Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Environment Agency regulation on farm reservoirs, and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that on-farm water storage can be developed (a) effectively and (b) safely to support food production.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Framework for Water Resources sets out the potential scale of action to secure sustainable levels of abstraction.
Many abstraction licences reservoirs are sustainable because they include conditions to protect the water environment. If not, the Environment Agency works collaboratively with abstractors to identify solutions, potentially removing the need for changes to abstraction licences, aiming to work with licence holders to allow adaptative measures to be implemented first where legally possible.
Reservoir safety regulation concerns ensuring reservoirs, their dams and embankments are safe. Government will consult on proposals to reform reservoir safety regulation, including tailoring requirements closer to the level of hazard.
Government supports farmers and growers with a Defra-funded programme of Local Resource Option studies to help them identify, screen and rank options to improve water supply resilience.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of qualified engineers to certify the construction of agricultural reservoirs; and what steps her Department is taking to increase capacity in this area.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reservoirs capable of holding over 25,000m3 water above ground level are regulated under the Reservoirs Act 1975. Not all agricultural reservoirs will fall into this category. Anyone building one which does must appoint an engineer to oversee the construction. That engineer must be one who has been appointed by Ministers to a relevant panel. They are listed here.
The Department strongly supports the need to boost the supply and capacity of reservoir panel engineers. Defra is working with the devolved governments and Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) to: enhance engineer training and development; improve access to engineers for smaller reservoir owners; reach out to adjacent engineering sectors to boost recruitment; and review the existing panel structure to support engineer career progression. This is part of a wider programme of reservoir safety reform Reservoir Safety Reform Programme | Engage Environment Agency.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with local authorities on practical support for households affected by flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Improving resilience to flooding is a priority for the government, as it recognises the devastating impact being flooding can have on households. The Government established the Floods Resilience Taskforce, which includes representatives from Local Authorities, in September 2024 to improve national preparedness.
The Floods Resilience Taskforce has delivered a range of work including a review of the Flood Recovery Framework, led by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). This means if activated, it will now be easier and quicker for local councils to apply for business and community recovery grants. The Environment Agency has upgraded the ‘Get flood warnings’ service on GOV.UK to make it easier for households prepare for flooding. The new system provides improved mapping and greater choice of the warnings to receive. The Met Office and Environment Agency are also engaging with Local Resilience Forums to build preparedness for flooding during autumn and winter. Defra and the Environment Agency are also working with Local Authorities in Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) to review Multi Agency Flood Plans prepare their local response to flooding.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of water shortages on food security.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Drought has caused an early harvest with reduced crop quality and yields. Livestock farmers face risks with forage and winter feed supplies.
The Environment Agency’s (EA) measures to support farmers include:
The EA’s upcoming Autumn prospects report will help inform farmers, improve resilience and planning for next year.
Defra assesses the potential impacts of water shortages on food supply as part of the National Risk Register (NRR) cycle. We work closely with Defra Water colleagues, the Cabinet Office (which leads on the NRR) and with the wider resilience and Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) community across Government to ensure that risks to food supply are fully considered in national risk assessments and contingency planning.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage investment in on-farm (a) water storage and (b) irrigation infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency’s National Framework for water resources highlights a number of actions that will help farmers and growers improve water supply resilience. These include:
o understand near-real time water availability, to enable abstractors to take water when it is there.
o improve irrigation scheduling and sensors to optimise water use.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the highest welfare standards for greyhounds (a) during racing careers and (b) after retirement.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The welfare of racing greyhounds in England is covered by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010. The 2006 Act allows action to be taken where there is evidence of cruelty to an animal or a failure to provide for that animal’s welfare needs. This includes during greyhounds’ racing careers and after they have retired. Specific welfare standards at all greyhound racing tracks in England are also required by the 2010 Regulations, including having a vet present while dogs are running (with all greyhounds inspected by the vet before being allowed to run).
In addition to these statutory protections, the sport’s main regulatory body, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB), enforces welfare standards (including those in the 2010 Regulations) at GBGB affiliated tracks, as well as at GBGB licensed trainers’ kennels. Independent, external oversight of GBGB’s regulatory work at tracks and trainers’ kennels is provided by the UK’s National Accreditation Body, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
The GBGB has also undertaken a number of welfare reforms, including publishing a long term, national welfare strategy – ‘A Good Life for Every Greyhound’. The strategy focuses not only on reducing risks of injury but also developing and implementing new management practices to improve the welfare of greyhounds throughout their lives, including after they have retired.
The Government is monitoring GBGB’s progress in delivering the strategy and should further measures be required the Government will consider options which are targeted, effective, and proportionate.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish draft legislative proposals to ban trail hunting.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Work is ongoing to determine the best approach to deliver the manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting. We have committed to running a consultation to ensure those with an interest can input. We will share further details in due course.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of regulations on dog breeding; and what steps she is taking to tackle illegal puppy farming.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra undertook a post-implementation review of The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, which was published in December 2024. The Government is considering the findings, as well, as the recommendations in the EFRA select committee’s report into pet welfare and abuse and the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on canine breeding.
As outlined in our manifesto, the Government will bring an end to puppy farming. We are considering the most effective way to deliver this commitment and will be setting out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to (a) improve the welfare of farmed animals and (b) restrict the use of cages.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Prime Minister announced that we will be publishing an animal welfare strategy later this year.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline is for introducing legislation to prohibit the import of hunting trophies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern. Timeframes for introducing legislation will be provided once there is sufficient clarity on the Parliamentary timetable.