Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 OFWAT on number of leaks, pipe bursts and sewage leaks reported by Thames Water in the past five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
My officials and I regularly discuss with Ofwat a number of issues across the water sector including the subjects raised in your question and the performance of individual companies.
Our Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat (SPS) published in 2022, and replacing the previous statement from 2017, sets out our expectations for water company action to renew and replace the water network. It outlines that Ofwat will promote good asset management and challenge companies to better understand the health of their assets and adopt a strategic and long-term approach.
In December I met with Ofwat to discuss its Annual Water Company Performance Report 2021-22, and had a subsequent meeting with Ofwat and Thames to discuss its performance, including leakage, mains repair, supply interruptions, sewer collapse and sewer flooding.
Ofwat have required all companies to produce an action plan to address their performance issues and I have been clear that I will be monitoring progress closely.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the number of leaks and pipe bursts reported by Thames Water in (a) Streatham constituency, (c) London and (c) England in the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The most recent leakage data water companies reported is for the financial year ending March 2021. The reported data is at water company level. Streatham is served by Thames Water, who have reduced their leakage by 10.2% during 2021-22 in line with their performance commitments made to Ofwat.
The Government has set clear expectations that water companies should reduce bursts by 12% and cut their leakage by 16% by 2025 and 50% by 2050. Industry wide leakage has reduced by 11% since 2017-18.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of sewage leaks reported by Thames Water in (a) Streatham constituency, (b) London and (c) England in the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency regulates discharges from Storm Overflows that discharge to the environment during rainfall, these are not leaks. The Environment Agency collates discharge data from Water and Sewerage Companies for storm overflows and for 2020 and 2021 the data is published here. The 2022 data will be published in March 2023.
The installation of Event Duration Monitors on Storm Overflows has increased markedly from 2016 to 2021. We hold data for Thames Water for the period 2018 to 2021 when a total of 44,368 spills were recorded.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 9 of the London School of Economics report Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans, whether her Department has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the recommendation on wholesale and retail; and whether her Department has plans to end the sale of live decapod crustaceans by (a) Amazon and (b) other online retailers.
Answered by Mark Spencer
We are considering carefully the implications of recognising in law the sentience of decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs. The Government currently has no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a ban on the sale of live decapods online.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle illegal dog breeding clinics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations), anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a twelve-month period needs to have a valid licence from their local authority. All dog breeders, including those who do not meet the threshold for licensing under the 2018 Regulations, are obliged under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to protect their animals from suffering and provide for their welfare needs in line with best practice. A breach of these provisions may lead to imprisonment, a fine, or both
Commercial third-party sales of puppies and kittens were banned in England from 6th April 2020. This prohibits pet shops, pet dealers and other commercial outlets from selling these animals in England unless they themselves have bred them. It means anyone looking to get a puppy or kitten must buy direct from a breeder or consider adopting from a rescue centre instead.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 ban on the import of (a) kittens under six months of age, (b) cats which are more than 42 days pregnant and (c) cats which have been declawed.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was introduced in Parliament on 8 June and is progressing through Parliament. The Bill includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and on the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation.
In August 2021, the Government launched an 8-week consultation on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. The consultation proposed to maintain the existing requirements for cats. This is because there is currently limited evidence that there is a significant illegal trade in cats or significant numbers of low welfare movements. The number of non-compliant cats seized at the border is much lower than for dogs, for example, in 2020 we seized and detained 17 kittens (under 15 weeks) compared to 543 puppies. In 2020 no pregnant cats were seized and detained.
The consultation sought views on whether maintaining the existing requirements in relation to cats was the right approach. We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish a summary in due course. This will allow us to take on board the views of the public and interested groups in order to shape our future policy.
We will continue to work closely with stakeholders prior to the introduction of the legislation, to ensure that our final measures are well considered and led by the latest evidence.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to prevent trail hunting being used as a cover for fox hunting on public land.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. The full details of the Hunting Act 2004 exemptions are available online at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/37/schedule/1.
Whether to permit trail hunting is an operational matter for individual landowners.
Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law.
This Government will not amend the Hunting Act.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has put in place plans to scrutinise the husbandry practices of EU nations after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The UK is proud of its world-leading food, health and animal welfare standards. After the transition period, we will maintain our own sanitary and phytosanitary system so that we can set our own rules and standards. We have been clear that we will not lower our standards nor put the UK's biosecurity at risk as we negotiate new trade deals.
The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains our standards on animal welfare, animal and plant health and food safety at the end of the transition period. This maintains the same high level of protection for both domestic and imported products.
From 1 January 2021, the UK will assess and inspect trading partners who apply to import live animals and their products, to ensure that our import conditions for food and feed safety and standards, animal health and animal welfare are properly met. Assessments will be coordinated by Defra and will be based on the risk associated with a specific import. This will ensure the UK maintains a high level of protection of human and animal health for its citizens and businesses.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK's standards for pesticides are protected and maintained in international trade agreements.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Our trade agreements will respect the regulatory autonomy of the Parties and decisions on standards will remain a matter for the UK Government and devolved administrations, including on pesticides.
We will maintain our high human health and environmental standards when operating our own independent pesticides regulatory regime after the transition period. We will ensure decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment and will not authorise pesticides that may carry unacceptable risks. The statutory requirements of the EU regime on standards of protection will be carried across unchanged into domestic law.
The Government is clear that in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.