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Written Question
Sewage: Waste Disposal
Wednesday 8th May 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 make an assessment of the potential merits of amending water undertakers' licences under the Environment Act 2021 to require those undertakers to accept septic tank waste (a) where there is market failure in the processing of that waste and (b) in other circumstances.

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

Defra does not have the power to amend water company licence conditions; Ofwat has this power under the Water Industry Act 1991.

In the Plan for Water, the Government has committed to review existing regulatory arrangements and explore funding and other support options for improving septic tank activities. We continue to consider options that mitigate the risks arising from private sewage discharges.

In January 2023, to ease the pressures on the septic tank waste disposal market in Cornwall, the Environment Agency issued a regulatory position statement to increase waste storage capacity. This means that tanks can temporarily store more sewage (up to 60 cubic metres) until South West Water has capacity to take it.


Written Question
Animal Welfare: Charities
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 made an assessment of the potential impact of provisions in the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill on the work of animal rescue charities.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill completed second reading in the House of Commons on 15 March 2024.

In August 2021 we launched a consultation on the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. It was a wide-ranging consultation with excellent engagement with key stakeholders including animal rescue charities. We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, and the consultation response will be published soon.


Written Question
Fish: Consumption
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 encourage (a) schools, (b) prisons and (c) hospitals to serve British-caught fish.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has consulted on changes to the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF), including increasing the sourcing of local and sustainable food. The consultation sought views on sourcing, where possible, a diverse range of seasonally available seafood species from locally caught or produced sources. As the Government response to the consultation has not yet been published, it is too soon to pre-empt any specific findings.


We have also now appointed an independent advisor to support the Government’s ongoing work to improve food procurement in the public sector and make the system more accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses and, subject to domestic and international legal obligations, explore the benefits of and steps to getting more local-caught fish into schools, prisons and hospitals.


Written Question
Animal Breeding: Imports
Friday 9th February 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 the guidance issued by his Department entitled Import live animals and germinal products from the EU to Great Britain on 31 January 2024, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that the time taken for the new checks to be undertaken at airports after 30 April 2024 does not affect the viability of imported chilled semen for (a) racehorses and (b) other species.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Equine germinal products, including equine semen, are classified as ‘high risk’ under the Border Target Operating Model, regardless of country of origin. EU and Rest of World equine germinal products currently require pre-notification and health certification and this will continue to be the case. Currently APHA undertake documentary checks on EU origin germinal products imported into GB, whilst Port Health Authorities conduct documentary and identity checks on Rest of World imports. Our expectation is that PHAs will begin to undertake the required checks (100% documentary & ID checks) on EU origin germinal products in line with the wider TOM implementation milestones for animal products (i.e. starting from 30 April 2024, aside from EU goods imported from the island of Ireland).

We are aware that the equine germinal product industry has concerns about the impact of the move of checks to BCPs, particularly relating to the timing of PHA processes for imports of fresh equine semen during the breeding season. There is direct engagement at a working level to understand, and where possible resolve, these concerns.


Written Question
Natural England: Disclosure of Information
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 the Answer of 25 October 2023 to Question 203372 on Natural England, for what reason Natural England have not published the declaration of interests made at and (b) minutes of the board meeting of 28 June 2023.

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

Natural England will publish a record of the meeting which will include details of how to request a transcript on GOV.UK in due course.


Written Question
Natural England: Disclosure of Information
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 the Answer of 25 October 2023 to Question 203372 on Natural England, if Natural England will publish the register of board members’ interests as a separate document on gov.uk.

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

Natural England will publish the Board register of interests on GOV.UK in due course.


Written Question
Natural England
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many members of the board of Natural England held valid appointments to that board on 28 June 2023; and where the register of their interests is held.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

On 28 June 2023 the Natural England Board consisted of twelve members with valid appointments:

  1. Tony Juniper
  2. Lord Blencathra
  3. Peter Unwin
  4. Kim Shillinglaw
  5. Rosamund Blomfield-Smith
  6. Henry Robinson
  7. Clare Fitzsimmons
  8. Mel Austen
  9. Lynn Dicks
  10. Dame Caroline Spelman
  11. Catherine Dugmore
  12. Kerry Ten Kate

Natural England maintains a Board member register of interests and relevant details from this are included in the Annual Report and Accounts published on GOV.UK. Any changes which are declared by Board members are captured in Board minutes and the register updated. The minutes are published on GOV.UK after each meeting.


Written Question
Shellfish: Fishing Limits
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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 minimum catch sizes for crawfish, if her Department will extend the inshore 110mm landing size to outside the six mile limit.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Government has consulted on a crab and lobster fisheries management plan (FMP) which included a proposal to extend the national minimum landing size for crawfish to 110mm outside 6 nautical miles. This consultation closed on 01 October. The crab and lobster FMP is due to be published in December.


Written Question
Livestock: UK Trade with EU
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to facilitate the export of livestock to the EU for breeding purposes.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

His Majesty’s Government is working with industry and inspectors to develop digital Export Health Certificates to replace paper certification for live animals, to reduce the administrative burden on traders where possible. We anticipate a staged approach to digitisation of certification for exports to tie in with wider work on the Single Trade Window, which will allow traders to meet all their import, export and transit obligations by submitting information once, and in one place.


Written Question
Supply Chains: Codes of Practice
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on creating a timetable for the publication of new supply chain fair dealing codes for each sector.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government wants all farmers to receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling any contractual unfairness that might exist in the agri-food supply chain.

Powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 enable us to introduce statutory codes of contractual practice which would apply to processors and other businesses when purchasing agricultural products directly from farmers.

In 2020, the Government carried out a consultation seeking views from farmers and processors in the dairy sector on whether future regulation could be used to strengthen fairness and transparency in the supply chain to ensure farmers are treated fairly. We continue to work closely with stakeholders during the development of regulations and intend to introduce legislation later this year.

A subsequent consultation was conducted between July and October 2022 exploring issues in the pig sector. We are analysing the responses and considering appropriate next steps. A Summary of Responses, which will outline the main findings and conclusions from the consultation, will be published next month.

We intend to use these powers in a targeted way where there is clear evidence of unfair practices in specific agricultural sectors and statutory codes will help address the issues. The Government will continue to work closely with all sectors to discuss any supply chain issues.