Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support international game wardens in protecting vulnerable wildlife populations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), including by investing £30 million between 2022 and 2025 to support global efforts.
Our IWT Challenge Fund continues to support projects that benefit park rangers and drive innovative ways to tackle poaching. Projects have included expanding aerial surveillance to support ranger deployments in the Rungwa, Kizigo and Muhesi Game Reserves in central Tanzania, and enhanced use of innovative techniques to combat poaching and wildlife trafficking at the Ngulia rhino sanctuary in Kenya. More information on these projects and others is available here.
We have also funded the training of rangers (Op CORDED) in partnership with the British Army, helping wildlife parks work together to strengthen law enforcement and share information to disrupt smuggling and poaching across Africa.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 take steps to increase aid to organisations that employ game wardens.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), including by investing £30 million between 2022 and 2025 to support global efforts.
Our IWT Challenge Fund continues to support projects that benefit park rangers and drive innovative ways to tackle poaching. Projects have included expanding aerial surveillance to support ranger deployments in the Rungwa, Kizigo and Muhesi Game Reserves in central Tanzania, and enhanced use of innovative techniques to combat poaching and wildlife trafficking at the Ngulia rhino sanctuary in Kenya. More information on these projects and others is available here.
We have also funded the training of rangers (Op CORDED) in partnership with the British Army, helping wildlife parks work together to strengthen law enforcement and share information to disrupt smuggling and poaching across Africa.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 provides support to international game wardens to adapt to new techniques for tackling illegal wildlife activities.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), including by investing £30 million between 2022 and 2025 to support global efforts.
Our IWT Challenge Fund continues to support projects that benefit park rangers and drive innovative ways to tackle poaching. Projects have included expanding aerial surveillance to support ranger deployments in the Rungwa, Kizigo and Muhesi Game Reserves in central Tanzania, and enhanced use of innovative techniques to combat poaching and wildlife trafficking at the Ngulia rhino sanctuary in Kenya. More information on these projects and others is available here.
We have also funded the training of rangers (Op CORDED) in partnership with the British Army, helping wildlife parks work together to strengthen law enforcement and share information to disrupt smuggling and poaching across Africa.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much money has been raised (a) in total and (b) for (i) charitable and (ii) community causes by the charge for single-use carrier bags in each year since 21 May 2021.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the Government introduced the charge, it has generated over £190 million for good causes and the number of single-use plastic carrier bags used in the main supermarkets has fallen by more than 7 billion, a reduction of over 98%.
A full dataset of details for each retailer on the amount of gross proceeds, VAT, total costs and net proceeds can be found on gov.uk.
Defra publishes a summary of this data which includes the amounts of money given to good causes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charge-summary-of-data-in-england.
There is no requirement in the legislation which requires retailers to donate proceeds from the charge to good causes. Only large retailers are required to keep a record of and report on the uses to which these proceeds have been put.
With regards to the request to provide a detail of how much money has been raised (a) in total and (b) for (i) charitable and (ii) community causes by the charge each year since 21 May 2021, this level of breakdown is not something that Defra holds.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which (a) charities and (b) community organisations have received funds from the charge for single-use carrier bags in each year since 21 May 2021.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the Government introduced the charge, it has generated over £190 million for good causes and the number of single-use plastic carrier bags used in the main supermarkets has fallen by more than 7 billion, a reduction of over 98%.
A full dataset of details for each retailer on the amount of gross proceeds, VAT, total costs and net proceeds can be found on gov.uk.
Defra publishes a summary of this data which includes the amounts of money given to good causes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charge-summary-of-data-in-england.
There is no requirement in the legislation which requires retailers to donate proceeds from the charge to good causes. Only large retailers are required to keep a record of and report on the uses to which these proceeds have been put.
With regards to the request to provide the detail of which (a) charities and (b) community organisations have received funds each year since 21 May 2021, this information is not something that Defra holds.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 his Department has provided to support farmers whose lands have been flooded in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming Recovery Fund was activated in 2019 for farmers who suffered uninsurable damage to their land and were affected by exceptional flooding incidents as a result of significant rainfall. £1.4m was allocated towards reinstatement costs. £519,000 of this was claimed in 2020, £884,200 in 2021, and £750 in 2022. The fund was also announced on Saturday 6th January 2024 following Storm Henk, as part of the wider Flood Recovery Framework, but there is no claims data to report yet.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
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 is taking to protect access to (a) green spaces and (b) Greenways in (i) Huddersfield constituency and (ii) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and is working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space.
The Government is delivering a number of policies to protect access to green spaces including in urban areas. Examples of these include:
Local highway authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of existing public rights of way and are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan to plan improvements to the rights of way network in their area. This must include an assessment of the local rights of way including the condition of the network.
In the West Yorkshire area specifically, as part of its work to deliver England’s Nature Recovery Network, Natural England is working with a range of partners in the iconic upland, rural and urban landscapes in West Yorkshire to create a shared vision for nature recovery that will underline the cultural and environmental links between the industrial heartland of West Yorkshire and the moors that help to define them.
In the South Pennine Moors Natural England is working with public and private finance, stakeholders and landowners with the aim of creating more habitat mosaics and dynamic sites, helping to build resilience for species that are likely to be impacted by climate change and improve natural flood management, ensuring that environmental and economic sustainability go hand in hand.
Utilising Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Net Gain opportunities, Natural England is also aiming to build in green corridors and steppingstones leading into Bradford. Local communities are being engaged in the project, providing opportunities to connect the people of Bradford and West Yorkshire with their surrounding wild places, and encouraging greater sustainable access.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including public access to the countryside in the definition public good in the Agriculture Act 2020.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The public goods supported by the Agriculture Act 2020 are listed under Section 1 of the Act. Section 1 allows financial assistance to be given for or in connection with any one or more of a range of purposes, including supporting public access to and enjoyment of the countryside, farmland or woodland and better understanding of the environment. We have confirmed in a recent publication that we will continue to pay for access to the countryside.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the RSPCA on preventing the practice of ear cropping.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is an offence in England and Wales to carry out a non-exempted mutilation (e.g., where it is not carried out for medical purposes) including the cropping of a dog's ears. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has not met with representatives of the RSPCA to discuss the cropping of dogs’ ears
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made on the impact of light pollution on the environment in areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and surrounding areas.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Our National Parks (NP) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) have some of the best dark skies across Great Britain and attained some of the earliest dark sky designations in Europe. 53% of our darkest skies are in NPs and AONBs, demonstrating the vital role these places play, and seven of our NPs and AONBs have been internationally recognised for their dark skies and are managed in ways that conserve dark skies for the benefit of people and wildlife.
Defra has worked with other government departments to ensure that the National Planning Policy Framework is clear that policies and decisions should limit the impact of light pollution on local amenities, dark landscapes and nature conservation. We continue to work with partners including leading scientists to review the latest studies and ensure we continue to address key threats to biodiversity.