Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 make food and drink packaging more accessible to people with sight loss.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The availability and accessibility of essential food information to all consumers is vitally important. It is already a requirement that food information must be easily visible and clearly legible. Information shall not in any way be obscured and depending on the package size, there is a minimum font size.
That said, we welcome work by industry, especially companies developing new digital technologies with the potential to provide the means for people with visual impairment to access food information. As part of the upcoming Food Strategy White Paper, we will look at optimising food information, including labelling, so all consumers, are better able to make informed choices.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 has carried out an assessment of the economic costs of the illegal puppy smuggling industry in the UK; and what assessment he has made of the potential economic merits of the proposals made in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill in relation to tackling the puppy smuggling industry.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
In August 2021, the Government launched an eight-week consultation on our proposed restrictions to the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain.
We are currently analysing the responses to the consultation and will publish a summary in due course. This will allow us to take on board the views of the public and interested groups in order to shape our future policy.
We will develop an economic impact assessment for these proposals once finalised.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 has any plans to limit bottom trawling in marine protected waters.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a devolved competency and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The UK is at the forefront of marine protection with 372 protecting 38% of UK waters. Management measures now protect sensitive features from bottom towed fishing gears in 98 of English inshore MPAs. We are also developing an ambitious three-year programme for assessing sites and implementing appropriate byelaws to manage fishing activity in all English offshore MPAs.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will publish an impact assessment for offshore wind farms on British fishing fleets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Marine licensing decisions and Marine Protected Area (MPA) designation and management are devolved matters. The information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Government is committed to a sustainable and thriving fishing sector, to delivering 40 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, and to ensuring healthy and productive seas. To help deliver on these commitments Defra is leading a cross-Government programme of work to consider Marine Spatial Prioritisation. The overarching goal of the programme is to optimise the use of our seas, balancing the needs of sea users and protection of the marine environment. As part of this, projects are underway to consider the cumulative impacts of marine developments on fisheries and to identify opportunities for co-location.
In order for developments to be consented their impacts on other sea users, including fishermen, have to be considered. The impacts on the fishing industry of MPAs are assessed when new sites are designated and when byelaws regulating those areas are developed. MPA can have benefits for fisheries and their sustainability. Increases in abundance and density of fish stocks arise from better protected, healthier environments. Studies show that uplifts in stock can spill over into adjacent areas that allow fishing, benefitting commercial and recreational sectors.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 has made of an assessment of the impact of (a) offshore wind farms, (b) underwater cabling and (c) marine protected waters on British fishing fleets.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Marine licensing decisions and Marine Protected Area (MPA) designation and management are devolved matters. The information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Government is committed to a sustainable and thriving fishing sector, to delivering 40 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, and to ensuring healthy and productive seas. To help deliver on these commitments Defra is leading a cross-Government programme of work to consider Marine Spatial Prioritisation. The overarching goal of the programme is to optimise the use of our seas, balancing the needs of sea users and protection of the marine environment. As part of this, projects are underway to consider the cumulative impacts of marine developments on fisheries and to identify opportunities for co-location.
In order for developments to be consented their impacts on other sea users, including fishermen, have to be considered. The impacts on the fishing industry of MPAs are assessed when new sites are designated and when byelaws regulating those areas are developed. MPA can have benefits for fisheries and their sustainability. Increases in abundance and density of fish stocks arise from better protected, healthier environments. Studies show that uplifts in stock can spill over into adjacent areas that allow fishing, benefitting commercial and recreational sectors.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to increase the UK’s veterinary vaccine manufacturing capacity.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK recognises the complex interdependencies between the health of people, animals, plants and the natural environment, and the need to address threats holistically – through a ‘One Health’ approach. There is close collaboration between animal and human health sectors to prepare and respond to disease threats, for example through the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group (https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/human-animal-infections-and-risk-surveillance-group).
The development and application of veterinary vaccines are a crucial instrument in support of disease control and such R&D forms a fundamental part of our biosecurity research priorities. Over the past five years, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has invested £177.2 million in veterinary vaccinology research and innovation including the Global Challenges Research Fund Networks in Vaccine R&D call, led by the Medical Research Council and supported by BBSRC, committing £9.6 million to support global, multisector research communities tackle key challenges facing human and veterinary vaccine R&D. The Networks foster and support an interdisciplinary One Health agenda through pump-prime funding and networking and knowledge exchange activities. BBSRC and Defra also work with European and International partners though Horizon 2020 programmes as well as through a Global Coronavirus research and innovation network jointly funded by BBSRC and Defra.
In June investment was announced for a new Animal Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre to be established at The Pirbright Institute (TPI), a strategically funded BBSRC institute, with contributions from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Gates Foundation. The Centre will develop and improve the use of veterinary vaccines for control of a number of diseases, both in the UK and Developing Countries, and will enable improvements to animal and public health directly and provide wider benefits including combating antimicrobial resistance.
The BBSRC Bioscience for Health Strategic Framework also outlines One Health as a key strategic challenge area with a vision of collaborative and coordinated approaches to combat zoonotic with a focus on prediction, prevention, response and recovery principles to improve the health and wellbeing of animals and people in their environments.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 introduce a one health approach between (a) veterinary and (b) human vaccine research.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK recognises the complex interdependencies between the health of people, animals, plants and the natural environment, and the need to address threats holistically – through a ‘One Health’ approach. There is close collaboration between animal and human health sectors to prepare and respond to disease threats, for example through the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group (https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/human-animal-infections-and-risk-surveillance-group).
The development and application of veterinary vaccines are a crucial instrument in support of disease control and such R&D forms a fundamental part of our biosecurity research priorities. Over the past five years, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has invested £177.2 million in veterinary vaccinology research and innovation including the Global Challenges Research Fund Networks in Vaccine R&D call, led by the Medical Research Council and supported by BBSRC, committing £9.6 million to support global, multisector research communities tackle key challenges facing human and veterinary vaccine R&D. The Networks foster and support an interdisciplinary One Health agenda through pump-prime funding and networking and knowledge exchange activities. BBSRC and Defra also work with European and International partners though Horizon 2020 programmes as well as through a Global Coronavirus research and innovation network jointly funded by BBSRC and Defra.
In June investment was announced for a new Animal Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre to be established at The Pirbright Institute (TPI), a strategically funded BBSRC institute, with contributions from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Gates Foundation. The Centre will develop and improve the use of veterinary vaccines for control of a number of diseases, both in the UK and Developing Countries, and will enable improvements to animal and public health directly and provide wider benefits including combating antimicrobial resistance.
The BBSRC Bioscience for Health Strategic Framework also outlines One Health as a key strategic challenge area with a vision of collaborative and coordinated approaches to combat zoonotic with a focus on prediction, prevention, response and recovery principles to improve the health and wellbeing of animals and people in their environments.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 support veterinary vaccine research.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK recognises the complex interdependencies between the health of people, animals, plants and the natural environment, and the need to address threats holistically – through a ‘One Health’ approach. There is close collaboration between animal and human health sectors to prepare and respond to disease threats, for example through the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group (https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/human-animal-infections-and-risk-surveillance-group).
The development and application of veterinary vaccines are a crucial instrument in support of disease control and such R&D forms a fundamental part of our biosecurity research priorities. Over the past five years, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has invested £177.2 million in veterinary vaccinology research and innovation including the Global Challenges Research Fund Networks in Vaccine R&D call, led by the Medical Research Council and supported by BBSRC, committing £9.6 million to support global, multisector research communities tackle key challenges facing human and veterinary vaccine R&D. The Networks foster and support an interdisciplinary One Health agenda through pump-prime funding and networking and knowledge exchange activities. BBSRC and Defra also work with European and International partners though Horizon 2020 programmes as well as through a Global Coronavirus research and innovation network jointly funded by BBSRC and Defra.
In June investment was announced for a new Animal Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre to be established at The Pirbright Institute (TPI), a strategically funded BBSRC institute, with contributions from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Gates Foundation. The Centre will develop and improve the use of veterinary vaccines for control of a number of diseases, both in the UK and Developing Countries, and will enable improvements to animal and public health directly and provide wider benefits including combating antimicrobial resistance.
The BBSRC Bioscience for Health Strategic Framework also outlines One Health as a key strategic challenge area with a vision of collaborative and coordinated approaches to combat zoonotic with a focus on prediction, prevention, response and recovery principles to improve the health and wellbeing of animals and people in their environments.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Woodhouse Colliery project on the UK's Paris Climate Agreement obligations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has been leading internationally on the phase out of (unabated) coal fired power generation through its co-leadership of the Powering Past Coal Alliance which has now grown to over 100 members. Through our work under the COP26 Energy Transition Campaign, the UK has been playing a leading role in driving the global transition from coal fired power generation to clean energy. The UK is also working internationally, including through its leadership of Mission Innovation, the global initiative working to accelerate clean energy innovation. As part of this we are developing technology solutions that will enable more rapid decarbonisation of the industrial sector and only a few months ago we ended direct government support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas.
As this is a live litigation matter it would not be appropriate to comment on the application.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Government's policy is on the export of pesticides banned in the UK to other countries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Pesticides which are not approved or severely restricted in GB are regulated under the Prior Informed Consent Regulation (PIC). Companies intending to export these chemicals from the UK must notify the importing country via the exporter's Designated National Authority.
For GB the Designated National Authority is the Health and Safety Executive. Some pesticides additionally require the explicit consent of the importing country before export can take place. The exchange of information that GB PIC provides allows the importing countries to make informed decisions on the import of those chemicals and how to handle and use them safely.