Brexit: Repeal Bill: Statement from Defra: You will have seen that the Government has introduced the Repeal Bill to Parliament. This represents a significant milestone in the UK’s exit of the European Union. The Repeal Bill will ensure that, once we have left the EU, our laws will not be made in Brussels but in Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast. It will allow for a smooth and orderly exit by providing a functioning statute book of domestic law on the day we leave the EU.
For businesses and organisations in every sector of the UK economy, the Repeal Bill aims to maximise certainty, clarity and continuity, and ensure a stable transition as we leave the EU. Its purpose is to convert EU law as it applies in the UK at the point of exit, into domestic law that will continue to apply after we leave. The powers in the Bill ensure that, whatever the outcome of negotiations, and, wherever it is practical and sensible, the same laws and rules will still apply to businesses, consumers and workers in the UK on the day after departure.
The Bill is therefore about continuity. It is not a vehicle for making changes to the regulatory framework that currently applies to business. In the longer term however, Parliament and, where appropriate, the devolved legislatures, will be able to make changes to our laws after full scrutiny and proper debate.
To maximise certainty and to aid preparation, we have published guidance to businesses and organisations – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-businesses-on-the-repeal-bill – to help explain any changes and answer some of the questions you may have.
We will continue to engage with businesses and civil society stakeholders throughout the passage of the Bill and, more widely, on the exit process itself.
Brexit: CBI Survey: Brexit affecting investment decisions now: Over 40% of businesses say that Brexit has affected their investment decisions, according to a new survey.
Over 40% of businesses say that Brexit has affected their investment decisions. Of those, 98% say that the impact has been negative. This is according to a CBI survey of 357 businesses, both members and non-members.
Companies reporting that Brexit had negatively influenced their investment decisions cited general uncertainty over the UK’s future relationship with the EU. In contrast, the weakness of sterling against the dollar was viewed as the only positive impact.
Almost 60% of firms that responded to the survey said that Brexit had not affected their investment decisions.
EU Cereal Production: According to the latest EU commission report cereal production in the EU will dip in the short-term as heatwaves and drought in some regions have an impact on EU exports and stocks.
Biofuels: The UK should focus on using waste products like chip fat if it wants to double production of biofuels according a new study. The report from the Royal Academy of Engineering says that making fuel from crops like wheat should be restricted.
Incentives should be given to farmers to increase production of fuel crops like Miscanthus on marginal land.
Even with electric vehicles, biofuels will still be needed for aviation and heavy goods say the authors.
While the European Union has mandated that 10% of transport fuels should come from sustainable sources by 2020, these biofuels have been a slow burner in the UK.
Suppliers are already blending up to 4.75% of diesel and petrol with greener fuel, but doubling this amount will take up to 10 years say the authors of this new report, that was commissioned by the government.
To get to this point, the authors argue that several important changes will need to take place.
While in countries like the US and Brazil biofuels are mainly made from maize or sugar cane, the main sources in the UK are wheat and used cooking oil.
To boost production there will need to be restrictions on crops grown for fuel, say the authors.
Last year according to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), almost half the land in the UK used for biofuels was used to grow wheat.
When the authors of this study reviewed the global scientific literature, they found that if all the extra emissions involved in changing land use to grow wheat were added in, fuel based on this grain was worse for the environment than regular petrol or diesel.
The study recommends that the government set a cap for all crop-based biofuels to reduce the risk of indirect land use change.
“We would be concerned if we went up to 10% and allowed all of that 10% to come from food based crops, then we would say no, that’s not what we’re recommending,” said Prof Nilay Shah from Imperial College London.
Instead, the report suggests that renewed emphasis be placed on developing waste. In the UK we produce 16 million tonnes every year, enough to double our current biofuel supplies. A third of that waste is called green waste, a quarter of it is agricultural straw.
The authors believe there is great scope for expansion in the use of unavoidable waste, such as used cooking oil, forest and sawmill residues, the dregs from whisky manufacture, even so-called “fatbergs” from sewers could play a role.
However the study warns that care must be taken to avoid giving people perverse incentives to create waste just to cash in on biofuels.
Health and Safety: National Food and Drink Conference: The link below gives access to the conference brochure with agenda and booking information.
https://www.iosh.co.uk/Key-IOSH-events/The-national-food-and-drink-manufacturing-conference.aspx
Carbon Trust Events:
| Meet the growing demand to footprint your products: A Carbon Trust Webinar |
17 July 2017, 1 pm (BST) Whether you want to strengthen your brand, improve your operations or stand out from the competition as a disruptive product, find out why there is an increasing uptake in product footprinting and growing evidence of consumer demand in our expert-led webinar.
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BEIS Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator workshops
Participate in the new £9.2 million Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator to help strengthen the global competitiveness of British industry. This series of workshops aims to help both industry and innovators identify opportunities, and to encourage applications from high quality, high impact pilot projects. • Manchester – 16 August 2017 • London – 24 August 2017 • Glasgow – 7 September 2017 • Birmingham – 13 September 2017
| Read more & register |