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 it remains her Department's policy to prohibit the live export of animals for slaughter or fattening.
Answered by Mark Spencer
We remain committed to ending the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter. There have not been any live exports for fattening or slaughter since 2020 and we want to make this permanent.
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 it is her Department's policy to support a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra works closely with leads across Government to advise on the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and the provision of effective protection for the marine environment. This includes collaboration with DBT, who are responsible for state sponsorship of UK Seabed Resources’ two exploration contracts, and the FCDO, who lead the UK delegation to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the international organisation through which States Parties organise and control deep-sea mining activities.
We recognise the growing pressure to extract deep-sea resources and are deeply concerned about the potential impacts of mining activities on the fragile marine environment. This is why the UK will maintain its precautionary and conditional position of not sponsoring or supporting the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems, and a strong, enforceable environmental regulatory framework has been developed at the ISA and is in place.
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 discussions she has had with the Leader of the House of Commons on finding Parliamentary time for the remaining stages of the Kept Animals Bill.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Leader of the House about our legislative programme and other matters. The Leader of the House will set out parliamentary business, including future Bill stages, in the usual way.
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 provisions her Department has planned for the flood warnings issued across the UK for 11 January 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
As of 12 January 2023, the Environment Agency (EA) has issued over 60 flood warnings and over 160 flood alerts across England. The EA is prepared to act wherever and whenever it is needed. It has 5,000 trained staff across the country ready to respond to flood events. These staff will issue flood warnings and operate flood risk management assets when flooding is forecast, and work with partners to support communities at risk.
Flood warnings give people valuable time to prepare for flooding and enable the emergency services to prepare and help communities. The EA’s Check for Flooding service provides flood warning information; river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels; as well as the five-day flood forecast. The EA uses its flood warning system to directly alert over 1.6 million users when flooding is expected in their area.
The EA constantly monitors rainfall, river levels and sea conditions to forecast the possibility of flooding. The present situation shows local river and surface water flooding impacts are probable in parts of South West England and possible in parts of the North, the Midlands, and far South of England.
Slower responding rivers, particularly in parts of the West Midlands and North East England, are likely to remain high in the short term leading to further river flooding. River and surface water flooding are also possible across parts of the North of England, and local groundwater flooding is possible in the short term in the south of England.
The EA continues to respond to the changing situation. It is actively liaising with communities through local resilience forums, which are multi-agency partnerships made up of representatives from local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS, the EA and others.
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 her Department is taking to mitigate the impact of avian influenza on farmers; and what steps she is taking to ensure that farmers whose birds have been killed by the disease are eligible under her Department's compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, on 18 November 2022, PQ UIN 84855.
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 Met Office forecasts from November 2022 that February 2023 is predicted to be the wettest part of the 2022-23 winter, what steps her Department is taking to prepare for potential flooding in that month.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Agency (EA) is prepared to act wherever and whenever it is needed this winter. It has 5,000 trained staff across the country ready to respond. These staff will issue flood warnings, operate flood risk management assets such as the Thames and Boston barriers when flooding is forecast and work with partners to support at risk communities. The EA uses its flood warning system to directly alert over 1.6 million users when flooding is expected in their area. There are military personnel and contractors on standby who can be deployed to assist in the most significant incidents.
In addition, the EA continues to build and repair flood defences to make the nation more resilient to flooding, delivering on HM Government’s record £5.2 billion investment in flood and coastal risk management. This has already resulted in more than 35,878 properties being better protected from flooding and coastal erosion since April 2021.
The EA launched its annual Flood Action Campaign on 7 November to encourage people to prepare in advance for flooding. This promotes the simple steps that people can take to protect themselves, their family and homes.
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 impact of the war in Ukraine on international food and agriculture supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Agricultural commodity prices are closely correlated to energy costs since gas is used to manufacture fertiliser and fuel energy is needed throughout the food chain. Energy prices were rising following the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, a key global exporter of agricultural products, has caused additional turbulence in international commodity markets, for example the global prices of wheat, maize and vegetable oil have all increased since the start of the war.
The UK is working with G7 and other partners in multilateral fora, such as the World Trade Organisation, to monitor and address global food security issues, focusing on the ongoing benefits of open markets, and working together to ensure that sufficient, safe, affordable and nutritious food continues to be available and accessible to all.
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing a vaccine to prevent covid-19 in animals; and what steps his Department has taken to prevent covid-19 transmission among animals.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We are aware of the development of vaccines for animals, specifically for farmed mink and the possible use in companion animals, big cats and non-human primates in zoos and private collections. At present we do not consider that it is necessary to vaccinate animals against the virus that causes COVID-19. There have been very few cases of infection reported from companion animals or zoo animals and none provide evidence to support development of severe clinical signs as a result of infection with this virus alone. If the virus biology changes such that companion animals do become important in the epidemiology of transmission to humans, we will reconsider.
Presently, there is only limited transmission of the virus between certain species of animals – namely between captive mink and under experimental conditions, between ferrets and between cats. No transmission has been detected with livestock species.
We have provided updates to SAGE on the likely risk of infection of cats and dogs, and of Mustelinae (including mink and ferrets). As a result, the detection of SARS-COV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in any animal sample is now legally reportable under the Zoonoses Order (relevant in all four Devolved Administrations). The requirement to register large breeding groups of ferrets is going through consultation and stakeholders have reacted positively.
We have been involved in the recent scientific opinion from European Food Safety Authority / European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on surveillance for mink farming countries, and the World Organisation for Animal Health guidance on trade in live mink and raw mink pelts. We also have a subgroup with Joint Biosecurity Centre. The risk assessments produced by this group are currently being used to inform the UK Government’s COVID-19 response.
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, how much funding has been allocated to flood defence schemes in (a) Lancashire, (b) Yorkshire and (c) Oxfordshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government is investing £2.6 billion to better protect the country from flooding and coastal erosion between April 2015 and March 2021. This will better protect 300,000 homes in that period.
In the last five years the Environment Agency (EA) has invested £137 million on flood and coastal erosion management schemes in Lancashire.
In the last five years the EA has invested £261.3 million on flood and coastal erosion management schemes in Yorkshire. This is the total spend for the ceremonial counties of North Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire.
In the last five years the EA has invested £18.9 million on flood and coastal erosion management schemes in Oxfordshire.
Financial Year | Total Government spend (£m) | ||
Lancashire | Oxfordshire | Yorkshire | |
2014-15 | 32.7 | 6.4 | 47.7 |
2015-16 | 30.4 | 4.1 | 44.7 |
2016-17 | 34.7 | 2.3 | 44.7 |
2017-18 | 18.3 | 5.2 | 51.1 |
2018-19 | 20.9 | 0.9 | 73.1 |
Total | 137.0 | 18.9 | 261.3 |