable over the past 12 months. Phosphate can remain present in river sediments for a number of years, and it can take five to 10 years to show any signs of ecological recovery following phosphate reductions.
Rory Stewart: The Flood Forecasting Centre – jointly operated by the Environment Agency and Met Office – combines world class science, knowledge and experience on meteorology and hydrology to forecast flood risk. The daily assessment of risk enables extra time for emergency responders to prepare. The Government has recently announced funding for a £97m supercomputer that will cement the UK’s...
Rory Stewart: In accordance with the Security and Emergency Measures (Water and Sewerage Undertakers) Direction 1998, issued under the provisions of section 208 of the Water Industry Act 1991, water companies are required to produce plans to deal with all types of emergency situations. This includes ensuring appropriate preventative measures are in place to secure the water supply from deliberate harm, as...
Rory Stewart: The Department of Energy and Climate Change and Defra have supported the AVOID Research Programme to project long-term climate change scenarios to understand how emissions reductions translate to global average surface temperature change. Based on a snapshot of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) pledged by 1 October 2015, with an assumed continuation of comparable global...
Rory Stewart: The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that no defendants were proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences under the Environmental Protection (Restriction of the Use of Lead Shot) (England) Regulations 1999 in England between 2011 and 2014. This return relates to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. Up to and including 2010, these...
Rory Stewart: The UK has paid £1,261,317 in subscriptions to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) between 2011 and 2015. The UK provided £25,000 towards the Preventing Poisoning Working Group in 2012. With the Spending Review concluded, Defra is now looking at what this settlement means in terms of the detailed allocation of its budgets, including the future funding of the CMS.
Rory Stewart: The information is in the table below: Defra funding allocated to the National Wildlife Crime Unit 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 2015/2016 £144,000 £136,000 £136,000 £136,000 £136,000
Rory Stewart: The Government is currently developing the framework that will guide the development of the 25 year environment plan, which will be published in early 2016. Over the course of 2016, supported by the Natural Capital Committee, we will be engaging with a wide range of interested parties and the public on the detailed content of the plan.
Rory Stewart: This project is run by the independent Great Bustard Group. I understand that by the end of 2016 there should be enough evidence available on the survival and dispersal of the birds to know whether the population on Salisbury Plain can successfully rear new birds to join the adult population.
Rory Stewart: Defra has classified 85 sites as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in England under the EU Birds Directive to protect rare and vulnerable wild birds and regularly occurring migratory species. The UK is currently undertaking a review of the terrestrial and coastal network of UK SPAs, which will inform the need for any further SPA provision. The UK is also making good progress in identifying a...
Rory Stewart: The £2.3 billion 6-year capital investment programme will better protect over 300,000 homes and will move around 170,000 households from either ‘very significant’ or ‘significant’ flood probability category to the ‘moderate’ or ‘low’ probability category.
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...
Rory Stewart: Responding to requests from the national park authorities, on 30 November the Government tabled an amendment to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill to give national park authorities a Function Specific General Power of Competence. The Government believe that this will further enable national park authorities to be a vital part of devolution deals and support growth across our...
Rory Stewart: The Government has confirmed through the Spending Review that, given the potentially devastating impact flooding can have on communities, Defra will protect investment in flood defences. We remain committed to spending £2.3 billion on over 1,500 schemes by 2021, better protecting 300,000 homes from flooding. Flood defence maintenance funding will also be protected, and a planned efficiency...
Rory Stewart: Most production, import and use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) has now been banned in the UK in accordance with our obligations under the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol and EC Regulation 1005/2009 on substances that deplete the ozone layer. Exemptions to the ban are granted under certain circumstances for essential laboratory and analytical uses. CFCs may also still be imported for...
Rory Stewart: The latest available published statistics on the management of Local Authority collected waste in England are for the financial year 2014/15 which were published on 1 December 2015 and include information on the waste disposed to landfill. These data are available in the statistical notice and accompanying dataset on the gov.uk website via this link:...
Rory Stewart: Tackling fly-tipping is a Government priority and manifesto commitment. Next spring we will be giving councils the power to tackle small scale fly-tipping through fixed penalty notices as an alternative to prosecutions. This builds on other Government action to tackle fly-tipping, which has included:working with the Sentencing Council on its guideline for sentencing for environmental...
Rory Stewart: Recent computer modelling has been carried out to assess the benefits of some of the works carried out under the Somerset Flood Action Plan. This indicates that, in a repeat of the weather seen in Winter 2013/14, closure of the A361 would be reduced to about three weeks instead of the nine to ten weeks in 2013/14, and the impact on the rail line from Bristol to Taunton across Northmoor would...
Rory Stewart: In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. Following publication of the report, officials worked with stakeholders to explore options to improve the humaneness of snaring. Ministers are currently considering these options, including the issue of improved guidance on snaring.
Rory Stewart: Defra publishes an annual indicator on butterfly abundance, using data collected by volunteers. Large fluctuations are typical of butterfly populations but in England the indicator shows that butterfly numbers have generally fallen since 1990, although with numbers of some common species stabilising over the last five years. In England, we will take forward our manifesto commitment to...