Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
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To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list the chemicals that have been withdrawn by their manufacturers as a result of investigation by the (a) EU and (b) Chemicals Regulation Division.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
EU legislation requires that pesticides can only be sold or used if the active substance has been approved by the EU and the product containing it has been authorised nationally. Approval and authorisation depend on scientific assessment of risks to health and the environment. The assessment is based on the information available at the time and, if approval or authorisation is refused, it remains open for a fresh application to be made if new data addresses the safety concerns.
Information on approvals and on active substances that are no longer approved, can be found on the European Commission’s database at https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/pesticides/eu-pesticides-database/public/?event=homepage&language=EN. Information on UK authorisations can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website at https://www.hse.gov.uk/pesticides/databases/index.htm. This does not include information about authorisations that have been withdrawn.
Companies that see limited sales from a pesticide can of course withdraw an active substance or product at any point. These cases cannot readily be identified from the databases.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
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 effect of chemical bans by the (a) EU and (b) Chemicals Regulation Division in the last five years on (i) crop yields, (ii) costs of alternative chemicals, (iii) prices to consumers and (iv) farm profitability in the UK since the implementation of those bans.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The removal of banned pesticides from sale can adversely affect crop yields if alternative crop protection products or techniques are less effective. Alternative pesticides can sometimes be more expensive. Often these problems may reduce over time as new products become available or farmers find and adopt new approaches. The impact on consumer prices will depend on the degree to which overall market supply is affected. The impact on farm profitability will depend upon a number of factors including yield changes, farm gate price changes and input costs.
The Government’s review of the National Action Plan for the Sustainable use of Pesticides will take a holistic approach centred on Integrated Pest Management which can reduce dependence on chemical pesticides and help farmers to combat pest resistance and support agricultural productivity. The Plan aims to support measures to minimise pesticide use and to reduce risks to human health and the environment. We will consult on the updated Plan later in the year.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether an impact assessment was carried out by the Chemicals Regulation Division on each of the chemicals that were withdrawn by manufacturers during investigation of those chemicals by the (a) EU and (b) Chemicals Regulation Division; and what the (i) economic and (ii) environmental findings were of each of those impact assessments.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Chemicals Regulation Division of the Health and Safety Executive assesses applications for UK authorisation of pesticides against the legal requirements concerning risks to human and environmental health and product efficacy. If an application is withdrawn or if a manufacturer asks for an authorisation to be ended, no further assessment is carried out.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
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 Water Industry (Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011; and whether he plans to extend the provisions of those Regulations to include private waste water pumps not otherwise included within the Regulations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Section 42 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 allows for the automatic adoption of private sewers for new developments by sewerage companies if implemented.
The Government is currently reviewing the economic case for implementation of Section 42 and will take into account the lessons learnt from The Water Industry (Schemes of Adoption of Private Sewers) Regulations 2011, which expired in June 2018, when considering the scope of any new regulations and their application to sewerage infrastructure such as private waste water pumps.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals on animal sentience.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government is committed to further strengthening our world-leading animal welfare standards. 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: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will assess the potential merits of providing legal protection to the professional title of veterinary nurse.
Answered by George Eustice
Only those individuals who are properly trained, qualified and registered with the regulator, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), may legally undertake veterinary nursing. The Government is aware that concerns have been raised about the legal protection of the use of the term “Veterinary Nurse” and we are in dialogue with the RCVS and others to see how these concerns might be addressed.