Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the Departmental delivery plan that outlines its intention for each piece of retained EU law as committed to in a letter from the Minister for Industry and Investment Security to Baroness Andrews on 3 February 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is conducting analysis of its Retained EU Law stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, as well as REUL that should be removed, or amended. A list of regulations to be revoked or allowed to sunset, through the REUL Bill will be published in due course.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will implement proposals put forward by the World Wildlife Fund in its 2015 Forest Campaign to ensure that the UK timber market deals in 100 per cent sustainable timber by 2020.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Defra is committed to tackling the trade in illegal timber. We implement the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), which makes it an offence to place illegally logged timber on the EU market for the first time, and the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation, which aims to combat illegal logging and improve the supply of legal timber to the EU. The EU FLEGT Regulation establishes Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and timber producing countries. Once VPAs have been agreed, timber producing countries will issue exports with a ‘FLEGT licence’ which verifies the timber’s legality.
The Government’s Timber Procurement Policy also requires Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies to procure timber and timber products that are both legal and sustainable.
It is positive that UK companies and other bodies are making similar commitments to trade in both legal and sustainable timber by signing up to WWF’s Forest Campaign.
Asked by: Christina Rees (Labour (Co-op) - Neath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of (a) the level of imports of puppies to the UK from other EU countries under the pet travel scheme and (b) the adequacy of controls to avoid the use of that scheme to import puppies for sale.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra actively shares intelligence relating to abuse of the EU pet travel scheme. Evidence collected by APHA, Local Authorities and welfare organisations has led to investigations in other EU countries.
The UK maintains effective border controls and all the relevant agencies work together to target people who systematically abuse the rules.
The illegal trade is ultimately driven by demand. Defra have published guidance on buying a pet and have worked closely with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group to drive up standards for online advertisements.