Contributions
1,387 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I thank all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate, and particularly the hon. Member for Putney for sharing her experiences of flooding. Clearly, my sympathies lie with…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)There are other areas that will help towards this. We need a whole range of levers to meet the targets, but the targets will be set through the Environment Bill. Thinking is…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)The Government recognise the hon. Member’s intention that the water industry should play its role in achieving targets set under the Bill, particularly in the priority area of…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)To back up the strong point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth, would the hon. Gentleman agree that the whole point about the OEP is that it is an…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)To clarify, there is nothing in the Bill that prevents the OEP from setting up a register. I cannot reiterate any more than I already have that it is an independent body: if it…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I could not agree more. I thank my hon. Friend for clarifying that point, because he is absolutely on the money—not that the OEP is a fundraising body, of course. There is nothing…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I thank the hon. Member for the new clause. I share his interest in ensuring that the OEP acts transparently in the exercise of its functions. That is why we have created, in…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I will not go into a huge amount of detail in my answer, as it was all covered in the early stages, but I could send the hon. Lady a page on how and why the OEP will remain…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Southampton, Test for tabling the new clause because it allows me to provide some detail on the OEP’s scrutiny function as well as its interactions…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I do not think the OEP is going to have any problem at all operating its clout. We will have a new chairman and a supporting board, and that will be their raison d’être. They do…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I thank my hon. Friend for making my case for me. A great deal of thought has gone into it, which I was going to come to at the end. The shadow Minister suggests that this has not…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I thank the hon. Member for the intention behind tabling the new clause. The Government completely agree that effective enforcement of public authorities’ compliance with…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twenty First sitting)I agree with what the hon. Member for Putney wants to achieve in new clause 9. Just like her, I am an animal lover. As a former chair of the all-party parliamentary group for…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)On a point of order, Mr Gray. New clause 8 is the weeds one, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch). I know she has a great interest in…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)Is the hon. Member aware—I touched on it in my speech—that local authorities already collect and report data on their waste and many publish information about recycling…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for the new clause and join her in thanking the EFRA Committee; the Committee does a lot of really helpful inquiries, and the waste and packaging one helps…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)I assure the hon. Gentleman that we are already one step ahead and, in fact, voted to include the world-leading legislation in the Environment Bill this very morning. We are…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)In the last 25 minutes, we have been all the way to Texas and back, we have been up north and we have been all over the place. I thank the hon. Member for Southampton, Test for…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)We have reached that point already. We have been in the EU, so have had all the same laws. We are not going to sweep them all away, but we will build on them. When that review of…24 Nov 2020HANSARDEnvironment Bill (Twentieth sitting)The hon. Lady leads me neatly on to say that the UK does not need the EU to improve the environment; our high regulatory standards on environmental protection are not dependent on…24 Nov 2020