Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to introduce a complete ban on the commercial movement of pregnant dogs, and (2) to increase the age at which puppies can be imported to six months.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill contains powers that will enable future regulations for commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into the United Kingdom, including prohibiting the import of heavily pregnant dogs over 42 days gestation and puppies under six months old.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a complete ban on the (1) importation, and (2) sale, of dogs which have had (a) their ears cropped, or (b) their tails docked, for cosmetic reasons.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is already an offence in England and Wales to carry out a non-exempted mutilation, including the cropping of a dog’s ears or the docking of their tails. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 creates tougher penalties for anyone convicted of such an offence face, either being sent to prison for up to five years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both.
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill contains powers that will enable future regulations for commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into the United Kingdom including prohibiting the import of dogs with cropped ears and docked tails. This will prevent the import of non-exempted mutilated dogs for onward sale in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the results of the 2021 consultation on the fur market in Great Britain.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the Action Plan for Animal Welfare, Defra committed to explore potential action in relation to the import of fur from abroad. The Call for Evidence Defra published in 2021 was a key step in delivering that commitment. A summary of replies received should be published in due course.
In the meantime, we are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee into the issue of what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help to inform our next steps.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the requirement set for companies by the Environment Agency that new flow monitors be installed on wastewater treatment works, what update can they provide on the progress of these installations.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are installing new monitors at sewage treatment works that have storm overflows which control the flows of sewage that they treat. These monitors will record when there is an overflow of the incoming sewage into storm tanks and other flow monitors will record the flow that is being passed forward for treatment while the overflow is operating. Around 400 sewage treatment works have had both of these monitors installed so far in AMP7, all such discharges will be fully monitored by the end of 2026.
These monitors are being installed to ensure that when these overflows operate, they only do so when the required flows are being treated by the works.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - 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 potential of extracting valuable secondary materials from scrap steel.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra has not made a formal assessment of the potential of extracting valuable secondary materials from scrap steel.
Through the critical minerals strategy, the Government is committed to accelerating the UK’s domestic capabilities and developing a more efficient circular economy for critical minerals in the UK.
The flagship, four-year, £30m National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Programme (NICER) is targeting funding to support innovation in advanced metal sorting techniques to promote a circular economy for metals.
Also, Innovate UK’s Circular Critical Materials Supply Chains (CLIMATES) programme is committing £15 million towards recycling critical minerals through R&D investments, skills and engagement with international partners.
Our forthcoming document “Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste” will also consider how best to prevent waste in several key economic sectors, including construction, and we are working with groups such as the Green Construction Board to realise those ambitions.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - 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 environmental impact of exports of scrap steel from the UK.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The export of waste from the UK is subject to strict requirements set out in Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 on Shipments of Waste (WSR). The objective of the WSR is to facilitate trade in recyclable waste while protecting the environment and human health.
The WSR establishes a control system for shipments of waste based on the level of risk posed by the export to the environment and human health. Waste considered low risk to the environment is called ‘green list’ waste. Steel scrap exports for recovery are considered to pose a low risk and are, therefore, generally subject to ‘green list’ waste controls. If the steel scrap is contaminated, however, then it will be subject to ‘notification controls’ which require the relevant authorities in the countries of dispatch and destination to approve the shipment of waste prior to export.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what new proposals they have undertaken to improve the health and welfare of farmed animals within their annual health and welfare review.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As part of the fully funded annual health and welfare review eligible cattle, sheep and pig keepers are able to access bespoke advice from their choice of vet alongside access to diagnostic testing for key endemic diseases and conditions. This advice includes recommended actions to take and signposting to further support available. This will support farmers to continually improve the health and welfare of their livestock and the increases in productivity that comes with this.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to stimulate market demand for higher animal welfare products within the (1) transparency, and (2) strengthening, of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' regulatory baseline.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Stimulating market demand for higher welfare products is a key strand of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. We are continuing to work with industry to explore how we can harness the market to improve food information to consumers and build on our high standards of animal welfare, while aligning with wider food labelling priorities such as eco-labelling.
Alongside this we are investigating where additional regulatory tools may be required to ensure that effective enforcement of our high animal health and welfare standards is maintained.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to fully fund vet visits for farmers as per their annual health and welfare review.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The annual health and welfare review opened to all eligible keepers of cattle, sheep and pigs in February 2023, giving farmers access to a fully funded visit to their farm by a vet of their choice. In the coming months we will continue to iterate the service by further simplifying the application process. Further iterations will allow more reviews to take place, by opening the offer to livestock keepers who are not Basic Payment Scheme recipients and to those who keep multiple species or multiple herds and flocks of the same species.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to improve the welfare of farmed animals at the time of slaughter.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter, and legislation sets out the main requirements to protect the welfare of animals when being slaughtered.
Following publication in 2021 of the Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015, and as part of the Government’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we are considering a number of ways in which the welfare of animals at the time of killing could be further improved. As a first step, last year we introduced The Protection of Animals at the Time of Killing (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2022 which made the non-penetrative captive bolt device available as a killing method for neonate piglets, lambs and kids (within certain parameters), providing an effective method for humane culling on-farm.