Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what environmental projects have been funded through Darwin Plus in the Falkland Islands since 2019.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Since 2019, Darwin Plus has funded 6 environmental projects of benefit to the British Antarctic Territory. These are listed in the table below.
Please visit the Darwin Plus website at https://darwinplus.org.uk/ for full details of funded projects.
Project reference | Project title | UK Overseas Territories involved |
DPLUS185 | Safeguarding Antarctic krill stocks for baleen whales | British Antarctic Territory |
DPL00008 | Biodiversity Survey and Environmental Management Plan in Antarctica | British Antarctic Territory (BAT) |
DPLUS146 | Red Listing can protect OT marine biodiversity | British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands |
DPLUS166 | Improving identification of fish bycatch in the Antarctic krill fishery | British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands |
DPLUS175 | Enhancing monitoring and prevention of invasive non-native species across UKOTs | Gibraltar, Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (on Cyprus), South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory, Bermuda, Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands |
DPLUS174 | A cross-UKOT camera network to enhance marine predator conservation | Montserrat, St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands |
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of inland waterways that are contaminated by expired mine workings.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2021, the Environment Agency estimated that contaminated groundwater discharged from abandoned metal and coal mines was polluting more than 1,500km (3%) of rivers in England (see Mine waters: challenges for the water environment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).
In 2023, Defra’s Environmental Improvement Plan outlined the Environment Act target to halve the length of rivers and estuaries polluted by cadmium, lead, nickel, zinc, copper and/or arsenic from abandoned metal mines by 2038, against an estimated baseline of around 1,500km. This baseline length of rivers and estuaries polluted by abandoned metal mines will be updated later in 2024.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees have been planted on behalf of his Department since December 2019.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Below are the annual figures for the number of trees planted:
Total Trees Planted (April 2019 - 30 September 2023): 17,219,000 trees.
These figures reflect our continuous commitment to enhancing the UK's green spaces and contribute towards our environmental goals and targets.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce regulatory standards in the operation of canine fertility clinics.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Canine fertility clinics are already subject to regulatory standards as a result of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (“the 2018 Regulations”), the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, and the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013, amongst others. For example, under the 2018 Regulations, anyone in the business of breeding and selling dogs and/or who breeds three or more litters in a twelve-month period needs to hold a valid licence issued by their local authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences. We are in the process of reviewing the 2018 Regulations, including considering whether the regulations’ scope is sufficient to protect breeding dogs in all settings. The report will be published soon.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will issue guidance on ensuring that canine fertility clinics have veterinary oversight as a requisite for operation.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Canine fertility clinics are already subject to regulatory standards as a result of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, and the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013, amongst others. The Government has no plans to issue additional guidance requiring veterinary oversight of canine fertility businesses.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of canine fertility clinics offering surgical intra-uterine insemination procedures.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Surgical artificial insemination is a prohibited procedure under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It legally restricts mutilations to animals (i.e. procedures which interfere with sensitive tissue or bone structure). Consequently, canine fertility business should not be offering surgical artificial insemination. Anyone convicted of carrying out a prohibited procedure may be imprisoned for a term of up to five years, receive an unlimited fine, or both.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 his Department has made of the effectiveness of river basin management plans in delivering the Government's 25 year Environment Plan goal for clean and plentiful water.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have an ambitious Plan for Water which is delivering more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement needed to meet our commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan, to improving at least 75% of our waters to be close to their natural state. River Basin Management Planning is part of the regulatory framework to achieve this goal and has provided a mechanism for managing England’s waters, bringing together national and local measures and investment to improve the water environment. The 2022 update to the River Basin Management Plans represents £5.3 billion worth of planned and funded actions by 2027. Each update to the River Basin Management Plans includes a progress report.
Further, in the Plan for Water, we committed to reviewing the Water Framework Directive regulations including River Basin Management Planning to improve integration between flood, water and water company plans.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra Group Communications is the first single employer shared service communications team in Whitehall, working for six organisations.
Alongside the core department, the team provides communications support for the core Department and five of its largest Arm’s Length Bodies including the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Rural Payments Agency. The teams work across all communications disciplines in support of the policy and operational priorities within each of these organisations. This includes media, planning, stakeholder engagement, digital communications and internal communications across the six parts of the Defra group. This integrated function reduces duplication, improves performance and saves money.
As Defra Group Communications staff work in an agile way in multiple organisations, it is not possible to provide granular full-time equivalent figures for each part of the group, including the core department.
As announced by the Government last year, departments are submitting productivity plans to modernise the Civil Service and reduce the size of the state to pre-pandemic levels. These roles, as all other business units in the department, are considered as part of these plans.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's planned timetable is for responding to the Office for Environmental Protection’s report entitled Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2022/2023, published in January 2024.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Under the Environment Act 2021, we are required to respond to the Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) reports on progress in implementing the Environmental Improvement Plan no later than 12 months after the OEP report was laid in Parliament. As the OEP’s report was laid on 17 January 2024, we have until 16 January 2025 to respond.
We will carefully review the OEP’s findings and respond in due course.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, why has he withdrawn the Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) England Regulations 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The draft Regulations were laid before Parliament in April 2023 and specified a coming into force date of 1 February 2024. The Government’s intention was to allow pet owners who use these devices sufficient time to prepare, by retraining their dogs or cats using alternative training methods.
Pressing ahead with the Regulations at the start of this year would have left an unacceptably short window for pet owners to adapt their training methods.
The Government remains committed to introducing a ban on the use of e-collars. We will pursue new regulations to deliver this commitment on a timeline that is suitable for owners.