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, with reference to the Serious and organised waste crime: 2018 review published by his Department on 14 November 2018, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendation on the mandatory electronic tracking of waste.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government addressed the recommendations set out in the review into serious and organised waste crime through the Resources and Waste Strategy. This committed to mandating the electronic tracking of waste, subject to consultation. The Environment Bill includes powers to introduce mandatory waste tracking and a consultation is planned for later this year.
In parallel we asked five organisations to explore and develop ideas for waste tracking using the Government’s GovTech Catalyst Challenge Fund. The feasibility projects included research into tracking waste through electronic chips and sensors, the use of blockchain, and open data standards, as well as new data analytics and the use of artificial intelligence, to help users decide what to do with the waste they produce. We also conducted further user research to improve our understanding of the reporting requirements of businesses, local authorities, regulators and Government. This information has helped inform the development of the consultation and define the functionality of a future digital service.
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 Government agencies in addition to the Joint Unit for Waste Crime conduct separate investigations into waste crime.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In England the Environment Agency is responsible for the regulation of the waste management sector. This includes the investigation of, and enforcement against, criminal activity in the sector.
Waste crime includes a broad spectrum of illegal activity, including large-scale illegal dumping of waste, avoidance of Landfill Tax, deliberate misdescription of waste, and fly-tipping. Bodies other than the Environment Agency may take responsibility for investigating and taking action against criminal activity as well. For example, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) undertakes investigations into illegal activity regarding Landfill Tax, while local authorities also have powers to tackle certain types of waste crime, such as fly-tipping.
The Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC) brings agencies together in partnership, including HMRC, to investigate and take enforcement action against criminal activity in the waste management sector. The JUWC has developed intelligence links and sharing arrangements with a wide range of organisations in the public and private sectors including law enforcement agencies, infrastructure providers and the financial services sector.
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 environmental enforcement his Department has taken against Niramax since the establishment of that company.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency has taken 19 actions against Niramax Group, including providing advice and guidance once, issuing six warning letters, five enforcement notices, one caution and three court proceedings. Fines totalling £26,000 and costs of £10,500 have been awarded.
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, how many investigations were conducted by the Environment Agency as part of HMRC's investigation into the suspected systematic abuse of the landfill tax system, referred to as Operation Nosedive.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency did not conduct any investigations as part of Operation Nosedive. The Operation was led by HMRC and the Environment Agency acted in a supporting role only.
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 the cost to the public purse was of the Environment Agency's involvement in HMRC's investigation into the suspected systematic abuse of the landfill tax system, referred to as Operation Nosedive.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency recorded 109 hours against Operation Nosedive between May 2016- July 2018 for relevant Proceed of Crimes Act related activities. There is no related cost schedule.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2021 to Question 136454, on Dogs: Imports, when her Department expects to have the figures for 2020.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Further to Question 136454, the number of commercial dogs from Russia into the United Kingdom for 2018 to 2020 are as follows;
Year | Number of commercial dogs |
2018 | 60 |
2019 | 70 |
2020 | 713 |
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 assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of dogs entering the UK from Russia.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Animal and Plant Health Agency does not hold data on the country of origin for non-commercial pets moving into the United Kingdom, and therefore this answer relates solely to dogs imported from Russia commercially. The commercial importation requirements apply to dogs, cats and ferrets who:
In 2018, 60 dogs were imported commercially into the United Kingdom from Russia and in 2019, 70 dogs were moved in this way. We do not currently have figures for the number of dogs commercially imported from Russia to the United Kingdom in 2020.
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 steps the Government is taking to ensure the preservation of bridleways and equestrian rights of way.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Local authorities are responsible for the management and maintenance of public rights of way. They are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan to plan improvements to the rights of way network in their area, which is usually available on the authority’s website. This must include an assessment of the local rights of way including the condition of the network.
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 his Department plans to ease restrictions on dog grooming parlours in the next three weeks.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government's message to the public is clear: stay alert, control the virus and save lives. Dog grooming businesses play a key role in ensuring the welfare of the nation's pets and have been allowed to operate since advice to businesses was first published, within the strict advice on social distancing and hygiene.
The Canine and Feline Sector Group, which advises both the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England and Defra Ministers, has issued its own guidance to pet businesses, including dog groomers, on how they can continue to operate under current restrictions and in line with guidance around social distancing and hygiene:
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 steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the risk of wildfire.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are working across Government with a wide range of stakeholders including land managers, conservation bodies and wildfire management groups to ensure that we promote better planning for wildfire locally and take measures to mitigate against the risk of wildfire.
We undertook a review of the impact of wildfire and upland environments in 2019 and will publish the findings in due course. We will also, through the forthcoming England Peat Strategy, set out measures to protect our peatlands, which includes making them more resilient to and mitigating the risk of wildfire.