Contributions
1,165 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDFloodingBecause of the increased frequency of such flood events, there have been a number of reviews of our approach to flooding, including the Pitt review under the last Labour…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingMy hon. Friend makes an important point. Some of these nature-based solutions not only help with biodiversity and with tackling climate change; they can also improve our…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingAs I made clear earlier, we have stood up the flood recovery framework, and that includes business rate relief and also grants to help our businesses to repair the damage in a way…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingMy hon. Friend makes the important point that we are not yet out of the woods with this particular incident. Rainfall over the past 48 hours is still working its way through the…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingAs I said earlier, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales met and discussed this matter with the First Minister. However, the Welsh Government have not yet…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingI agree with my hon. Friend. It is critical that the right drainage infrastructure is put in place through the planning system, and we should be doing more to promote sustainable…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingWe will, during the course of this week, be issuing local authorities with more detailed guidance on the flood resilience fund. Our view at the moment is not to give it to people…24 Feb 2020HANSARDFloodingI am grateful to my hon. Friend for that point, and I am of course more than willing to meet him, other residents and local authority leaders in Calder Valley. I have also…24 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Fourth sitting)Q When the current design of the CAP was brought in, I remember a lot of concern in Scotland, including from NFU Scotland, farmers and the Government, that area-based payments did…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Fourth sitting)Q 174 For decades, the common agricultural policy, with all its prescriptive rules, has applied to every part of the UK. As we leave, each part of the UK will have the freedom to…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Fourth sitting)Q To come back to that point, the view we took when drafting the Bill—I am interested in why you take a different view—is that the payment for public goods could involve things…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Fourth sitting)Q There is an animal health provision there, which opens the prospect of healthy livestock accredited schemes that farmers could sign up to, which might be all about reduced…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q 141 Schedule 5 to the Bill makes explicit provision for Wales, and in particular gives the Welsh Government the power to amend, modify and improve the legacy common agricultural…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q What about the so-called greening rules? When those were introduced, environmental non-governmental organisations said that that was greenwashing and farmers said that it was…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q You know that in the new Bill, compared to the one in the previous Parliament, we have added an explicit purpose around soil quality. Will you describe for us how best to…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q Soils have been around for a very long time and the human race has worked out how to grow crops on them, so I never understand why people say we need huge amounts of research…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q Some suggested as long ago as the 1930s—such as Albert Howard, who was seen by many as the father of the organics movement—that humus in soil is the key criterion to target,…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q If we tried to return to a general principle of more sustainable farming practices and husbandry, but recognising that the majority of farmers will probably want to stop short…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q On that point, you made a reference earlier to the need for advisers. You will be aware that the concept behind the future policy is that there will be an individual…13 Feb 2020HANSARDAgriculture Bill (Third sitting)Q I just wanted to come in on this point about targets. I know they are the tool that people often reach for—they say we should just have some statutory target—but you said…13 Feb 2020