Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on updating the Environment Bill’s explanatory notes to clarify that the legislation contains primary powers which will allow the Secretary of State to establish a definition of environmental standards for nappies.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Bill’s explanatory notes have been updated with relevant examples to clarify that the legislation will enable us to work towards reducing the environmental impact of nappies. The notes set out that the resource efficiency powers in the Bill would enable us to make the provision of information about the environmental impact of nappies mandatory, which would be subject to conditions on assessing impact and consultation.
The explanatory notes will be published when the Bill is introduced into the Lords in the next Parliamentary session.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) stakeholder on the French Government’s proposals to create a new offence of ecocide.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We have had no discussions on the proposals to create a new offence of ecocide.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 he has had with organisations representing assistance dog owners on (a) the implications of losing part one listed status under the Pet Passport Scheme and (b) further negotiations to obtain part one listed status under the Pet Passport Scheme in the future.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We are proactively engaging with the assistance dog community and relevant stakeholders on the impacts on dog movements from Great Britain to the EU and to Northern Ireland. We are in a continuing dialogue with Guide Dogs UK and meet with them on a regular basis. We will continue to work closely with assistance dog organisations to share the latest advice and guidance (in accessible formats) with their members on pet travel requirements.
After the end of the transition period the UK became a third country in relation to the EU Pet Travel Scheme. In February 2020 we submitted an application to allow the UK to become a Part 1 listed third country, this status would mean similar animal health and documentary requirements to pet movements between Member States. On 3 December 2020 the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed of the EU voted in favour of giving the United Kingdom Part 2 listed status for the purposes of non-commercial pet travel after the Transition Period. This listed status has been formally adopted by the EU.
We will continue to press the EU Commission in relation to securing Part 1 listed status, recognising that achieving this would alleviate some of the new requirements for assistance dog users travelling to the EU and to Northern Ireland. We are clear that we meet all the animal health requirements for this and we have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity.
Regarding pet travel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government is working with the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) on a long term solution which respects the rights of assistance dog users and pet owners to travel with the minimum of friction. Guidance on pet travel to Northern Ireland is available on the DAERA’s NIDirect website.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support assistance dog owners travelling to (a) the EU and (b) Northern Ireland since the UK ended part one listed status under the Pet Passport Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We are proactively engaging with the assistance dog community and relevant stakeholders on the impacts on dog movements from Great Britain to the EU and to Northern Ireland. We are in a continuing dialogue with Guide Dogs UK and meet with them on a regular basis. We will continue to work closely with assistance dog organisations to share the latest advice and guidance (in accessible formats) with their members on pet travel requirements.
After the end of the transition period the UK became a third country in relation to the EU Pet Travel Scheme. In February 2020 we submitted an application to allow the UK to become a Part 1 listed third country, this status would mean similar animal health and documentary requirements to pet movements between Member States. On 3 December 2020 the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed of the EU voted in favour of giving the United Kingdom Part 2 listed status for the purposes of non-commercial pet travel after the Transition Period. This listed status has been formally adopted by the EU.
We will continue to press the EU Commission in relation to securing Part 1 listed status, recognising that achieving this would alleviate some of the new requirements for assistance dog users travelling to the EU and to Northern Ireland. We are clear that we meet all the animal health requirements for this and we have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity.
Regarding pet travel between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government is working with the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) on a long term solution which respects the rights of assistance dog users and pet owners to travel with the minimum of friction. Guidance on pet travel to Northern Ireland is available on the DAERA’s NIDirect website.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimates she has made of how much and what proportion of soy imported into the UK has been produced on illegally deforested land for the most recent period in which that information is available.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In 2019, the UK imported soya and soybean products equivalent to 3.5 million tonnes of soybeans. When combined with the volume of embedded soya imported into the UK, for example in animals fed on soya, the total consumption is equivalent to the import of around 4.2 million tonnes of soybean.
In 2018, the Government convened the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soya for industry actors to work together towards the common goal of legal and sustainable soya. Since the Roundtable’s inception, the UK has doubled the proportion of soya imports which are certified as sustainable in a two-year period, from 15% in 2017 to 32% (1.12 million tonnes) in 2019. If we also include soya sourced from areas that are considered at low risk of tropical deforestation, such as North America, and soya covered by the Amazon Soy Moratorium contract, we calculate that 62% of soya (2.17 million tonnes) consumed in the UK is either covered by a deforestation and conversion free standard or comes from an area where there is a low risk of deforestation linked to production.
The Government recognises that voluntary commitments by businesses have not been sufficient to tackle deforestation and is committed to ensuring there is no place for illegally produced commodities on our supermarket shelves. That is why we have introduced a world-leading due diligence law through the Environment Bill. The law will prohibit larger businesses from using commodities produced on land occupied or used illegally and make it mandatory for businesses to conduct due diligence on their supply chains. Once operational, it will help to eradicate illegal deforestation from our supply chains.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme underspends are in the 2021-22 financial year as used to calculate the funding for agricultural support and rural development announced on 25 November 2020 in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
In our 2019 manifesto we promised to maintain the current annual budget to farmers for the lifetime of this parliament. At the recently concluded Spending Review the UK Government met this commitment by providing new exchequer funding on top of the remaining EU funding in each nation to ensure that farmers receive the same total funding next year as they received in 2019 when the manifesto commitment was made.