Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have produced an environmental principles assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill; and, if so, whether they will place a copy in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have produced an equalities impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill; and, if so, whether they will place a copy in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have produced a justice impact test for the Water (Special Measures) Bill; and, if so, whether they will place a copy in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill; and, if so, whether they will place a copy in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has produced a regulatory impact assessment for the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The impact assessment is currently with the Regulatory Policy Committee for review ahead of publication.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current quota for landing bluefin tuna in the light of the success of the species in UK territorial waters.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government has been actively assessing and adjusting the quota for landing eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT), reflecting the species' resurgence in UK waters. As an independent member of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in 2023 the UK received a quota of 65 tonnes, which was an increase from previous years. This quota was divided to support both commercial and tag and release scientific fisheries, with 39 tonnes used for a small-scale trial commercial fishery.
In 2024, the UK quota is 66 tonnes. Sixteen tonnes are being used for recreational fishing and 39 tonnes for the continued trial commercial fishery. The remaining quota is being used for commercial bycatch and tagging programmes.
Decisions on how the quota is used have been made to ensure that BFT fisheries meet our international commitments, contribute to delivering Fisheries Act 2020 objectives, and reflect stakeholder interests including both the commercial and recreational sectors. In 2023, Defra commissioned an evaluation of UK BFT fisheries. The report has been published here: Impact Evaluation of Bluefin Tuna Quota Allocation - MF0740 (defra.gov.uk). Defra is continuing to evaluate the social, economic, and environmental impacts of UK BFT fisheries in 2024.
Any changes to the future UK BFT quota will depend on whether the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) established by ICCAT increases or decreases (the next TAC will be established in 2025 for the years 2026-2028) and on the outcomes of ongoing negotiations on quota shares at ICCAT.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making to allow for the entry of Woodland Carbon Units and Peatland Carbon Units into the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are exploring the inclusion of greenhouse gas removals in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), including the potential inclusion of high integrity woodland carbon, such as Woodland Carbon Units. A consultation was launched in May 2024 and a Government Response will be provided in 2025.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to requiring the Forestry Commission to increase the number of tree species supported for new planting in order to increase the resilience of forests to climate change.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) supports both coniferous and broadleaf woodlands. The latest update to the UKFS will come into force on 1 October 2024. All afforestation projects in England should conform to the UKFS requirements to ensure that the right trees are being planted in the right place and version five does not allow a single species to constitute more than 65% of a new forest. Primary and secondary forestry species, as defined by Forest Research, are eligible for funding through the England Woodland Creation Offer; in addition, emerging forestry species can constitute up to 15% of the trees planted although this element will be screened to ensure they are appropriate to the site and local wildlife, and their planting sites are recorded.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of badger predation on the nests of UK Red List bird species such as lapwings and curlews.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not specifically assessed the impact of badger predation on the nests of UK Red List bird species. However, as opportunistic omnivores badgers have a varied diet and birds comprise only a small proportion of this and then mostly as carrion. While some predation does occur, there is no conclusive evidence that badgers have an impact on the conservation of ground-nesting birds such as lapwing and curlew.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what trials they intend to conduct and publish on the efficacy of vaccinating badgers in the wild against bovine tuberculosis, and its impact on transmission to cattle, before transitioning from culling to vaccination.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is already a significant evidence base which underpins the use of badger vaccination as a tool for the control of bovine tuberculosis (TB). Trials on captive badgers, modelling studies and field studies on wild badgers all indicate that badger vaccination will significantly reduce the risk of infection and spread of disease within badger populations. Logically, as badgers cause a proportion of cattle breakdowns each year, and since badger vaccination has been proven to reduce the disease burden in the badger population, vaccination should result in a reduction in TB incidence in cattle where badgers are the source of infection. This has also been demonstrated by large scale field trials in Ireland which found that badger vaccination is not inferior to badger culling at controlling TB in cattle. Vaccination would also play a role in protecting healthy badgers, preventing the spread of TB from cattle to badgers.
On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work to refresh the Bovine TB strategy for England, to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and drive down disease to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods. This includes establishing a new Badger Vaccinator Field Force to increase badger vaccination delivery to drive down TB rates and protect badgers.
Wider deployment of badger vaccination will increase opportunities for further research on its effect in badgers and cattle, by creating the large and contiguous areas of vaccination needed to be able to detect an effect. Accordingly, as part of this recent announcement, the Government has committed to rapidly analyse the effect of badger vaccination on the incidence of TB in cattle, to encourage farmers to take part and provide greater confidence that doing so will have a positive effect on their cattle. This will build on the analytical work that is already underway in the Animal and Plant Health Agency using a “herd-level” analysis of historic badger vaccination data.
Asked by: Lord Roborough (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to raising the goal for National Parks to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2040.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protected Landscapes (both National Parks and National Landscapes) will be vital to our national targets, including net zero. We are exploring how the Government can empower them to deliver on their full potential - including in protecting nature’s carbon sinks, such as peatlands and woodlands. The Government welcomes the international leadership from the UK's National Park Authorities in joining the Race to Zero initiative, aiming to become net zero by 2040 and significant carbon sinks by 2050.