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Written Question
Timber: Imports
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) supply chain, (b) labelling and (c) other processes and requirements are in place to ensure that imported wood comes from a sustainable forestry scheme.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The United Kingdom Timber Regulations (UKTR) prohibit the placing of illegally harvested timber on the market. Under the Withdrawal Act, UKTR applies to GB. Businesses must exercise due diligence on timber imports to demonstrate legality of harvest.

The Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulations and associated Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA), aim to improve the supply of verified legal timber to the UK market. Producer countries who have agreed a VPA with the UK and can demonstrate effective nationwide controls verifying legality of harvest, can issue FLEGT licences.

Under the UK Government Timber Procurement Policy, all timber products procured for use on the Government estate must meet accepted standards of legality and sustainability.


Written Question
Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for consulting on activity regulations to be introduced under the Animals (Low-Welfare Abroad) Act 2023.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Future decisions on which animal activities will fall in scope of the legislation will need to be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority and we are currently exploring a number of options to ensure progress as soon as is practicable. Additionally, we are supporting several Private Members’ Bills to deliver on animal welfare measures in the Kept Animals Bill, and I will be in the chamber tomorrow to listen to the proposals put forward by my Right Honourable Friend the member for North Devon.


Written Question
Food Supply
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the Food Security Index will be measured; and whether it will include nature-friendly farming practices.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The first draft of the new annual Food Security Index will be published at the Farm to Fork Summit this spring. We are in the process of developing the content of the index. We expect it will include a selection of indicators giving an assessment of food security across the five themes identified in the UK Food Security Report, including domestic food supply. Productive, resilient and environmentally sustainable domestic food production is a key element of our food security.


Written Question
Rural England Prosperity Fund
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to extend the funding period for the Rural England Prosperity Fund.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to helping rural businesses prosper. The Rural England Prosperity Fund is a rural top-up to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, providing allocations for eligible local authorities in England to help address the additional needs and challenges facing rural areas.

Overall, the fund will provide up to £110 million in funding to eligible local authorities between April 2023 and March 2025.

To date the fund is providing capital funding to support new and existing rural businesses to develop new products and facilities that will be of wider benefit to the local economy.

This includes small scale investment in micro and small enterprises in rural areas to create leisure and tourism facilities, the capital funding of net zero infrastructures for rural business, and the diversification of farm businesses outside of agriculture to encourage start up, expansion or scale up of these businesses where this involves converting farm buildings into other commercial or business uses.

The Government intends to monitor and evaluate the impact of the fund, with any decision on additional funding a matter for a future Spending Review.


Written Question
Water: Standards
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve water quality; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of these steps on (a) public health and (b) environmental sustainability.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government published the Plan for Water in April 2023. The Plan is our comprehensive strategy bringing together the significant steps we have already taken with a suite of new policy actions. The Plan is underpinned by Increased investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement. Improving public health and delivering environment sustainability were core elements built into the Plan to ensure we improve our water environment for people and wildlife. Public Sector Equality Duty and Environmental Principles considerations are factored into delivery of Plan for Water policies as is standard for all government policies.

In addition to the commitments in the Plan for Water, government monitors water quality at designated bathing waters and shellfish waters in England for public health.


Written Question
Forest Products: Origin Marking
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

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 publish guidance for businesses on verifying the origin of imported forest risk commodities to the plot of land where they were grown under Schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government committed to tackling illegal deforestation in UK supply chains through the Environment Act in 2021 and announced further details of the secondary legislation at COP28 in December 2023. This law will make it illegal for organisations with a global annual turnover of more than £50m to use key forest risk commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used. Our regulations will not require information on the plot of land where commodities were sourced. However, regulated organisations will have to put in place due diligence systems—and will have to report on these systems—in order to lower the risk that there are prohibited forest risk commodity products in their supply chains to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable. Initial secondary legislation will focus on four commodities identified as key drivers of deforestation: cattle products (excluding dairy), cocoa, palm oil and soy.

We are committed to laying the secondary legislation to tackle illegal deforestation in the United Kingdom's supply chains and plan to do so in Spring of this year. Initial guidance will be published alongside this legislation, to support organisations in meeting their due diligence obligations.


Written Question
Forestry
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to support the planting of species of (a) plants and (b) trees native to the UK.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Government is committed to taking action to recover our threatened native species. That is why, in England, we have set four legally binding targets for biodiversity: to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; then to reverse declines by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction by 2042; and restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, also by 2042. We have set out our plan to deliver on these ambitious targets, along with our other environmental targets, in the revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23).

Plant conservation is central to these ambitions, and we have funded, through agri-environmental schemes, the planting of native plant species to create wildlife rich habitats, for example for pollinators. Through the Species Recovery Programme, we have also supported specific recovery projects for our most threatened plant species such as lady’s slipper orchid and wild asparagus.

Trees are an essential part of our nation’s biodiversity, and existing native woodlands are recognised as priority habitats. Establishing more native broadleaf and mixed woodlands will therefore play an important role in contributing to the broader goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan. This is why the England Woodland Creation Offer includes supplements that incentivise the creation of native woodland with high biodiversity potential.


Written Question
Fisheries: Sandeels
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take with the responses to her Department's consultation on spatial management measures for industrial sandeel fishing, which closed on 29 May 2023.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is now considering these responses and undertaking further analysis ahead of the introduction of any management measures. Any measures introduced will be outlined in the Government response to the consultation.


Written Question
Pets: Smuggling
Thursday 29th June 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Leader of the House on legislative proposals to prevent pet smuggling; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making cat smuggling a criminal offence.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Leader of the House about our legislative programme and other matters.

Criminal offences already exist for cats brought into this country in breach of current import requirements.

In Autumn 2021 we consulted on further proposed changes to the rules governing the commercial and non-commercial movement of cats, dogs and ferrets into Great Britain. This included proposals to ban the import of puppies under the age of six months, dogs with cropped ears or docked tails, and dogs that are heavily pregnant.

We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, a summary will be published in due course.


Written Question
Forests: Commodities
Wednesday 24th May 2023

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s planned time frame is for the introduction of secondary legislation to implement due diligence commitments on forest risk commodities in the Environment Act 2021.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

We consulted on the implementation of our due diligence regulations under the Environment Act and published a summary of responses and a government response to the consultation in June 2022.