Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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) reduce and (b) replace the use of toxicology testing on animals.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The UK is committed to maintaining a rigorous regulatory system which ensures that animal research and testing is carried out only where no practicable alternatives exist and under controls which keep suffering to a minimum. The Government ensures all research proposals are compliant with the principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement (the 3Rs). The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used, known as the "last-resort principle". The last-resort principle will be enshrined as a protected provision in our landmark Environment Bill.
Defra, together with the Environment Agency and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, are actively engaged in research and development work centred around the 3Rs principles. This work sits within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) chemical testing guidelines programme. Our regulators and scientists, alongside colleagues at Public Health England and The National Centre for the 3Rs, are working collaboratively with partner countries to develop new test methods and approaches with the potential to reduce or replace animal tests for chemical assessment, whilst maintaining a high degree of safety.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on bringing forward legislative proposals on animal sentience.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We have committed to bringing in new laws on animal sentience. Any necessary changes required to domestic legislation will be made in an effective and credible way and will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 financial cost to pet owners making multiple trips between Northern Ireland and Scotland, England or Wales of having to obtain a new animal health certificate on each journey.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
For the purposes of the EU Pet Travel Scheme, Great Britain and the Crown Dependencies are considered a Part 2 listed third country which requires an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) for travel to the EU. Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU rules also apply to the non-commercial movements of pets into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. As such, an AHC is required when travelling to NI from Scotland, England or Wales.
The cost of completing and certifying pet travel documentation, including AHC, is set by individual veterinary practices.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 potential merits of extending the validity of animal health certificates for those travelling between Northern Ireland and Scotland, England or Wales to (a) allow multiple trips and (b) allow more than ten days before travel.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
For the purposes of the EU Pet Travel Scheme, Great Britain and the Crown Dependencies are considered a Part 2 listed third country which requires an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) for travel to the EU. Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU rules also apply to the non-commercial movements of pets into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. As such, an AHC is required when travelling to NI from Scotland, England or Wales.
The model AHC is set down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 577/2013 and it states that the certificate is valid for 10 days from the date of issue until the date of entry into the Union, and that it is valid for onward travel within the Union for a period of four months subject to certain conditions. Great Britain cannot unilaterally choose to amend the conditions specified on this certificate.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 potential merits of indefinitely suspending the requirement for wine imports to the UK to be accompanied with a wine-specific VI-1 certificate.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Further to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Ogmore on 27 November 2020, PQ UIN 117332, no assessment has been made of the potential benefits of removing the requirement for wine imports to the UK being accompanied by a VI 1 certificate.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 potential merits of reforming subsidies for recycling processing plants to incentivise the processing of packaging waste in the UK rather than exporting waste overseas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government does not provide any subsidies to the sector and there has been no formal assessment of subsidies to incentivise the reprocessing and recycling of waste in the UK.
The Government has committed to reforming the current packaging producer responsibility scheme (‘the packaging recovery note’ system) whereby re-processors and exporters of packaging waste can issue evidence that packaging waste has been recycled. Together with the devolved administrations, the Government consulted on initial proposals in 2019 and will consult again in 2021.
The Government has committed to banning the export of plastic waste to countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 taken to reform the Packaging Recovery Note scheme to (a) levy costs on packaging producers and (b) reward recycling.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We committed in our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy to reform the UK's current packaging producer responsibility system and to introduce measures to incentivise packaging producers to make better, more sustainable design decisions and require them to fund the full net costs of managing packaging once it becomes waste, including collection, recycling and disposal costs.
In reforming the current system, the Government's aim is to reduce the amount of unnecessary and difficult to recycle packaging and increase the amount and quality of packaging that can be and is recycled. Measures being considered to drive and reward increased recycling through the reformed system include setting recycling targets on producers, and setting producer 'disposal' cost fees based on the design and recyclability of packaging. We are taking new powers in the Environment Bill to enable us to introduce these reforms and to place more responsibility on producers for products at end of life.
We plan to undertake a second consultation on these reforms in 2021.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 ensure there is no duplication of chemical tests performed on animals from UK organisations which had previously supplied the relevant registration data to the European Chemicals Agency under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Under UK REACH, we will recognise the validity of any animal tests on products that have already been undertaken and so avoid the need for further testing
The grandfathering of all existing UK-held REACH registrations into the UK system will further avoid the need to duplicate animal testing associated with re-registration.
We are determined that there should be no need for any additional animal testing for a chemical that has already been registered, unless it is subject to further evaluation that shows the registration dossier is inadequate or there are still concerns about the hazards and risks of the chemical, especially to human health.
The UK has been at the forefront of opposing animal tests where alternative approaches could be used. This is known as the "last-resort principle", which we will retain and enshrine in legislation through our landmark Environment Bill.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 potential effect of the recommendations in the Horse Welfare Board's five year horse welfare strategy on the use of the whip in horse racing.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Horse Welfare Board’s (HWB) five-year Horse Welfare Strategy (HWS) “a life well-lived” was published on 20 February 2020. The HWS contains 20 recommendations for improving horse welfare. The HWS recommends that, as a minimum, the penalties for misuse of the whip need to increase and that the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) should conduct a consultation on the use of the whip this year. As well as seeking views on appropriate sanctions for misuse of the whip, the HWS also recommends that the BHA uses the consultation to consider whether the use of the whip for encouragement should be banned or retained and whether the rules that restrict the use of the whip for encouragement need to be changed. Defra welcomes the publication of the HWS and officials will remain engaged with the BHA and the HWB on the progress being made.