Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what events he attended to commemorate World Bee Day on 20 May 2019.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
World Bee Day’s objective is to raise public awareness of the role of beekeeping, bees and other pollinators in increasing food security and fighting hunger as well as providing key ecosystem services for agriculture.
Lord Gardiner, the Minister with responsibility for policy on bee health and pollinators, attended an event on 16 May at Winfield House, hosted by the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, to mark World Bee Day. The event was also attended by many of our partners on the National Pollinator Strategy and the Healthy Bees Plan. Lord Gardiner was invited to provide a short address in which he emphasised the importance of supporting healthy wild and managed bee populations.
Lord Gardiner also recently attended the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to support Sarah Eberle’s Gold Medal winning ‘Resilience Garden’ and its promotion of the importance of biosecurity in protecting our native species, including bees and other pollinators, from pests and disease.
Furthermore, at the Suffolk Show this May, Lord Gardiner celebrated the contribution local farmers are making to create vital habitats for bees and pollinators which, in turn, benefits the region’s crop production.
As part of the National Pollinator Strategy, Defra established and coordinates ‘Bees’ Needs Week’ alongside conservation groups, beekeepers, farmers, researchers and businesses to promote and raise awareness of the actions everyone can take for bees and other pollinators all year round. This year’s campaign runs from 8-14 July.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 the effect of the introduction 5G services on the accuracy of weather forecast predictions.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Defra Digital Data and Technology Services (DDTS) has been tracking, through its emerging technology scanning activity, the recent news on the potential impact of the introduction of 5G services on the accuracy of weather forecast predictions. Defra DDTS has not undertaken any assessment of this potential impact, and is not aware of any such assessment being undertaken within Defra.
The Environment Agency and the Met Office Flood Forecasting Service would be expected to undertake such an assessment, but this service is not within core Defra.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 protect harbour porpoises from being trapped in gillnets.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government is working closely with stakeholders including the UK fishing industry to find ways to tackle this problem together. In March, we held a UK bycatch workshop to look at ways to effectively mitigate this problem, and over the coming months we will be working hard to develop and test practical solutions to this critical issue.
The report from the workshop will be published at the end of May. It will include a set of recommendations for tackling this problem and an outline of how Defra, working with stakeholders, intends to take these forward.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of ending the transfer of live animals for fattening.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The transport of live animals, including to fattening units, must comply with EU and domestic legislation aimed at protecting animal welfare.
Last year we launched a Call for Evidence on controlling live exports for slaughter and improving the welfare of all animals during transport. We have passed this evidence to the independent Farm Animal Welfare Committee and expect to receive their report and recommendations shortly.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 (a) maintain and (b) increase animal welfare standards in battery hen farms.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The use of conventional (“battery”) cages for laying hens has been banned in the UK since 2012. Laying hens are kept in either enriched colonies, free range, barn or organic systems. Enriched colonies provide more space for the birds to move around and are legally required to provide nest boxes, litter, perches, and claw shortening devices which allow the birds to carry out a greater range of natural behaviours.
The new statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Laying Hens and Pullets provides improved and up-to-date guidance for owners and keepers on how to comply with the legislation and help maintain high animal welfare standards.
We intend to continue being a world leader in animal welfare after we leave the EU by maintaining and strengthening our already world-class welfare standards. As part of our move to higher regulatory standards we intend to develop publicly-funded schemes for farmers to deliver animal welfare enhancements beyond our high regulatory baseline that are valued by the public.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 effect of recent flooding incidents in Lancashire on (a) local residents, (b) roads and (c) sheep; and what measures he will put in place to reduce the risk of flooding in the future.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
On 16 March 2019 there was heavy rainfall across Lancashire, and reports of flooding to highways and alongside rivers. The Environment Agency (EA) issued flood warnings for Colne Water at Lenches, around Waterside Industrial Estate, the River Ribble at Samlesbury and Walton-le-Dale. Despite heavy rainfall affecting roads in East Lancashire and in the Ribble Valley no properties were reported as having been flooded. No road or property flooding was reported in Preston, however fire crews were called to a flooded field at Samlesbury where 170 marooned sheep were successfully rescued by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.
The EA is delivering a joint capital programme with other Risk Management Authorities to better protect over 34,000 homes from flooding in Lancashire between 2015 and 2021 at an estimated cost of £100 million. This programme has already delivered better protection to nearly 28,000 homes and over 1,000 businesses.
Planned future measures include the Preston South Ribble Scheme, which will improve flood mitigation to around 3,600 residential properties as well as over 300 businesses. This scheme, which is approaching the design stage, is expected to cost around £40 million and take 5-6 years to complete. Ground investigation surveys are due to start on 25 March 2019.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 effectiveness of the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Laying Hens and Pellets.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Farmers are required by law to have access to and be familiar with the statutory farm welfare codes, which provide guidance for keepers on how to comply with animal welfare legislation and help us maintain our high animal welfare standards. The codes are also used by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to check how well animal welfare standards are being met. We have an ongoing dialogue with APHA on all animal welfare matters, including those relating to enforcement, and the latest updated code of practice for the welfare of laying hens and pullets provides keepers with up to date information on the latest practices and helps ensure high standards of compliance.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 holds information on the (a) number and (b) location of roadside sites where horses are tethered throughout (i) North West England and (ii) Lancashire; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is keen to ensure that we uphold our high standards of welfare including in relation to tethering. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) it is an offence to fail to provide for an animal’s welfare or to cause it any unnecessary suffering. Local authorities and the police have powers under the 2006 Act to seize any animal that is suffering unnecessarily and investigate allegations of cruelty or poor welfare.
The 2006 Act is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids (the Code). The Code provides owners and keepers with information on how to meet the welfare needs of their animals and includes a specific section on how to tether horses and other animals covered. If anyone is concerned about the way a horse or other animal has been tethered they should report the matter either to the relevant local authority or to the RSPCA or World Horse Welfare who can investigate.
Whilst the Government does not hold records on the number or sites of tethered animals, we have provided local authorities and the police with powers to deal with instances of poorly tethered horses.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 7 January 2019 Guardian article entitled Sales of barred soap are up – but is it better at cleaning than a shower gel?, if his Department will make a comparative assessment of changes in the level of use of bars of soap and liquid soap; and whether his Department has plans to use bar rather than liquid soap in its own offices and premises.
Answered by George Eustice
The Department currently uses liquid soaps in its washrooms and does not intend to swap to bars of soap. The Department has, however, undertaken a wider review to reduce the use of consumer single use plastics across its office estate. This includes our office cleaning provider using large reusable plastic containers to dispense liquid soap in our washrooms.
We do not plan to make a comparative assessment of changes in the level of use of bars of soap and liquid soap.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 preserve natural habitats for (a) butterflies, (b) bees and (c) moths.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
To preserve natural habitats the Government is taking action to protect our best wildlife sites, expand habitat for insects in the wider countryside and support partnerships working on targeted habitat restoration and species recovery.
Over one million hectares of our best habitats for wildlife on land and in our freshwater and coastal areas are conserved through our protected sites designations.
Outside the protected sites series we are managing land to create new wildlife-rich habitat. Since 2011, over 130,000 ha in England have been set aside for this purpose. In 2015, we introduced new and simple agri-environment ‘packages’ to make it easier for farmers to provide flower rich margins or pollen and nectar plots on fields to support wild pollinators.
Natural England, our statutory nature conservation adviser, continues to work with a range of landowning and NGO partners to support the recovery of threatened insect species by managing and creating habitats for threatened species such as the barberry carpet moth, the short-haired bumblebee and chequered skipper butterfly.
In addition to preserving habitats, the Government is taking action to reduce threats to pollinators. We are supporting science-led restrictions on neonicotinoids so we can protect bees and other pollinators. We also continue to tackle threats from invasive species, such as the Asian hornet, and protect honey bees from pests and diseases through a nationwide team of bee inspectors.