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
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
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 Baroness 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.
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 plans to (a) ban the sale of unrecyclable wrapping paper or (b) introduce a tax on such products.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
We have no plans to ban “non-recyclable” wrapping paper. Retailers are encouraged to provide information on whether their wrapping paper can be recycled or whether it should be disposed of in residual waste.
Packaging materials, including wrapping paper sold with the product, are covered by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations which place a legal obligation on businesses that make or use packaging to ensure that a proportion of the packaging they sell is recovered and recycled.
This creates an incentive for companies to use less packaging and to ensure that their packaging can be recycled at end of life as it will reduce their costs in complying with the Regulations.
We have committed to exploring changes to the packaging producer responsibility scheme. This will look at all aspects of the regime, including mechanisms to encourage increased recyclability. More detail will be announced in the Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published 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, how many hedgehogs have been poisoned by slug pellets in (a) Lancashire and (b) Cumbria in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
No cases involving hedgehogs and slug pellets have been reported in Cumbria and Lancashire over the last five years.
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 plans to take to help preserve juvenile cod fishing stocks after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK has been working with the EU to agree Multi-Annual Plans (MAPs) for the North Sea and Western Waters which will deliver sustainable management of mixed fisheries including the provision of better protection for juvenile stocks such as cod. For example, MAPs will provide the framework for optimum recovery measures including limitations in certain areas to protect spawning and juvenile fish. MAPs will be an important tool for our future bilateral co-operation with the EU.
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 has been taking to reduce water consumption since May 2018.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Government is working with the water industry to agree an ambitious average target for per capita consumption and to identify and implement the most cost-effective and impactful measures needed to meet it, as set out in the 25 year environment plan.
The Government expects water companies to enhance their activities promoting water efficiency in areas affected by the dry weather, in line with their statutory drought plans. For example, through increasing capacity to fix leaks more quickly and through sharing water saving messages.
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 prevent the growth of bacteria in water as a result of dog fouling.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
For drinking water, sources are generally protected from any animal access, and where this is not possible, water companies use a multi-barrier approach, including treatment and disinfection to make sure the water is safe.
For bathing water, the 25 Year Environment Plan sets out our commitment to minimise by 2030 the harmful bacteria in our designated bathing waters and to continue to improve the cleanliness of our waters. The Environment Agency (EA) investigates if a bathing water is classified as poor or is deteriorating and works with local authority and other stakeholders to take appropriate measures to reduce pollution.
In addition, local councils have a duty to ensure that public areas are kept clear of litter and refuse. This includes removing dog faeces from certain types of land, including parks, picnic and recreation areas, car parks, pedestrianised shopping streets, and certain leisure beaches and promenades.
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 estimate he has made of the number of foxes that have been killed as part of the hunt season in the UK in the last five years (a) nationally, (b) in Lancashire, (c) in Cumbria and (d) in Cheshire.
Answered by David Rutley
No estimate has been made of the number of foxes that have been killed, as part of the hunt season in the UK, since the Hunting Act 2004 came into effect.