Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require Ministers to allow parliamentary scrutiny of exemptions applied to use of pesticides currently forbidden by retained EU legislation, such as neonicotinoids.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All decisions on the authorisation of pesticides are taken within the legal framework provided by retained EU legislation. This includes the recent emergency authorisation allowing the limited and controlled use of a neonicotinoid seed treatment on the 2023 sugar beet crop. The legal tests for emergency authorisation, the consideration given to each and the resulting decision are detailed in documents published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will reassess the threshold required for an exemption to be applied to the current ban on neonicotinoid pesticides.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All decisions on the authorisation of pesticides are taken within the strict legal framework provided by retained EU legislation. This includes the recent emergency authorisation allowing the limited and controlled use of a neonicotinoid seed treatment on the 2023 sugar beet crop. The legal tests for emergency authorisation, the consideration given to each and the resulting decision are detailed in documents published on gov.uk. The advice regarding the threshold is based on an established model, led by scientific evidence from the Rothamsted Institute.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department has issued to farmers to ensure potential harms to pollinators from the use of thiamethoxam pesticides for treatment of sugar beet crops are minimised.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Potential risks to pollinators were assessed as part of the process for considering the emergency authorisation for the thiamethoxam seed treatment Cruiser SB. Strict conditions were attached to the emergency authorisation which are designed to ensure that treated seed is used in a way that reduces these risks. These conditions include a maximum rate of application of Cruiser SB to the seed, maximum planting density of treated seed and only planting crops from a specific list, which excludes all crops that flower before harvest, within 32 months after planting the treated seed.
We have increased these conditions. The conditions are legal requirements for those using treated seed. A stewardship scheme is in place which includes measures to inform growers, led by the British Beet Research Organisation. Officials from my Department and from the Health and Safety Executive will monitor the delivery of this information campaign.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 inclusion of decapod crustaceans in the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, if she will make an estimate of the number of instances of crabs and lobsters being (a) sold online and (b) delivered live by courier in the last 12 months; and whether she has had recent discussions with (i) Amazon and (ii) other online retailers on taking steps to prevent this practice.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not hold this data. There have been no recent Ministerial discussions with online retailers on this matter.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 Clean Air Strategy published on 14 January 2019, whether the Government is on track to meet its target of reducing particulate emissions from wood and coal burning stoves to 30 per cent or less by the year 2030.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the Clean Air Strategy, we set out our aim to reduce fine particulate matter emissions from all sources against the 2005 baseline by 30% by 2020, and 46% by 2030. In February 2022 we published updated emissions estimates for 2020 which showed that PM2.5 emissions have reduced by 34% compared to 2005.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on a cross-government approach to tackling antibiotic resistant diseases.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is a co-signatory with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of the UK's Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) 5 year National Action Plan (2019-2024) and the UK's 20 year Vision to Contain and Control AMR by 2040. These plans both take a One Health, whole of government approach. Defra and DHSC work closely together at all levels, together with other government departments, to deliver this plan.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 plans to take to take to ensure drinking water is not contaminated by antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli and staphylococcus aureus.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Drinking water in England is very high quality. The Drinking Water Inspectorate is the regulator for drinking water quality, which is regulated through the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016. These include strict standards for microbiology to protect public health from pathogens, together with a general requirement for water to be wholesome. The safety of drinking water is confirmed through regular sampling programmes, and any breaches are investigated and enforcement action taken when necessary. Water companies adopt a water safety planning approach, in line with WHO advice. Risks are identified, reported to the Inspectorate, and mitigated before they lead to any deterioration in quality or impact on consumers
Drinking water is treated in England and disinfected to protect consumers. Disinfection is highly effective against viruses and bacteria, including E. coli and staphylococcus aureus, and is not affected by anti-microbial resistance, because it relies on a different inactivation process, either using chlorine or UV disinfection.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to encourage farmers to reduce the use of antibiotics on livestock; and if she will bring forward legislative proposals to tackle routine overuse of antibiotics on groups of healthy animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is a co-signatory with the Department of Health and Social Care of the UK's Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) 5 year National Action Plan (2019-2024) and the UK's 20 year Vision to Contain and Control AMR by 2040, documents which set out the UK’s shorter and longer term goals for mitigating the threat of AMR.
The UK Government is committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals while safeguarding animal welfare. It has been our position for many years that we do not support the routine or predictable use of antibiotics, including where antibiotics are used to compensate for inadequate farming practices. We seek to reduce veterinary antibiotic prescribing through a combination of approaches, including improved biosecurity, stockmanship and good farming practices, disease prevention (including vaccination) and use of diagnostics. To date in the UK, collaborative working between government, the veterinary profession and the agriculture sectors to focus on these issues has resulted in our national sales of veterinary antibiotics reducing by 55% since 2014, and in 2021 we recorded the lowest antibiotic use to date.
Changes to the law on veterinary medicines is one of the tools which can be used to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in animals and, as one element of a programme of interventions to help deliver the UK's 5-year national action plan on antimicrobial resistance, it is our intention to strengthen our national law in this area.
Over the past year the Veterinary Medicines Directorate has engaged in a comprehensive dialogue with stakeholders about a broad range of changes that we propose to the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013, which set out controls on marketing, manufacturing, supply and use of veterinary medicines. Proposed changes include new measures to help tackle antimicrobial resistance.
We are now preparing to publish a formal consultation paper setting out our proposals which will provide the opportunity for all affected stakeholders to express their views. Following the public consultation, we anticipate laying new legislation in 2023.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 Nature Watch's report entitled Canine Fertility Clinics in the UK, published in October 2022, whether her Department plans to respond to that report on the adequacy of the regulation of canine fertility clinics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has received Naturewatch’s report and officials will meet with representatives from the organisation in the new year.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the number of people in England who live in area where the level of air pollutants has risen in the last 12 months.
Answered by Steve Double
Defra completes an annual compliance assessment against the Air Quality Standards Regulations, providing an overview of air pollution across 43 zones in the UK. An assessment of data from 2021 will be published in September, while an assessment of 2022 will be published in September 2023. All annual assessments published to date can be found on our UK-Air website at: Air Pollution in the UK report - Defra, UK