Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a domestic ban on the (a) advertising and (b) offering for sale of attractions, activities or experiences abroad that involve (i) elephant rides and (ii) other forms of exploitation of animals.
Answered by Jo Churchill
This Government takes the welfare of all animals seriously and the Government has been made aware that animals including Asian elephants, that are part of tourist attractions, can be subjected to cruel and brutal training practices to ensure their compliance.
As set out in our Action Plan for Animal Welfare, we are committed to promoting high animal welfare standards, both at home and abroad. We have engaged with the travel industry and other stakeholder organisations, and we support measures which ensure that money from tourists from this country is not channelled towards animal experiences abroad that involve the unacceptable treatment of animals.
The Government is committed to exploring available options to deliver the action plan, including to limit the advertising and offering for sale of these experiences.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of running and managing the UK REACH system.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We want to minimise disruption for business and ensure a smooth transition to UK REACH. We have put in place provisions to minimise the costs for businesses and maintain market access to both the EU and GB markets
We recognise that transition to the UK REACH regime has presented some challenges for the chemicals industry, particularly around the cost of having to access and purchase data to support their registration.
We previously extended the transitional registration deadlines (from two years to a phased two, four, & six-year approach) to allow industry more time to adapt and comply with UK REACH and to spread costs over a longer period. We have now gone further and committed to exploring alternative arrangements for UK REACH transitional registrations that would reduce the need for companies to access EU REACH data packages whilst maintaining high standards to safeguard public health and the environment. Although it is too early to commit to this model, we wish to further explore its potential. We will engage fully with industry, NGOs and other interested stakeholders as part of this process. We have also committed to consult on further extending the transitional registration deadlines.
The cost to Government in running UK REACH includes the cost of further digital development and management of the Comply with UK REACH digital service and the cost of regulatory capacity in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency (EA). In 2022/23 this will cost around £13 million. There will also be additional costs of Defra staff working on REACH.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact on trade with the EU for British chemical companies of having to operate within UK REACH and EU REACH.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We want to minimise disruption for business and ensure a smooth transition to UK REACH. We have put in place provisions to minimise the costs for businesses and maintain market access to both the EU and GB markets
We recognise that transition to the UK REACH regime has presented some challenges for the chemicals industry, particularly around the cost of having to access and purchase data to support their registration.
We previously extended the transitional registration deadlines (from two years to a phased two, four, & six-year approach) to allow industry more time to adapt and comply with UK REACH and to spread costs over a longer period. We have now gone further and committed to exploring alternative arrangements for UK REACH transitional registrations that would reduce the need for companies to access EU REACH data packages whilst maintaining high standards to safeguard public health and the environment. Although it is too early to commit to this model, we wish to further explore its potential. We will engage fully with industry, NGOs and other interested stakeholders as part of this process. We have also committed to consult on further extending the transitional registration deadlines.
The cost to Government in running UK REACH includes the cost of further digital development and management of the Comply with UK REACH digital service and the cost of regulatory capacity in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency (EA). In 2022/23 this will cost around £13 million. There will also be additional costs of Defra staff working on REACH.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the additional costs to British chemical companies of registering with UK REACH.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We want to minimise disruption for business and ensure a smooth transition to UK REACH. We have put in place provisions to minimise the costs for businesses and maintain market access to both the EU and GB markets
We recognise that transition to the UK REACH regime has presented some challenges for the chemicals industry, particularly around the cost of having to access and purchase data to support their registration.
We previously extended the transitional registration deadlines (from two years to a phased two, four, & six-year approach) to allow industry more time to adapt and comply with UK REACH and to spread costs over a longer period. We have now gone further and committed to exploring alternative arrangements for UK REACH transitional registrations that would reduce the need for companies to access EU REACH data packages whilst maintaining high standards to safeguard public health and the environment. Although it is too early to commit to this model, we wish to further explore its potential. We will engage fully with industry, NGOs and other interested stakeholders as part of this process. We have also committed to consult on further extending the transitional registration deadlines.
The cost to Government in running UK REACH includes the cost of further digital development and management of the Comply with UK REACH digital service and the cost of regulatory capacity in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency (EA). In 2022/23 this will cost around £13 million. There will also be additional costs of Defra staff working on REACH.