Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been provided by Darwin Plus by country in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Darwin Plus is a competitive UK Government grants scheme that provides funding for environmental projects in the UK Overseas Territories. Since 2019, UK government spending on Darwin Plus has increased year on year to a record high of £6.85m in 22/23, reflecting the rising breadth and quality of applications to our schemes. Projects are selected on their merit at application supported by the advice of independent experts currently sat on the Darwin Plus Advisory Group. Darwin Plus funding per territory over the last five years can be found below:
Overseas Territory | Grant Funding from 2019 - 2024 |
Anguilla | £2,702,538.47 |
Bermuda | £562,703.60 |
British Antarctic Territory | £935,916.75 |
British Indian Ocean Territory | £1,233,527.92 |
British Virgin Islands | £3,660,593.29 |
Cayman Islands | £2,871,387.06 |
Falkland Islands | £3,137,812.11 |
Gibraltar | £169,956.10 |
Montserrat | £2,071,315.89 |
Pitcairn, Henderson, Oeno and Ducie Islands | £423,105.00 |
St Helena, Ascension and Tristan Da Cunha | £5,918,668.62 |
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands | £4,412,383.75 |
Sovereign Base Area of Akrotiri and Dhekelia | £1,176,523.50 |
Turks and Caicos Islands | £3,462,690.14 |
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been made available to each Darwin Plus project in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government continues to support conservation and biodiversity projects in the Overseas Territories, through initiatives such as the Darwin Plus Programme. The programme expanded in April 2023, offering greater levels of funding for Darwin Plus projects and the UK Government committed to make available, £10 million each year until 2025 to improve the natural environment of the Overseas Territories. The programme has made available:
Darwin Plus Strategic: Funding between £1m-£3m.
Darwin Plus Main: Between £100k-£1m for projects.
Darwin Plus Local: Up to £20k for individuals and £50k for organisations.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what targets his Department has set to help achieve the Government's commitments on net zero.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government set out how we would meet our commitments in the Net Zero Strategy in 2021 which included a detailed breakdown of actions required across all sectors in the economy. This was updated in 2023 through the publication of 'Powering Up Britain'.
The UK has halved its emissions, ahead of every other major economy, and we have grown our economy by over 70% since 1990. The UK over-achieved against the first and second carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third.
We have one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world, and we have set more stretching targets for 2030 than most countries. We plan to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, which is more than the EU, Japan or the United States.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many of each shark species have been landed in (a) UK ports and (b) abroad by UK vessels in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our sea fisheries annual statistics includes live weights of annual landings of shark species into UK ports, and by UK vessels into non-UK ports. This data is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-sea-fisheries-annual-statistics.
Landings from the last five years for which data is available are provided in the attached tables.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total allowable catch level in English ports was for each shark species in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Two shark species are relevant here. The UK agrees an annual Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for British fishing boats for Spurdog, having reopened the fishery in 2023 following ICES advice. In 2023, the UK and EU agreed a total TAC of 15,453 t, with a UK quota of 2,781 t in the North Sea TAC management area and 4,825 t in the Western TAC management area. For 2024, the UK and EU agreed a total TAC of 15,900 t, with a UK quota of 2,862 t in the North Sea TAC management area and 5,809 t in the Western TAC management area.
The Total Allowable Catch level for Blue Shark is set by The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), and that TAC is allocated as quotas to the parties. 2021 was the first year that the UK had access to a quota for this species, which we use exclusively for bycatch. The UK’s quota was 9 tonnes in 2021, 32 tonnes in 2022 and 2023, and is 25 tonnes for 2024.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the amount of shark meat that entered the commercial food chain in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While we monitor landings of shark species into UK ports and abroad by UK vessels, as well as UK trade flows of shark commodities, we do not hold data on the volume of shark meat entering the commercial food chain.
The UK Government continues to be a leading voice for sustainable fisheries, trade and protection of shark species. The UK places the utmost importance on ensuring that appropriate protection and management is in place for all shark species. While we are not opposed to the capture of sharks in commercial fisheries, we want to ensure those fisheries are sustainable, trade is managed, and that appropriate management measures are in place.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential environmental impact of (a) greenhouse gas, (b) nitrous oxide and (c) other emissions from farmed insect frass used as fertiliser.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2021 Defra commissioned a scientific review on the insect bioconversion industry, focusing on insect protein used in animal feed. This review highlighted the potential environmental benefits of including insect protein in poultry and pig feeds, and the potential to support a circular economy. This review also identified that more evidence was needed on life cycle assessments within the UK on insect protein production, and a lack of an evaluation of insect feed substrates and potential uses of by-products (e.g., frass and chitin). To address this gap, Defra has commissioned a new project to undertake a life cycle assessment within the UK on insect protein production.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many officials from his Department attended COP 28.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Barclay, and Minister of State, Lord Benyon, attended COP28. A final list of confirmed UK participants, including officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will be published by the UNFCCC in due course.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential risk of diseases spreading to wild (a) insects and (b) other animals from insects farmed for use as (i) food and (ii) animal feed.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain vigilant to changes in production systems and continue to use our established systems to monitor for new and emerging animal health risks through our Veterinary Risk Group and Animal Disease Policy Group.
The Food Standards Agency has commissioned a comprehensive review of the safety of several currently non permitted substrates that could potentially be used to rear insect larvae for protein in animal feeds. The research project is gathering chemical and microbiological safety data relating to the substrates, the larvae and the residual rearing substrate material (frass).
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to dis-apply Regulation (EU) No 2017/893.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no current plans to disapply Regulation (EU) No 2017/893 which amended our feed controls to reflect the increased scientific understanding of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and its current rare incidence. Among other things, it provides a wider choice of feed for certain species of livestock and eases previous restrictions on exports of ruminant protein. The changes within this legislation were based on a robust risk assessment by the European Food Safety Authority.