Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 Answers of 16 November 2023 to Question 1065 and 23 October 2023 to Question 202935 on Game: Birds, for what reasons the 37 licences were approved against the recommendations of Natural England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In reaching the decisions in question, the Secretary of State obtained advice from experts in DEFRA and other relevant bodies. In certain cases, it received site-specific information about highly relevant factors including species abundance, roost and pen locations, and release site locations. Ultimately, the relevant decision makers were satisfied – taking into account the totality of advice they received - that there were cogent reasons justifying a departure from Natural England’s advice.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 Answer of 23 October 2023 to Question 202935 on Game: Birds, how many of those applications did Natural England recommend approving.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
With reference to the Answer of 23 October 2023 to Question 202935 on Game Birds, Natural England recommended approving 69 of those licence applications.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 Written Statement of 5 June 2023 on General licensing, UIN HCWS820, how many applications to release gamebirds (a) on and (b) within) 500 metres of Special Protection Areas has her Department (i) received, (ii) approved and (iii) sought advice from Natural England.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Please find below a breakdown of applications received by Defra to release gamebirds within a Special Protection Area or within 500 metres of such an area:
Applications received | 130 |
Applications approved | 106 |
Applications where advice from Natural England considered | 130 |
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish a response to the consultation entitled Review of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013, published on 2 February 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My Department has received a significant number of responses from stakeholders to the public consultation on the proposed changes to the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 as applicable in Great Britain. I thank all who have responded for taking the time to consider the proposed changes. My Department has now considered the responses received and a formal response to the consultation is expected to be published by October. This will include a summary of the feedback received to the consultation and set out the actions my Department will take for the proposed changes to the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2023 to Question 198331 on Deposit Return Schemes, for what reason the implementation of the regulations has been delayed since the publication of the consultation response; when she plans to appoint the deposit management organisation (DMO); and what recent estimate she has made of when the DMO will commence.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In May 2023, UK Government published a position statement setting out that interoperability of schemes across the UK is critical to avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade. Since then we have been working with Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on interoperability across the UK.
We are considering what changes are required to the draft legislation in each nation in order to implement interoperability of schemes across the UK. This will need to be completed before we can finalise the drafting and proceed through the legislative process. As this requires additional time to complete, it impacts our original SI timeline.
The next phase of DRS implementation will be finalising the legislation. We intend for this to come into force in summer 2024, and thereafter we will have the powers to appoint the scheme administrator (the Deposit Management Organisation, DMO).
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 Government response to the consultation on Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, published on 20 January 2023, when she plans to publish the deposit return scheme regulations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In January 2023, UK Government, Welsh Government, and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland published the Government’s response to the 2021 consultation, setting out policy decisions and next steps for introducing the scheme.
We are currently drafting the legislation to enable delivery of DRS, reflecting the positions set out in the consultation response published in January 2023. 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 in place by summer 2024.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has conducted into the use of climate-resilient crops.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s crop Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) provide research to develop more productive, sustainable, and resilient crop varieties. These R&D networks have successfully identified genetic traits that have improved crop resilience to climate change, and we are working with breeders to incorporate these into elite crop varieties. The GINs work in partnership with the Met Office, using climate projections to better target crop breeding. Research on crop resilience will accelerate as our Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act unlocks further opportunities.
Through Defra’s £270 million pound Farming Innovation Programme, we recently awarded £11.69m in a ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 (a) help farmers grow climate-resilient crops and (b) support demand for climate-resilient crops.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We understand the increasing importance of farmers having access to crop varieties that are resistant to climate change and variable weather conditions, to maintain crop quality and yields.
The Precision Breeding Act (2023) is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in technologies like gene editing and supports Defra’s efforts to reinforce food security in the face of climate change. Through the Act we want to encourage researchers and commercial breeders to be at the forefront of capturing the potential benefits of precision breeding for British farmers and consumers.
Our Genetic Improvement Networks also provide a platform for knowledge exchange for breeders, producers, end users and the research base, and a means for the delivery of scientific knowledge, resources and results to add value to UK crops.
The £270 million Farming Innovation Programme supports industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture. All projects support productivity and environmental outcomes that will benefit farmers and growers in England. In our latest ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition, we awarded over £11 million to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops. Previous competitions have also supported crop-related research.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 external costs of nutrient pollution.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The impact assessment for water targets under the environment act, published in December 2022, made an assessment of the benefits of reducing external costs to society from a reduction in nutrient pollution.The impact assessment estimated that reducing total nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution from agriculture by 40% by 2038 would lead to £4.2bn in reduced external costs to society. This accounted for reduced carbon emissions, improved air quality, recreational benefits and reduced water treatment costs. The IA also estimated that reducing phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80% would lead to a £2.1bn reduction in external costs.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 nutrient neutrality mitigation schemes on (a) biodiversity and (b) carbon sequestration.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Nutrient mitigation can provide carbon and biodiversity benefits alongside other wider environmental benefits if the mitigation involves nature-based interventions such as wetlands or other habitat creation. Natural England’s Nutrient Mitigation Scheme will continue to maximise the wider environmental benefits of nutrient mitigation in its new and expanded form; as well as seeking to promote innovative approaches to reducing nutrient pollution.