Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 contracted work to a business named in round 18 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme in the last 3 years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All employers need to pay their staff correctly. Paying the minimum wage is not optional, it’s the law. Under the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme, employers who have previously broken minimum wage law can be publicly named. The Department for Business and Trade follows a clear and thorough process allowing firms to make representations against being named if they meet our published criteria.
Details of Defra’s Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to the consultation on preventing charges for DIY waste at household waste recycling centres.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will publish the Government response to this consultation as soon as possible.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement a deposit return scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the next phase of DRS implementation, we will be finalising the legislation, taking necessary steps to ensure it will work in practice. The legislation then needs to go through the necessary clearances, before it can be laid in UK Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. We are aiming to have the regulations complete by the end of 2023.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 League Against Cruel Sports report, entitled Hunt Havoc: The Human Cost of Hunting With Hounds, published in October 2022, what consideration she has given to possible steps to protect pets and domestic animals.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The ‘Hunt Havoc’ report describes a number of incidents across the country involving hunts and calls for the Government to amend the Hunting Act to better protect not only wild animals but the British public, their property, and right to enjoy the countryside in peace. While such incidents are clearly concerning, and although we cannot comment on individual cases, most of the incidents described in the report are of a nature that would be likely to qualify as trespass or nuisance. Other activities such as trespassing on railways, livestock worrying, and threatening or abusive behaviour are already statutory offences.
Under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 it is an offence to allow any dog to be out of control in any place. Furthermore, section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 allows a complaint to be made to a Magistrates’ court by any individual, the police, or local authorities where dogs are dangerous and not kept under proper control. The court may make any order it considers appropriate to require owners to keep their dogs under proper control.
The Government has made a manifesto commitment not to change the Hunting Act, and I am satisfied that it would be unnecessary to set out specific offences under the Hunting Act when they are already covered under common law and statute. Where members of the public have evidence of such offences occurring, they should report it to the relevant authorities. Those found guilty of such offences should be subject to the full force of the law.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Environmental Land Management scheme will be introduced.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have already opened two new Environmental Land Management schemes. The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which supports farmers to undertake activities to grow food whilst improving the environment and animal health and welfare, launched in June 2022. SFI is being rolled out incrementally – we introduced three SFI standards in 2022, six further SFI standards will be available in summer 2023, and the full offer will be in place by the start of 2025. In 2022 we also awarded development funding for the first 22 Landscape Recovery projects – longer-term, larger-scale projects to enhance the natural environment. We will open applications for further rounds of Landscape Recovery in Spring 2023 and in 2024. We are also evolving the Countryside Stewardship scheme so that it pays for a wider range of targeted, specific actions. Through the Countryside Stewardship Plus we will reward farmers for taking coordinated action, working with neighbouring farms and landowners to support climate and nature aims.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Animal Welfare Committee will update its 2014 Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We expect to receive the Animal Welfare Committee’s updated opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing by the end of March this year.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with relevant stakeholders on the impact of canine fertility clinics on dog welfare.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has not discussed canine fertility clinics with stakeholders.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what impact assessment has taken place on the requirements of the Extended Producer Responsibility measures on small retailers.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the 2022 Government response to the 2021 EPR consultation, Defra conducted an impact assessment which included the assessment of the impact of EPR measures on small retailers and businesses.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the full guidance on the Extended Producer Responsibility measures will be published.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the laying of the draft Packaging waste- data reporting SI on 22nd November, we have published new guidance on ‘how to collect your packaging data for EPR’. This is for all UK organisations that will be affected by Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging. We have also conducted several webinars to provide information to producers.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a timetable has been set for the Government to respond to the consultation on preventing charges for DIY waste at household waste recycling centres which closed on 4 July 2022.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government is currently considering responses following closure of the technical consultation on preventing charging for DIY waste at Household Waste & Recycling Centres (HWRCs). On 21 September we confirmed on gov.uk that we aim to publish the summary of responses and the HM Government response in autumn 2022.