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Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Quarantine
Wednesday 10th November 2021

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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 his Department's ministers have been exempted from quarantine in a hotel after returning to the UK from a covid-19 red list country to which they have travelled for the purposes of conducting official business.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Details of Ministers’ overseas travel are published quarterly on GOV.UK, and all travel is arranged in line with official regulations.

Ministers are able to claim an exemption from travel restrictions under the ‘Crown Servants or government contractors exemption’. The full text of this exemption can be found under the Government guidance Coronavirus (COVID-19): jobs that qualify for travel exemptions, available on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Ivory Act 2018
Monday 14th June 2021

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department is having with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the implementation of the Ivory Act 2018 and ensuring technology companies work with enforcement officers to prevent the illegal trade of ivory products.

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

The Department has not discussed the role of technology companies with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Contractors have had early discussions about the role of online sales platforms. We will work with a range of interested parties and stake holders to ensure the ban on dealing in elephant ivory is enforced effectively.


Written Question
Angling: Conservation
Thursday 12th October 2017

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimates he has made of the costs to the recreational bass fishery of recent conservation measures affecting sea anglers.

Answered by George Eustice

Defra has not conducted any specific surveys of the economic value of the recreational bass fishery over the last ten years. The Defra ‘Sea Angling 2012’ research project found that, in 2012, sea anglers resident in England spent £1.23 billion on the sport. It is not possible robustly to separate out figures specifically for recreational bass fishing.

Bass conservation measures have been introduced by the EU in response to advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea on the very poor state of the stock. Alongside a significant reduction in commercial landings, these measures are aimed at reducing mortality while the stock recovers, in order to secure the long term future of bass fisheries. The EU measures from 2015 onwards were also applied to the recreational sector as scientific advice in 2014 indicated on the basis of earlier angling surveys that up to 25% of total bass removals were estimated at that time to be accounted for by bass anglers.

A specific cost estimate of the effects of the EU bass recovery measures on the recreational sector by limiting retention of catch by anglers has not been conducted. Arriving at a reliable assessment, particularly given that catch and release activity has not been restricted, would be challenging. There would need to be a wide range of factors covered in such an evaluation, including the reduced availability of bass while stocks are recovering, and the need to take into account the longer term costs of failing to apply sufficient bass recovery measures across all fishing sectors. This places the emphasis on ensuring recovery measures are in place that will restore the value of bass fisheries across all fishing sectors.


Written Question
Angling
Thursday 12th October 2017

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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 value of recreational bass fishing in England to the economy in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Answered by George Eustice

Defra has not conducted any specific surveys of the economic value of the recreational bass fishery over the last ten years. The Defra ‘Sea Angling 2012’ research project found that, in 2012, sea anglers resident in England spent £1.23 billion on the sport. It is not possible robustly to separate out figures specifically for recreational bass fishing.

Bass conservation measures have been introduced by the EU in response to advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea on the very poor state of the stock. Alongside a significant reduction in commercial landings, these measures are aimed at reducing mortality while the stock recovers, in order to secure the long term future of bass fisheries. The EU measures from 2015 onwards were also applied to the recreational sector as scientific advice in 2014 indicated on the basis of earlier angling surveys that up to 25% of total bass removals were estimated at that time to be accounted for by bass anglers.

A specific cost estimate of the effects of the EU bass recovery measures on the recreational sector by limiting retention of catch by anglers has not been conducted. Arriving at a reliable assessment, particularly given that catch and release activity has not been restricted, would be challenging. There would need to be a wide range of factors covered in such an evaluation, including the reduced availability of bass while stocks are recovering, and the need to take into account the longer term costs of failing to apply sufficient bass recovery measures across all fishing sectors. This places the emphasis on ensuring recovery measures are in place that will restore the value of bass fisheries across all fishing sectors.


Written Question
Fisheries: Disease Control
Thursday 6th July 2017

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Scottish counterparts on the use by the Scottish salmon farming industry of live wrasse caught in south-west England to control lice; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by George Eustice

Officials from Defra and Marine Scotland are in regular contact on a number of matters, including the use of wrasse caught in south-west England by the aquaculture sector in Scotland. However, since most wrasse are caught inshore, local IFCAs have lead responsibility.

The relevant Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities are developing initiatives to control the removals of live wrasse and protect local ecosystems in south-west England. The Southern IFCA has introduced technical measures to limit the catch of breeding wrasse. The Devon and Severn IFCA has introduced a permit system to restrict catch and require fully documented removal. The Cornwall IFCA has limited the fishery to three vessels.


Written Question
Whales: East of England
Thursday 24th March 2016

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26471, whether the UK cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme plans to assess the potential link between oil and gas activities and related seismic testing and the movement of sperm whales to North Sea waters.

Answered by George Eustice

The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme is currently working with experts from Germany and The Netherlands to carry out an assessment of all the potential factors, natural and/or human-induced, that may have contributed to the recent sperm whale strandings.


Written Question
Marine Protected Areas
Monday 2nd November 2015

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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 progress on achieving an ecologically-coherent network of marine protected areas in UK seas.

Answered by George Eustice

The Government is committed to creating a Blue Belt of Marine Protected Areas around our coast. In February 2014 the Joint Nature Conservation Committee published an assessment of remaining gaps in the Marine Protected Area network in the waters for which the Secretary of State is responsible (around England and offshore waters of Wales and Northern Ireland). It can be viewed at: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/140224_BigGapsMethod_v8.pdf).

This analysis is being updated, and will be published in due course.

I have also recently consulted on designating a second tranche of Marine Conservation Zones in English waters.


Written Question
Common Fisheries Policy
Thursday 29th October 2015

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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 has established that there is a basis to permit fishing at levels higher than the limits set by the Common Fisheries Policy.

Answered by George Eustice

Defra’s view is that fishing limits, in the form of Total Allowable Catches, need to be set in accordance with the objective of achieving the maximum sustainable yield exploitation rate by 2015, where possible, and 2020 at the latest.


Written Question
Marine Conservation Zones and Special Areas of Conservation
Thursday 29th October 2015

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of UK seas out to 200nm are designated as (a) Special Areas of Conservation and (b) Marine Conservation Zones.

Answered by George Eustice

The Government is committed to creating a Blue Belt of Marine Protected Areas around our coast. Currently 7.6% of UK seas are designated as Special Areas of Conservation, 1.4% as Special Protection Areas and 8.0% as Marine Conservation Zones (known as Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas in Scotland). Accounting for overlaps, a total of 16.2% of UK seas are designated as Marine Protected Areas.


Written Question
Fisheries: Quotas
Thursday 29th October 2015

Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of assessed European fish stocks that are (a) fished at or below and (b) fished at higher than the maximum sustainable yield rate.

Answered by George Eustice

European Commission information suggests that in 2015, for stocks with full analytical assessments in the Atlantic EU waters, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, (a) 32 stocks were being fished at or below the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) exploitation rate, and (b) 30 such stocks were being fished higher than the MSY exploitation rate.