Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative assessment he has made of the effect on animals of the discharge of fireworks in (a) Sefton, (b) the North West and (c) the UK in (i) 2020 and (ii) previous years.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra understands concerns about the distress noisy fireworks can cause to pets, livestock and wildlife. This is one of the reasons that there is a noise level limit of 120 decibels on fireworks for home use. It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause an animal any unnecessary suffering and this includes through the misuse of fireworks. The Government is supporting the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill, currently before Parliament, which will increase the maximum custodial penalty for this offence from six months to five years.
Defra has shared advice on our social media channels on how owners can keep their pets safe. The statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs, made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, encourages dog owners/keepers to act responsibly, including avoid exercising dogs during events which they may find frightening such as firework displays. We would encourage livestock owners who are concerned about planned firework displays to contact the organisers to see if any compromises can be made, such as using less noisy fireworks.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
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 carry out an economic impact assessment on the UK not being subject to EU REACH chemical regulations after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
At the end of the Transition Period the UK will have in place its own independent chemicals regulatory framework, UK REACH. UK REACH will retain the principles and fundamental approach of the EU REACH system, with its aims of ensuring a high level of protection of human health and the environment, as well as enhancing innovation and competitiveness.
Businesses will incur costs as a result of the transition to an independent UK regime, and to maintain their access to EU markets. However, it is impossible for a single model, number or scenario to capture the complexity or represent the varying impacts that will be felt across different parts of the economy as a result
We will continue to support businesses through the transition through our range of transitional measures, and seek to minimise cost and burden on industry as far as possible.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
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 adequacy of chemical regulation data from EU REACH after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
UK REACH will adopt the same information requirements as are currently in place under EU REACH meaning there will be no difference in the nature of the available data under the respective regimes.
To support businesses to meet the separate regulatory requirements of the UK and EU markets, we aim to agree data and information sharing mechanisms with the EU, in line with the relevant provisions set out in UK and EU regulation and existing third-country mechanisms. We continue to push for this, but the EU has so far rejected sectoral annexes.
We have introduced a phased timescale for the submission of this data that should facilitate more complete and better-quality registration dossiers. This approach also mitigates against further risk to human health and the environment because information on the higher tonnage and higher risk chemicals is provided first, with lesser tonnage and lower risk chemicals following.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
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 number of additional veterinary professionals required to process animal health export certificates prior to consignment after the end of the transition period in the event that a deal is not reached with the EU.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr on 5 October 2020, PQ 96843.
[https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-09-29/96843]
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
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 secure equivalence agreements for organic products with her international counterparts.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra is engaging with the 13 third countries with which we have organic equivalency arrangements and we expect to have arrangements in place for the end of the transition period. For countries with non-reciprocal arrangements, we will send them a letter confirming that we will continue to recognise their organic goods as we do now. For those countries with which we have reciprocal arrangements, we are updating the specific arrangements to reflect the end of the Transition Period.
In addition, the UK has proposed a technical annex which would include mutual recognition for organics as part of the Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
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 remove restrictions on delivery times throughout the food supply chain to mitigate the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
On 13 March, the Government issued a statement encouraging retailers to increase the frequency of deliveries. It also strongly encouraged local authorities not to enforce planning action unnecessarily that would restrict deliveries of food and other essentials during this time, given the exceptional circumstances.
The Government has granted a temporary relaxation of the enforcement of the drivers’ hours rules for all road haulage until 31 May 2020 (which is being kept under review), to help alleviate some of the unprecedented pressures on local and national supply chains. This is on the understanding that driver welfare and road safety must not be compromised and the relaxations only used if absolutely necessary.
The Government has well-established ways of working with the food industry during disruption to supply situations. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we have intensified our discussions with the industry and together we continue to monitor the situation closely, taking the necessary steps to address issues wherever they arise. We welcome the actions that the industry is taking and we will continue this engagement with industry to keep food supply chains flowing and make sure people have the food and products they need.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will make it is policy to ban all animal fur products.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare. There are restrictions on some skin and fur products, making it illegal to import them into the UK. These include fur from cats and dogs and seal skins and products from commercial hunts. Fur farming has been banned in the UK since 2000.
In addition, we do not allow imports of fur from wild animals caught using methods which are non-compliant with international humane trapping standards. Where fur is from an endangered species protected through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), its import or trade will be subject to CITES controls.
During the transition period it is not possible to introduce restrictions relating to the fur trade. Once our future relationship with the EU has been established there will be an opportunity for the Government to consider further steps it could take in relation to fur sales.