Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how decisions by appropriate authorities to rely on an equivalent assessment under the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007, as amended by the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill, will be recorded, published and made available for public scrutiny.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The decision to defer under the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 to an equivalent assessment is communicated to the applicant and the other assessment body. The decision to defer is also recorded and published on the Marine Management Organisation’s public register, enabling public scrutiny.
The BBNJ Agreement provides that public consultation is a requirement of the BBNJ EIA process so any equivalent assessment that is relied upon must also have undertaken necessary public consultation.
All licensing decisions are also placed on the Marine Management Organisation’s public register.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether environmental assessments undertaken by regional fisheries management organisations are regarded as meeting the requirements under Part 4 of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill; and if so, how deficiencies in cumulative impact assessment and public participation will be addressed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Part 4 of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Bill introduces changes to the marine licensing regime to meet some of the UK’s obligations to the BBNJ Agreement. Fisheries issues are not typically considered within the remit of the marine licensing regime.
Part 4 of the BBNJ Agreement provides that an environmental impact assessment may not be required under the Agreement where the impacts of an activity have been assessed in accordance with the requirements of another relevant body. Such bodies may include, for example, Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. This includes where the regulations or standards arising from the assessment have been designed to prevent, mitigate or manage potential impacts below the threshold for an environmental impact assessment under the Agreement, and those have been complied with.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how cumulative, ecosystem-wide and transboundary environmental impacts will be assessed where an appropriate authority defers to an equivalent assessment under the Marine Works (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2007 as amended by the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An appropriate authority will not, under the Marine Works EIA Regulations, be able to defer to another equivalent assessment unless that assessment meets all the requirements of Part 4 of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement. The BBNJ Agreement sets out what should be included in in an assessment including cumulative effects and any transboundary issues.
If the appropriate authority concludes the equivalent assessment does not adequately address the relevant environmental considerations, it must undertake its own environmental impact assessment. This will ensure the relevant impacts are assessed.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether their forthcoming food strategy will include a commitment to establish a food partnership in every local authority area by 2030, with opportunities for young people to be involved from the outset.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The food strategy will articulate the outcomes we want from the food system enabling the Government, civil society, and the food industry work to shared goals and priorities. Local and place-based approaches will have a key role to play in delivery of these outcomes. We will continue to work with partners across the food system as we develop our approach.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the incidence of animal welfare breaches on farms, including animals being beaten or mutilated, sick animals being left untreated, and animals left in unsanitary conditions; and what steps they are taking to ensure breaches are detected and enforcement action taken.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) investigates all allegations of non-compliance thoroughly. Where breaches of the law are identified, appropriate enforcement action is taken. This may include follow-up, unannounced inspections to ensure that compliance has been achieved and maintained. Where necessary, APHA works closely with Local Authorities to coordinate enforcement measures
According to the latest Multi-Annual National Control Plan (MANCP) annual report for 2022, compliance rates across the farming sector remained high. To promote transparency and accountability, we are actively working with Local Authorities to improve the collection and publication of data relating to on-farm inspections and enforcement activities.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the ecological and environmental damage caused by the collision between two ships in the North Sea on 10 March.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra worked with multiple organisations, including the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas). Cefas’s Premiam Monitoring Coordination Cell (PMCC) was set up immediately following this incident. This cell implements post-incident monitoring to assess the impacts of marine pollution incidents and as part of this, shellfish (seafood) and seawater samples were collected in the days and weeks following the incident. The analysis from these samples has indicated that there were no significant adverse ecological or environmental impacts due to fuel or chemicals released from either vessel, or during the response to the incident.
Plastic nurdles and burned debris washed ashore along the Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coast following the incident. Large quantities of plastic pollution and debris were recovered from the shoreline and the sea. Work is still ongoing regarding this, with Environment Agency staff regularly visiting affected sites to assess and if necessary, remove newly visible pollution.
The PMCC has now been stood down, but the impacts of this incident are continuously monitored as part of routine ongoing water and environmental sampling in the area.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas, and if so when.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to protecting and restoring our ocean to good health, delivering on our commitment to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. We have recently announced a consultation on plans to ban bottom trawling in a further 41 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), covering 30,000 square kilometres of England’s waters. This is in addition to the 60% of MPAs that already have byelaws in place to protect them from damaging fishing activity, and to existing protections provided by the marine planning and licensing regimes. The consultation on these new proposals will run from 9 June to 1 September 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase global cooperation to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government is fully committed to preventing, deterring and eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Global cooperation and collaboration are key to tackling this issue, as highlighted at this week’s United Nation Oceans Conference in Nice.
To deliver this objective, we are taking forward a wide range of actions, including, but not limited to, being a co-founder and active member of the IUU Fishing Action Alliance; prioritising tackling IUU fishing within all international fisheries governance forums, of which the UK is a Party; and delivering support and capacity-building to combat IUU fishing through international funding programmes, such as the Blue Belt Programme and the Ocean Country Partnership Programme.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is taking to work more closely with UNESCO on the Global Geoparks initiative for mutual benefit.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England works with the UK Committee for UNESCO Global Geoparks and the UK National Commission for UNESCO to mentor and support existing and aspiring UNESCO Global Geoparks. We are responsible for designating and enabling good management of geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) many of which are of international value and provide the primary mechanism for protecting the geological value of our Geoparks. In return Geoparks are exemplars of best geoconservation practice.
More recently we have enabled the participation of Geoparks in the cross-government Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage Shared Outcomes Fund project and facilitated Geopark participation in the UNESCO Local to Global initiative which has focused on capacity and resilience building, notably including the urban Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark.
In 2025 we anticipate new applications from the Charnwood Forest Aspiring Geopark as well as the Cross-Channel/Transmanche Aspiring Geopark which is a unique transboundary collaboration between the Kent Downs National Landscape and the Parc naturel régional des Caps et Marais d'Opale.
Geoparks are locally driven and are a key part of our ambition to restore nature, at scale, and to enable more people to both act for and connect with nature through our rich geological heritage.
UKRI funded a project that partnered with Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geoparks, see GtR (attached as a PDF), between July and November 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 20 March (HL5459 and HL5460), whether assessments of samples for disposal at sea are determined by cost to the applicant or best available evidence.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Before material is disposed of at sea, Defra bodies follow OSPAR guidelines for assessing contaminant levels in samples. Cefas use the best available evidence when providing advice to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on contaminant levels in such samples. Assessments required may vary depending on the type of material and historic use of a site from which any material is dredged. Assessments are only used when the evidence they provide is necessary to determine if a material is suitable for disposal at sea, and this avoids disproportionate costs for applicants. The MMO then consider this evidence when determining applications to dispose of material at sea.