Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 exempting organic wine from certificate of organic importation requirements.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We have no plans to exempt organic wine imports from the requirement for Certificates of Inspection that apply to all organic products imported into Great Britain (GB). These regulations exist to ensure that products sold as organic in GB meet the legal requirements and ensure consumer confidence in the integrity of the sector. Granting exemptions to these regulations for specific categories of product would be inappropriate and detrimental to consumer confidence.
Certification of organic products and organic operators (producers, processors, exporters and importers) is a long-established practice across the world. Organics is a method of production set in legislation. Certification of products and operators is an essential element for confirmation of the provenance and organic status of products and adherence of operators to organic requirements. Maintenance of consumer confidence that products marketed as organic are organic is vital.
Any business importing organic products into GB must be registered and certified by a UK control body. Organic imports from non-EU/EEA/Swiss third countries continue to require a GB Certificate of Inspection which must be approved before the organic products leave the third country. From 1 July 2022 organic imports from the EU, EEA and Switzerland will also require a GB Certificate of Inspection.
The Government is working to streamline bureaucratic processes inherited from the EU regulatory system to allow for a more flexible and responsive way to handle our regulatory obligations while reducing costs for producers and the burden on the public purse. For example, Defra has laid new legislation that streamlines updating the lists of recognised third countries and third country control bodies for organics goods being imported into GB. We have further streamlined the import process by accepting electronic (PDF) Certificates of Inspection.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of conifer woodland have been felled or removed and not replanted with conifers in England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Government does not hold this information, however the Forestry Commission produces Official Statistics on woodland in England that is felled and not replanted as a part of the restoration and creation of open habitats. These are provided as a total for all woodland including both conifer and broadleaf on an annual basis in the Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are available from 2010-21 onwards and the areas from the published statistics are shown below:
Year (ending 31 March) | Open habitats restored or created in woodland in England (hectares) |
2011 | 893 |
2012 | 735 |
2013 | 460 |
2014 | 906 |
2015 | 343 |
2016 | 550 |
2017 | 285 |
2018 | 335 |
2019 | 181 |
2020 | -80 |
2021 | 408 |
Source: Forestry Commission administrative data
Note: the net reduction in 2019-20 in open habitat restoration or creation was due to a land transfer from Forestry England to Forestry and Land Scotland.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of conifer woodland have been felled or removed and replaced with broadleaf woodland in England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Government does not hold this information, however the Forestry Commission produces Official Statistics on plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) that have been restored to native broadleaf woodland in England (hectares). These are provided as a total for all plantation woodland on ancient woodland sites including both conifer and broadleaf on an annual basis in the Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are available from 2010-21 onwards and the areas from the published statistics are shown below:
Year (ending 31 March) | Plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) restored in woodland in England (hectares) |
2011 | 361 |
2012 | 2,893 |
2013 | 1,791 |
2014 | 4,402 |
2015 | 3,639 |
2016 | 5,239 |
2017 | 2,471 |
2018 | 1,420 |
2019 | 2,191 |
2020 | 1,295 |
2021 | 1,735 |
Source: Forestry Commission administrative data
Note: Figures are incomplete for 2010-11 as there is no data for PAWS restored in the nation’s forests managed by Forestry England for that year.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of broadleaf woodland has been planted at an appropriate spacing and with protections from damage from grey squirrels and deer in each year since 2010.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission does not hold that data. However, it produces Official Statistics on new planting of woodland in England annually for each financial year in thousands of hectares. Most new planting in the period since 2010 has been supported by Forestry Commission-facilitated grants. Such grant-supported new planting is subject to inspection and there is an expectation that recipients of ongoing maintenance payments will support the careful establishment of their woodland, including appropriate protection from pests such as grey squirrels or deer, which may include tree guards. The areas for new planting of broadleaved woodland are published on Forestry Statistics.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the UK-wide housing measures introduced to protect poultry and captive birds against avian flu introduced by the Animal Health and Plant Health Agency apply to game birds.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) came into force across Great Britain on 3 November 2021, and in Northern Ireland on 17 November 2021. Additional housing measures, introduced across the UK from 29 November 2021, make it a legal requirement for all bird keepers across the UK (whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock) to keep their birds indoors and follow strict biosecurity measures to limit the spread of avian influenza.
Game birds are susceptible to avian influenza and the AIPZ measures, including the housing measures, apply to game birds and all other kept birds. Where housing measures are in force and it is not possible to meet the basic welfare requirements of particular game bird species by housing or fully netting areas, alternative steps must be taken to prevent contact either directly or indirectly with wild birds.
Game birds that have already been released are classified as wild birds and the measures introduced within the AIPZ do not therefore apply.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 establishing a national nature service, as proposed by the Wildlife and Countryside Link, to (a) create jobs and (b) help meet nature recovery targets; whether he has had discussions with (i) Cabinet colleagues and (ii) his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on those proposals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is taking forward reforms to put employers at the heart of the skills system to ensure it is responsive to the needs of local economies, as set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper. The increased investment that we plan to drive into nature's recovery over the coming years will create green jobs in various sectors, and a demand from employers for the requisite skills. In preparation for this, Defra is working with relevant sectors and stakeholders to understand its future skills needs in more detail.
The Government is already taking action to create and retain jobs to support nature’s recovery, and to develop a pipeline of talent, in order to support delivery of our commitments in this area. For example, our £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund is enabling environmental charities and their partners across England to create and retain around 2,500 jobs by 2023, including training, apprenticeship and upskilling opportunities that meet the needs of the sector. Additionally, our England Tree Action Plan and Net Zero Strategy tree planting targets will support an estimated 2,000 jobs across England in 2030, including new professional foresters, supervisors, operatives, and adjacent occupations.
Furthermore, Defra is working with DfE on their draft Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy which will increase opportunities for children and young people to engage with nature and develop their skills. We are also working with BEIS, DWP and DfE on Government's wider green jobs and skills policy.
Policy for the natural environment, and skills and education, are devolved matters and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 his Department has had with British Wool on wool prices.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
British Wool is a public body who work on behalf of the wool industry to collect, grade, monitor, market and sell British wool to the international wool textile industry.
Defra officials meet regularly with British Wool, who share regular reports on auction sales and wool values. Although prices fell below 50p per kg for the first time from March 2020 onwards following the outbreak of Covid 19 they have recently recovered to 77.5p per kg.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent studies his Department has undertaken on green alternatives to liquefied petroleum gas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and, as part of the work to meet that commitment, has taken great strides to promote green alternatives to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other fossil fuels in a range of sectors. This has included gathering evidence on a number of different potential technologies including electrification, hydrogen and biofuels.
For the transport sector, the Government has not undertaken any recent studies into the alternatives to LPG specifically. Our recent Transport Decarbonisation Plan set out how we plan to cut emissions in the transport sector. This includes the phase-out of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, the requirement for all new cars and vans to be 100% zero emission at the tailpipe. Renewable alternatives to LPG, including for example bio-LPG, are supported through the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, which has been in place since 2008. In regard to hydrogen as an alternative, the Government has recently published the first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy, which builds on the Government’s ambition for 5GW low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
On heating in particular, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy commissioned research into the alternatives to using fossil fuels for heating off the gas grid. These can be found here and include Electric and bioenergy heating in off-gas grid homes: evidence gathering & Electric heating in rural off-gas grid dwellings: technical feasibility.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 EU counterparts on relaxing the rules of origin requirements for (a) cigars and (b) cigarillos.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Rules of Origin are a standard feature of all free trade agreements. The Rules of Origin in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement ensure the vast majority of UK exports will benefit from zero tariffs, while protecting industry from unfair competition from products from other countries being imported through the EU.
Overall, businesses have been adjusting well to the new rules and continue to trade effectively. The Government appreciates that increasing business understanding of the rules is a key factor in facilitating tariff-free trade.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes a Specialised Committee on Customs and Rules of Origin, through which we can work with the EU to resolve implementation issues. EU exporters facing problems accessing the UK market may also wish to engage with the European Commission regarding difficulties faced due to Rules of Origin.
The Government is confident that the general provisions and product specific rules secured in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement will support UK-EU trade across the vast majority of sectors, with valuable facilitations agreed which reflect the nature of UK-EU goods trade.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will bring forward measures to prevent companies from destroying new and unused stock of electrical and other non-perishable goods.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are aware of the recent news regarding Amazon and the alleged destruction of unsold stock and are closely monitoring the situation.
Businesses that handle waste, including companies such as Amazon, are obliged to follow the waste hierarchy, under our Waste Regulations 2011, which requires action to prevent waste as the priority option. Failure to meet the legal obligation to take all reasonable steps to apply this can lead to enforcement action from the Environment Agency in England.
No business should be sending unwanted electricals to landfill or incineration. We have a producer responsibility system in place to ensure all waste electricals are collected and treated properly, in line with the waste hierarchy.
We are in contact with Amazon regarding this issue and have been absolutely clear that more goods must be reused or recycled to support the government’s ambition to build a more circular economy. Ministers and officials will shortly be meeting with Amazon to discuss this further.