Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to facilitate the importation of rescue dogs from Bosnia after the 31 March 2021.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Dogs imported into Great Britain (GB) for rescue or rehoming must be moved in compliance with the rules on the commercial movement of dogs. Since the transition period ended, the health requirements for entering GB have not changed and there have been no restrictions placed on the importation of rescue dogs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, importers must ensure that they meet the requirements as laid down by the European Union (EU) where consignments transit within the EU during the journey to GB.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 received representations on the establishment of a recreational sea angling live release fishery for bluefin tuna; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Yes, Defra has received such representations. We continue to work closely with stakeholders, regulators (the Marine Management Organisation, and Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities) and scientists, to explore whether it would be possible to support a recreational scientific bluefin tuna research, catch and release tagging programme in English waters.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement reached with the EU secures the UK a share of the EU’s current bluefin tuna allocation. No decisions have yet been taken on how to use the UK’s new national quota. Stakeholders will be consulted on potential options in due course.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 take steps to ensure that campsites on Crown Land in the New Forest open in summer 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Camping in the Forest is an independent operator of campsites in Great Britain. It is majority owned by the Camping and Caravanning Club. The decision not to open campsites in the New Forest in summer 2020 was taken by the Camping in the Forest business. Forestry England is disappointed in this decision and has been in regular dialogue with CITF seeking the opening of the sites.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he is making in implementing a bottle deposit scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government committed in its manifesto to introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers to incentivise people to recycle plastic and glass, and is seeking powers to do so in the Environment Bill. Since consulting on its introduction in 2019, the Government has been developing proposals for a deposit return scheme for drinks containers using further evidence and ongoing engagement with stakeholders. The scope of the scheme is being further developed and will be presented in a second consultation.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 implementation of a reference period for delinked agricultural payments to replace basic payment scheme payments during the transition period, what representations he has received on managing animal stock numbers in the New Forest; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra has received several pieces of correspondence on this issue. On the substance of the department’s response to those representations, I refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answer I gave to the Rt Hon Member for New Forest East on 11 May 2020, PQ UIN 41876.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 delegate authority to Natural England to agree the whole route for the South Coast coastal path.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra’s and Natural England’s roles in delivering the England Coast Path, including those stretches on the south coast, are well defined and set out in the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and subsequent regulations. The two organisations work closely together to ensure that the path is delivered in a way that provides fair balance between the interests of users and those of landowners and occupiers along the route. There are no plans to change these ways of working.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 encourage supermarkets to include care workers in reserved shopping hours.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government has well-established ways of working with the food industry during disruption to supply situations. Our retailers already have highly resilient supply chains and they are working around the clock to ensure people have the food and products they need. Industry is adapting quickly to these changes in demands, and food supply into and across the UK is resilient.
To help the industry to respond to this unprecedented demand we have introduced new measures to support businesses to keep food supply flowing on to shelves and into homes. These include temporary relaxation of competition laws to allow supermarkets to work together, extending delivery hours to supermarkets and flexing rules on drivers’ hours to allow a higher frequency of deliveries to stores to ensure shelves are being replenished more quickly.
We are in close contact with industry to discuss further ways to help with their preparations, including how they can support key workers.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
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 publish the scientific evaluation undertaken by Natural England on the benefits of felling Scots Pines at Slap Bottom in the New Forest.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Natural England’s advice to land owners and managers responsible for the New Forest is laid out in our “European Site Conservation Objectives: Supplementary advice on conserving and restoring site features” which brings together the best available scientific evidence relating to the site’s priority habitats and species (http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6183967367626752).
Heathland management requires the removal of trees such as birch and conifers to enable the rare heather habitat, grassland and mire habitats to thrive. The New Forest is a unique mosaic of natural habitats including broadleaved woodland which, where appropriate, is allowed to naturally expand its range supporting both biodiversity and climate change demands.
The biodiversity benefits of heathland are well known and its management and restoration forms part of the Government’s commitments in the 25 Year Environment Plan. Heathland supports a range of specialist species that cannot live anywhere else. A total of 133 UK priority species are associated with lowland heathlands in England. These are species found exclusively on heathland sites or for which a significant proportion of records come from heathlands. The New Forest is now the UK stronghold for a number of these species as addressed in the following publication: Managing for species: Integrating the needs of England’s priority species into habitat management (http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/30025).