Speeches by Denyer.

“Ms Chambers, you have just made some very clear recommendations, which is great. There is no need to repeat those if some of them are the answer to my next question. Zooming out from methane to air quality generally, I am always a fan of looking at what other people are already doing in other countries and reminding ou…”

“Finally, we have talked a lot about the impacts of air pollution on human beings, which is very important, but could you touch a little on the impacts of air pollution on the natural environment? Of course, we know that all these things are linked.”

“Ms Legge, you teed me up nicely for this question about the correlation and overlap between air pollution and climate change. Obviously they are separate things, but some of the causes are the same or similar. Some of the solutions can help with both, but some can undermine each other. Could you expand a bit more on wh…”

“That is great. I can strongly infer your answer to this question, but I take it that you do not feel that current national Government policy adequately considers the interactions between the two. You certainly have lots of recommendations for how to make it better.”

“The second cousin of the Cinderella issue, yes.”

“So do we.”

“I am going to drill down into definitions before we move on from this topic entirely. The Committee has heard that it can be quite difficult to demonstrate that woodland sites date back to 1600 because of the quality of the maps. I understand that Natural England has proposed it could be worth granting equivalent permi…”

“That is helpful. May I have the views of the panel on Natural England’s proposal to grant the same protections to younger woods—those from 1893, as they suggest?”

“Very briefly, are the Government going to introduce a bottom-trawling ban at any point, and if so, when?”

“Are you able to be more—”

“I want to ask about the circular economy strategy, because that was due out late last year, and then it was due out in the new year, 2026. Can you give us an update of when we can expect it?”

“Okay. I am going to leave it at that for now and let others come in, but I might come back later. Thank you.”

“Thank you, Secretary of State, for coming and answering our questions. My question is specifically about water pollution and nature-friendly farming. Agricultural water pollution is around half of the problem with water pollution in the rivers in England, but we only really ever hear talk about the sewage side of thing…”

“Muslim people across the country face intensifying, dehumanising and often violent racism every day. Now that we have a definition, I am desperate for the conversation to move towards action. How quickly will the Government now move from definitions towards a clear and funded road map for action, including proper monit…”

“Aside from the cruelty of asking people who have fled war and persecution to re-justify their already-recognised refugee status every 30 months, how does the Minister plan to pay for this huge additional administrative burden? As we have heard, the Refugee Council has estimated that it will cost £725 million over 10 ye…”

“The hon. Member is making an important speech, and is particularly talking about small independently run museums. Does she agree that, since many local museums are owned and run by local authorities and face the risk of closure because of severe underfunding, the Government must ensure that local authorities have suffi…”

“It can be foundations that squash it all down.”

“Are you confident that the commitment to reduce emissions from peatlands will contribute meaningfully to the total 535 million tonnes of carbon savings pledged in the seventh carbon budget? Do you feel that that is achievable and on track?”

“I am aware of the range of potential alternatives that you can grow on rewetted lowland peat and the argument, for example, for reeds for thatch. Obviously not a huge proportion of our housing stock is thatched, but it seems wild that, of what is thatched, most of it is from imported material. Why on earth are we not g…”

“I am going to return to lowlands. As was remarked, we have spent much less time on that, even though it is very important. The chair of the lowland agricultural peat taskforce said in their report that, if vast areas of peat are to be rewetted in the lowlands, the key questions for Government are the likely impact is o…”