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Robbie Moore: The Environment Agency takes over 7,000 samples each year at England’s 424 designated bathing waters, which are used to determine the annual bathing water classifications. These classifications are displayed on signage at bathing waters and online on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website, to allow bathers to make informed decisions before entering the water. If there is a pollution...
Robbie Moore: The Government is committed to minimising pollution from all types of farming, including production systems where animals are housed indoors for some or all of the year and which accumulate manures and slurries. Our legal standards, including the Nitrates and Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil regulations, all require manure produced in livestock housing (including slurry) to be stored...
Robbie Moore: Water companies are allowed to raise debt to fund the delivery of their services. Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, assesses and monitors the financial resilience of each company, including levels of debt, on an individual and ongoing basis and challenges companies where they identify this is needed. Over recent years, as investment requirements have risen, Ofwat has taken...
Robbie Moore: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential. Defra and Department of Health and Social Care officials have had and continue to have ongoing conversations about the public health impacts of contact with sewage contaminated water and how to manage the risks going forward.
Robbie Moore: The vast majority of landfill sites do not cause problems and the regulatory framework serves them and their local communities well. Where poor performance does occur the Environment Agency has a range of powers to bring sites back into compliance and, where necessary, to take enforcement action against operators.
Robbie Moore: The current sewerage system in England, including York, was designed by the Victorians and operates using a combined sewer system, meaning that rainwater from drains and sewage use the same pipes underground. At times of high rainfall the pipes reach capacity, and to stop sewage escaping into homes and streets, the system was designed to discharge to rivers or the sea via storm overflows. A...
Robbie Moore: Defra is pushing ahead with its programme of reforms to reduce waste and improve our use of resources and remain committed to our goal of eliminating avoidable waste by 2050. It’s essential that we work closely with industry to make sure our reforms will be a success, and we will continue to engage with businesses closely as we proceed with introducing the deposit return scheme. Defra...
Robbie Moore: The Government is mindful that consumers are concerned about their bills. For this reason, Defra expects all water companies to help consumers who struggle to pay their bills through measures such as WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks and holidays, and debt management support. We expect all companies to ensure households are aware of the support schemes available to them. We continue...
Robbie Moore: The Government is committed to a water sector that delivers for customers, the environment and wider society. We recognise that some households may struggle to pay their water bill in full. Ofwat assesses affordability for each water company through a five-yearly Price Review process, in which water companies must set out how they will address affordability for households that are...
Robbie Moore: The PM’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan sets out how we will help councils across the country take tougher action against those who fly-tip. Last year we raised the upper limit on the fixed penalty notices councils can issue for fly-tipping to £1,000 and from 1 April 2024 income from these penalties will be ringfenced for enforcement and clean-up specifically. With the National...
Robbie Moore: As part of our drive for better water quality, the Government has asked every water and sewerage company to present a clear assessment and action plan on every storm overflow they operate, prioritising those that are spilling into bathing waters and high-priority nature sites. The action plans will be published in due course, subject to assurance of the data provided.
Robbie Moore: The Government is mindful that consumers are concerned about their bills. For this reason, Defra expects all water companies to help consumers who struggle to pay their bills through measures such as WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks and holidays, and debt management support. We expect all companies to ensure households are aware of the support schemes available to them. We continue...
Robbie Moore: There has been £2.8m of capital investment in the East Yorkshire parliamentary constituency between 2019/20 and 2023/24. This has provided the Environment Agency led project to refurbish Barmston Sea End Outfall and projects to reduce surface water flooding delivered by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council in Pocklington and Langtoft. Hempholme and Wilfholme pumping stations have both been...
Robbie Moore: There are already statutory duties on water companies and local authorities to carry out risk assessments and sample drinking water supplies for anything which would constitute a potential danger to human health. This includes per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The Drinking Water Inspectorate has a guideline value on individual types of PFAS of 100 nanograms per litre. It was set in...
Robbie Moore: Through the Environment Act 2021 we introduced two new targets for fine particulate matter, the pollutant most damaging to human health, setting a maximum annual mean concentration target and a population exposure reduction target. This dual-target approach will improve public health for all by tackling the highest concentrations and ensuring all areas benefit from continuous improvement....
Robbie Moore: The World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines are intended to inform the setting of air quality standards and are not ready-made targets for adoption. We will continue to keep our targets under review and consider in line with the best available evidence, specific to our national circumstances.
Robbie Moore: This Government has significantly driven up monitoring and transparency of water companies in recent years. The number of storm overflows monitored across the English network has increased from 7% in 2010 to 100% now monitored. To improve transparency this data is now publicly available on the Government website (Event Duration Monitoring - Storm Overflows - Annual Returns - data.gov.uk)....
Robbie Moore: The Government consulted on improved food waste reporting by large businesses in England and published a response in July 2023. The new Secretary of State has however decided to look again at how best to secure the benefits of food waste reporting, including mandatory measures for large businesses. We now intend to gather further evidence and re-consider all the options using the latest...
Robbie Moore: There are industry-led training courses already available on the use of alternative refrigerant gases. As noted in the Defra assessment report of December 2022 on the impact of the current Regulation on fluorinated gases, some industry stakeholders have suggested that mandatory training should be introduced for alternatives with flammability, toxicity and high-pressure properties. We are...
Robbie Moore: The nitrogen dioxide (NO2) programme has allocated £883m to support local authorities to address NO2 exceedances. This funding has supported measures including vehicle upgrade and scrappage schemes, improved traffic management, and better cycling infrastructure. New PM2.5 targets were recently set as part of the Environment Act. These targets focus on reducing PM2.5 where concentrations...