“How long should a lightbulb last?” Barry grills the electronics industry on planned obsolescence.

Barry grilled representatives from the electronics industry today during the Environmental Audit Committee, namely those from Beko and Samsung regarding planned obsolescence including the decisions made by companies when looking at durability and profitability as well as products that don’t meet the lack of minimum eco design standards.

The full exchange can be viewed below;

“Double the money but only 12% more homes protected?”

During today’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Barry said that the Government was leaving itself open to the charge of gerrymandering flood defences to sparsely populated Conservative constituencies in rural areas.

He challenged witnesses from the Environment Agency on their staffing levels, particularly how many had been shed in the last decade, what was behind the Government’s seeming unwillingness to set standards of resilience with regards to flood defences and the need to ensure that due to promised increase in funding from the Government, the necessity to ensure that project were “shovel ready.”

The full exchange can be seen below;

Watch: Barry discusses our Hydrogen Future with industry leaders

Barry discussed our Hydrogen Future with industry leaders during the Environmental Audit Committee.

Barry questioned the industry leaders about the Government support that has been offered, or indeed the lack of it so far and the effectiveness of it and how they are managing to move the industry forward.

Barry also focussed their minds on how we can be a leader and not a “lagger” in hydrogen technology

“Are we really paying enough for our strawberries?” Barry explores the issue of agricultural migrant labour and why people in Britain do not want to work down on the farm!

Barry grilled Tom Bradshaw, Vice President of the National Union of Farmers and David Camp, Chief Executive of the Association of Labour Providers at the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Barry gave both witnesses a tough time and didn’t let them off the hook when asking for solutions and only analysis was presented. The full exchange can be viewed below.

Barry interrogates witnesses about food provision during Covid-19

Barry interviewed witnesses during Tuesday’s Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee regarding food supplies during Covid-19. He interrogated both Professor Lang, Professor of Food Policy at University of London and Anna Taylor, Executive Director of The Food Foundation He pushed witnesses to comment on the differences between the centralised and community based approaches to providing food for vulnerable individuals who were shielding from Covid-19.

Barry was concerned that no account had been taken of what sort of food people would eat and the nutritional value of them depending on the diverse make up of each constituency and whether the Government recognised the importance of community based provision with regards to food parcels for the shielding.

Barry also touched on food voucher schemes and why there appeared to be a disconnect between supermarkets that would normally take part in these schemes to help those that needed these vouchers the most and whether the issues were rectified quick enough.

The full exchange can be viewed below

Barry grills the Ministry of Defence during the Environmental Audit Committee

This week Barry crossed swords with the Military Generals over the environmental sustainability of Defence Procurement. During the grilling, Barry pushed the Generals over whether they considered climate change to be a significant geo-strategic military threat, much as our neighbours across the Atlantic in the Pentagon do. Barry also forced the Generals to answer whether they would commit to culminating and quantifying individual impact assessments so that they can gain an overall picture into the climate impact of military projects.

To watch the, at times heated exchange, click the link below.

Barry grills experts on fishing quotas and barriers to automatic access

Barry took part in numerous question and answer sessions this week in his roles on the Environmental Audit Committee as well as The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

In the first session Barry asked questions regarding fishing quotas and potential barriers to automatic access as well as focussing on how the proposals currently advocated by the Government in their negotiations with the European Union are to benefit us. He was also granted a supplementary question in which he enquired whether changes should be made to The Fisheries Bill due to the answers given by experts.

During the Environmental Audit, Barry grilled experts on environmental waste and why it is that the current system doesn’t seem to be working and why the U.K. continuously misses targets as well as raising concerns over information, or the lack of it being given to consumers. All the footage can be viewed below.