Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to tackle dog attacks on livestock, following the 30 per cent increase in dog attacks on livestock in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers. We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area and will be setting out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to tackle hare coursing; and what assessment they have made of whether hare coursing is increasing.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the impact which the crime of hare coursing has on rural communities.
Measures to strengthen law enforcement and increase the powers of the courts were introduced through the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. They have been widely welcomed. The new offences and higher penalties introduced by the Act are all being used and imposed by the courts.
Wildlife crimes such as hare coursing are not ‘notifiable’ so there are no official Home Office statistics or identifiable trends to judge robustly whether such crimes are increasing or decreasing across the country. Decisions on whether to make wildlife crimes notifiable sit with the Home Office. It is reasonable to assume the 2022 legislation, along with improved police tactics, intelligence and information sharing as well as the use of community protection notices (CPN) and criminal behaviour orders (CBO), has had an effect in terms of reducing levels of hare coursing.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bellamy on 21 March (HL3214) what assessment has been made of the drop in prosecutions for poaching in England, from 107 in 2019 to 34 in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the problems and distress which poaching can cause for local communities. Tackling it is one of the UK's national wildlife crime priorities.
The number of prosecutions for poaching in England can vary year from year due to a number of factors. For example, the levels of hare coursing, an abhorrent form of poaching, can be affected by the suitability of local ground conditions during a hare coursing ‘season’. If it is too wet, there is an increased risk that the vehicles used to facilitate coursing might get stuck in fields where hares are found so the activity is less likely to be carried out. If it is too dry, the dogs used by coursers are at an increased risk of injury. The numbers of prosecutions in a local area will also depend on effective enforcement. The level of resourcing assigned to tackle poaching may vary year from year depending on decisions taken by local police forces.
The difference in prosecutions between 2019 and 2023 might also have been affected by a key change in legislation. The 2019 figure provided by the Ministry of Justice in its answer of 21 March (HL3214) is from a time prior to the enactment of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This legislation increased police powers and sentences for a number of hare coursing offences. It is reasonable to suspect it had a deterrent effect on potential offenders and offences that may have led to prosecution. In combination with this new legislation, improved police tactics, intelligence and information sharing as well as the use of community protection notices and criminal behaviour orders may also have had an impact on recent poaching prosecution numbers. Finally, it must be noted that the 2023 figure of 34 used in the Lord Bishop’s question is not consistent with the other years as it only includes prosecutions for the months from January to June rather than, as with the years being compared with it, the full calendar year.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Douglas-Miller on 24 May (HL4084), whether they will consider reinstating funding for the Air Quality Grant Scheme and, if not, what plans they have to better deliver positive outcomes for local air quality and public health.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No decisions have been made yet on the future of the Air Quality Grant.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the prediction in the Precision Agriculture Global Market Report 2024 of an 11.7 per cent compound annual growth rate for the precision agriculture industry, what plans they have to promote the sustainable development of agri-robotics, and to encourage its integration into farming practices.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Precision agriculture and agri-robotics will play a vital role in supporting our farmers to boost Britain’s food security, drive productivity growth and improve environmental outcomes.
The UK has world-class science and innovation capabilities, and we want to further promote the UK as a great place for technology innovators to start and grow businesses, fuelling private investment, growth and the creation of high-skilled jobs.
We are committed to supporting the farming sector and we are looking carefully at how to position further investment and support to enable the benefits of agri-robotics to be further realised and integrated into farming practices.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
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 pollution in Lake Windermere.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
A thorough investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) into the pollution incident at Lake Windermere earlier this year remains ongoing, which involves examining further evidence from United Utilities (UU). If the EA determines a permit breach has taken place, it will not hesitate to take enforcement action up to and including a criminal prosecution.
Windermere is affected by pollution from a range of different sources, including sewage discharges from water company assets, private septic tanks/sewage works and road and agricultural run-off, as well as physical modifications. Climate change has also altered temperature, precipitation and weather patterns which can affect the lake's water quality, by altering nutrient cycles, water chemistry and aquatic habitats, and affect the amount of water resulting in droughts and floods.
The last Water Framework Directive full water body classification results in 2019 assessed that Lake Windermere achieved moderate ecologic status and is impacted by excessive nutrients, leading to algal growth and cyanobacterial blooms.
Recent data shows a 30% reduction in phosphorus – which can lead to algal blooms – entering the lake since 2020 and this reduction is predominantly due to EA-driven improvements to UU Wastewater Treatment Works.
Water quality modelling continues to quantify the different sources of pollution in Windermere and the impact that it is having in different parts of the lake. The EA is also working with the Love Windermere partnership to improve the overall health of the lake through behavioural and societal change.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made an assessment of the impact that withdrawing funding for the Air Quality Grant Scheme will have on public health.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
An impact assessment on public health was not carried out before withdrawing the Air Quality Grant Scheme for 2023-2024. The Minister used his discretion not to fund the Local Air Quality Grant Scheme for the 2023-2024 financial year. He has asked Defra officials to consider the future of the scheme and how it might be redesigned to better deliver positive outcomes for local air quality and public health and therefore enhanced value for money for taxpayers.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the University of Copenhagen Lifetime exposure to air pollution and academic achievement: A nationwide cohort study in Denmark, published in March, particularly the finding that high levels of air pollution may negatively impact children’s cognitive development; and whether in light of this they will consider reinstating funding for the Air Quality Grant Scheme.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The Government keeps new studies on health impacts of air pollution under review and is advised by the Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP).
The Minister used his discretion not to fund the Local Air Quality Grant Scheme for the 2023-2024 financial year. He has asked Defra officials to consider the future of the scheme and how it might be redesigned to better deliver positive outcomes for local air quality and public health and therefore enhanced value for money for taxpayers.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that slingshots are being used to cause damage to vehicles and local wildlife in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Benyon
The Government has not made an assessment of reports that slingshots are being used to cause damage to vehicles and local wildlife in rural areas. We have been made aware by the National Wildlife Crime Unit of a perceived increase in the use of catapults against animals. The Government takes wildlife crime seriously and it is a matter of concern. Under provisions in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006, there are a range of offences around deliberate attempts to kill, injure or inflict harm on wildlife. We expect all crime to be reported to police and investigated appropriately.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the new Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship actions can be added to areas already in the Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement, particularly in upland areas where the HLS agreement has a linked Upland Entry Level Stewardship agreement.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
We plan to roll out the new combined Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship offer during 2024, with applications opening from the summer. We will publish more information about this, and how farmers will be able to apply, ahead of applications opening. This will include setting out how farmers with existing Higher Level Stewardship, Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements will be able to access the new offer.