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Written Question
Birds: Wind Power
Thursday 14th September 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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 has made a recent estimate of the number of birds that are killed by onshore wind turbines in each year.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The Government does not have a recent estimate of the number of bats or birds killed by onshore wind turbines. The Government works closely with partners, including the renewable energy sector, to manage and mitigate any potential impacts of wind farms on birds, bats and their habitats. Wind farm developers must carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment to determine any impacts on protected species.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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 undertake a review of the rise in dog attacks in the last five years.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

In December 2021 Defra published research in collaboration with Middlesex University investigating measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog.  In response to this research, we are working with police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to consider how the recommendations could be taken forward and to identify ways in which to improve the application of the full range of existing dog control powers. As part of this, we are also considering the role of education and training (for both dogs and their owners) in reducing the risk of dog attacks, as well as considering how we can improve data collection and recording and enforcement practices. Better data collection would enable us to track the effectiveness of the measures that we put in place.

Conclusions from this work are expected later this year. These should address all aspects of tackling irresponsible dog ownership effectively, from prevention to robust, consistent enforcement, focussing on owners as well as on their dogs. In the meantime, my officials have also been working in partnership with police forces and local authorities across England and Wales to ensure the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many American Bully XL dogs were seized by the police in each year since 2013.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The police are not required to report this to us, and we do not hold this data. Any information on the seizure of dogs will be held by individual local authorities and police forces.


Written Question
Agricultural Machinery
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of British farming machinery has been (a) built domestically and (b) imported from overseas since 2010.

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

Defra does not hold the requested information.

The Office for National Statistics publishes data on UK manufacturers’ sales by product: UK manufacturers' sales by product - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). This dataset can be used to find specific types of farm machinery. Data for 2022 will be released on 24 July.

HM Revenue and Customs publishes information on Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics, which is available via its dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build data tables based on bespoke search criteria. All goods imported are given a classification code. These are available from the UK Trade Tariff.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: EU Law
Tuesday 11th July 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department have been tasked with reviewing departmental archival holdings identifying EU regulation that had been identified by previous audits.

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

Defra has the largest amount of Retained EU Law (REUL) of any Government Department, with 1,696 entries included on the REUL dashboard following its most recent update. Reviewing REUL is a priority for Defra and this requires input from all policy areas. This is a cross-Defra effort led by a central co-ordinating team supported by teams from across the department’s five directorates including the department’s specialist policy leads, analysts and lawyers covering all of Defra's policy areas. In addition to Defra’s internal efforts, external lawyers have now been appointed to support cross-Government on delivery of the REUL programme.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dangerous dog attacks on (a) other dogs and (b) cats there have been in each year since 2013.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Defra does not hold this information. Information regarding dangerous dogs offences will be held by individual local authorities and police forces.   More widely, we are working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to ensure that the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied to encourage responsible dog ownership and reduce the risk of dog attacks. As part of this, we are considering ways in which the collection and reporting of data relating to dog control incidents could be improved to inform prevention strategies. Conclusions from this work are expected later this year.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dangerous dog attacks there were in each region in each year since 2013.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Defra does not hold this information. Information regarding dangerous dogs offences will be held by individual local authorities and police forces.   More widely, we are working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to ensure that the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied to encourage responsible dog ownership and reduce the risk of dog attacks. As part of this, we are considering ways in which the collection and reporting of data relating to dog control incidents could be improved to inform prevention strategies. Conclusions from this work are expected later this year.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many American Bully XL dogs were seized in 2022.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Defra does not hold this information. Information regarding dangerous dogs offences will be held by individual local authorities and police forces.   More widely, we are working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to ensure that the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied to encourage responsible dog ownership and reduce the risk of dog attacks. As part of this, we are considering ways in which the collection and reporting of data relating to dog control incidents could be improved to inform prevention strategies. Conclusions from this work are expected later this year.


Written Question
Dangerous Dogs
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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 publish an assessment of the effectiveness of public space protection orders for preventing dangerous dog attacks.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

We are working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to ensure that the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied to encourage responsible dog ownership and reduce the risk of dog attacks. Conclusions from this work are expected later this year. We currently have no plans to publish a formal assessment of the effectiveness of public space protection orders for preventing dangerous dog attacks.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: EU Law
Thursday 22nd June 2023

Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)

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 holds searchable IT archives (a) on Regulatory Impact Analysis estimates for EU-sourced regulation and (b) employing the search term out of scope relating to changes to regulatory burdens that could not be reviewed due to its EU origin.

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

Regulatory Impact Assessments are the responsibility of the Better Regulation Executive (BRE) in the Department for Business and Trade. However, BRE does not hold information relating to the impacts of EU-sourced regulations.

Retained EU law is currently being reviewed by each Department to consider whether it should be removed, kept or reformed. Defra contributed information to the BRE on the cumulative impacts of the analysis of Impact Assessments for Defra regulations, for the purposes of the Business Impact Target. However, this information is not held centrally on a searchable IT platform or archive.