Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to assess the cost of waste crime to the UK economy.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Environmental Services Association (ESA) estimates the cost of waste crime to the English economy in the 2018/19 financial year at £924 million. Scaled up to UK-level, the cost is estimated to be a little over £1 billion. The work done on behalf of ESA uses data produced by sources including HMRC, the Environment Agency (EA) and Defra, as well as EA analysis into costs and impacts of waste crime.
We have already taken action by introducing new powers to stop illegal waste sites posing a risk to the environment, including the ability to lock up sites and to force rogue operators to clean up all their waste. Building on this, measures in the Environment Act 2021 give agencies stronger powers of entry and access to evidence in prosecuting waste crimes. We have also set up the Joint Unit for Waste Crime to disrupt serious and organised waste crime and reduce its impact.
Our electronic waste tracking reforms will make it harder than ever to mis-identify waste or dispose of it inappropriately. Planned changes to the Carriers, Brokers and Dealers licensing regime will modernise licensing and make it even harder for rogue operators to escape detection. We will also soon publish our plans for reform of the exemptions regime, removing opportunities for criminals to abuse the system.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to ensure the safe export of e-waste.
Answered by Jo Churchill
There are a number of legal mechanisms in place to control the export of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and to ensure that when WEEE is exported it is managed safely. These include:
The Basel Convention on the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, to which the UK is a Party, agreed changes on 15th June which will further tighten international controls on the export of WEEE. The UK Government supports these changes which, from 2025, will require exporters to obtain prior consent from the Competent Authority in both the country of dispatch and destination to export all types of WEEE for recycling.
The EA regulates the export of waste in England, including WEEE. EA officers carry out pro-active and intelligence led inspections to stop waste shipments that breach regulations before they leave ports. In 2020-21, 869 containers were stopped, of which 176 were returned to a waste site as they were unsuitable for export; 27 of those containers were found to contain WEEE.
Any UK operator found to be illegally exporting waste can face a two-year jail term and an unlimited fine.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
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 his Department has made of the extent of the rise of professional misconduct claims against veterinary practices in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Department has made no assessment of the rise in professional misconduct claims made against veterinary practices in the UK. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) is the regulatory body for the veterinary profession in the UK and at present can only hear cases against individual veterinary surgeons amounting to gross professional misconduct.
The RCVS has submitted proposals to Defra for reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, including amendments to the disciplinary system including statutory regulation of veterinary practices, not just individual vets. These proposed changes are currently being considered.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to ban woodcock shooting.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The reasons for the declines in woodcock populations are likely to include disturbance and habitat loss because of land drainage and changes in woodland management. The Government is not currently persuaded that hunting has a significant detrimental impact on the woodcock, and there are no current plans for a ban. We continue to keep evidence regarding the impacts on species under review to inform policy decisions.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which (a) country and (b) location in that country each boat in the service of Marine Management Organisation was procured from.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Marine Management Organisation currently charters two vessels under a framework agreement with Atlantic Services, a UK company based in Aberdeen.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, from which country and location in that country each boat in the service of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science was procured from.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science owns one vessel, the RV Cefas Endeavour, which was constructed by and purchased from Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd in Glasgow, Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, from each country and location in that country each boat in the service of the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency was procured from.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency does not own any vessels.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, from which country and location in that country each boat in the service of Environment Agency was procured from.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency owns five vessels which were built in Pembroke, South Wales.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency concluded its investigation into Niramax on the potential systematic abuse of the landfill tax system by that company prior to the inauguration of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime; and whether the Environment Agency passed over its investigation of that company to the Joint Unit for Waste Crime.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The investigation into Niramax and abuse of the landfill tax system was conducted by HM Revenue & Customs. The Environment Agency and the Joint Unit for Waste Crime only provided support to their investigation.
Asked by: Lord Beamish (Labour - Life peer)
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 he has made of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's surveillance powers in respect of tackling waste crime.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
No recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's surveillance powers in respect of tackling waste crime, nor is one planned. The Environment Agency considers its existing authority to conduct directed surveillance adequate.