Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether zoo animals being transferred between the UK and EU countries will be covered by the new sanitary and phytosanitary agreement.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Our priority is to secure a long-term UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement aimed at reducing trade barriers to enable the safe and efficient movement of goods, including zoo animals. As announced at the UK-EU Leaders’ Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area. With the principles and framework of a deal agreed, we will now negotiate the detail of an agreement that reduces administrative burden by streamlining SPS checks and certification, while upholding the UK’s commitment to ensure its biosecurity is protected within this future framework.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to produce updated public guidance on the ban on primates from April 2026.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Accompanying guidance to the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2024 was published on 10 July 2025.
The guidance can be found at:
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 improve the monitoring of marine mammal strandings.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government funds the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), operating since 1990, it annually reports upon threats facing marine mammals through carrying out post-mortems on stranded animals: CSIP.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 effectiveness of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 in reducing the number of dangerous wild animals being kept in private homes.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The main purpose of the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (the DWAA) is to ensure that where private individuals keep such animals, including on a farm, they do so in circumstances which create no risk to the public.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 improve soil health.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are actively working to improve soil health across England by measuring and monitoring the national condition of soil, encouraging the uptake of sustainable soil management practices and protecting soil to be resilient to climate change impacts.
Monitoring soil health is essential for evaluating changes to soil and identifying improvements to soil health. Through the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment Programme we are gathering data to build a robust national baseline of soil health in England and to develop a Healthy Soil Indicator under the Outcome Indicator Framework – this indicator will assess and monitor soil health.
Through our agri-environment schemes we are paying farmers for actions that protect and improve soil health and promote sustainable soil management, for example the use of herbal leys, planting cover crops, and no-till farming.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 have made of the effectiveness of local authorities in enforcing the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra has completed a post-implementation review (PIR) of the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, including consideration of enforcement, which can be found here.
The Government is considering the findings of the PIR and will be outlining more detail on next steps in due course.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 improve the monitoring of marine mammal bycatch incidents.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government funds a comprehensive bycatch monitoring programme which provides essential observer data on incidents of sensitive species bycatch, including marine mammals. This programme reports annually on estimated rates of sensitive species bycatch in fisheries around the UK and will continue to collect and report this data.
The Government also funds Clean Catch which is a collaborative research programme dedicated to better monitoring, reducing, and, where possible, eliminating bycatch of sensitive species in UK fisheries. Clean Catch run several projects to improve monitoring of marine mammal bycatch. These include a self-reporting app for fishermen to record bycatch, trials of Remote Electronic Monitoring, and a recent report on fishermen’s views on barriers to, and opportunities for, improved engagement in addressing sensitive species bycatch.
Links:
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to conduct a consultation on the potential impacts of the Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 coming into force.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for Newport West and Islwyn, Ruth Jones, on 10 July, PQ UIN 65379.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 adequacy of the capacity of local authorities to enforce regulations on zoo licensing.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government published new Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain on 24 May 2025, which will come into force from May 2027.
One of the objectives of updating the Standards has been to make requirements clearer to aid local authority enforcement of the zoo licensing system. The Department will continue to work with the UK Zoos Expert Committee (ZEC), the Animal and Plant Health Agency and local authorities to ensure the Standards are effectively implemented.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 primates being kept as pets in the UK.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of primates being kept in the UK.