Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take further steps to prevent illegal hunting at events described as trail hunting; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We recognise it is possible that dogs used for trail hunting may on occasion pick up and follow the scent of live foxes during a trail hunt. If this occurs it is the responsibility of the huntsman and other members of hunt staff to control their hounds.
Failure to prevent dogs from chasing or killing a fox may be taken as intent to break the law. Anyone who believes that an offence has taken place should report the matter to the police, as the police deal with complaints of illegal hunting.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
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 she has made of the prevalence of illegal hunting at events described as trail hunting.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We recognise it is possible that dogs used for trail hunting may on occasion pick up and follow the scent of live foxes during a trail hunt. If this occurs it is the responsibility of the huntsman and other members of hunt staff to control their hounds.
Failure to prevent dogs from chasing or killing a fox may be taken as intent to break the law. Anyone who believes that an offence has taken place should report the matter to the police, as the police deal with complaints of illegal hunting.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance they provide to owners of legacy ivory artefacts who wish to dispose of them but are unable to sell due to the provisions of the Ivory Act 2018.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Ivory Act will not affect the ownership of ivory items, but where an owner no longer wants to own an item, they may gift, donate, or bequeath the item. We will explain to owners what options are available to them as part of our awareness raising campaign.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects to complete the implementation of the Ivory Act 2018.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Once commenced, the Ivory Act will introduce one of the toughest bans on elephant ivory sales in the world by banning the dealing in items made of or containing elephant ivory, regardless of their age, unless they fall within one of the narrow and carefully defined exemptions.
We plan to implement the Ivory Act this winter and for the ban to come into force in spring 2022.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
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 implications for the wellbeing of rescue animals of the decision by Eurotunnel to limit the number of pets able to travel through its facility; and what discussions his Department has had with Eurotunnel on that issue.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The regulations governing the non-commercial movements of cats, dogs and ferrets stipulate that people cannot bring more than 5 pets per person into the UK unless they are attending or training for a competition, show or sporting event (and written evidence of registration is required). However, dogs imported into the UK for rescue or rehoming must be moved under the commercial 'Balai Directive' regulations, which has different requirements. These regulations place no limits on consignment sizes. Any decisions made by the carriers (such as ferries and trains) to restrict consignment sizes in ways not required by the regulations are commercial decisions to which the Government is not party.
Anybody wishing to move animals into the UK during these unprecedented times must plan all journeys carefully, ensuring that the proposed journey is realistic and complies with all relevant regulations and legislation around the movement of animals throughout the animals' entire journey, including welfare in transport, as well as relevant COVID-19 legislation.
The end of the Transition Period may open up new opportunities for managing our own commercial and non-commercial import and pet travel arrangements. The Government will be considering our pet travel and import arrangements (including for puppies and kittens) as part of cracking down on puppy smuggling in line with our manifesto commitment.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he is having with supermarket chains and others to ensure that people with coeliac disease are guaranteed access to gluten-free foods while stocks are under pressure as a result of covid-19-related panic buying.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government has well-established ways of working with the food industry during disruption to supply situations. The food retail industry is working around the clock to ensure people have the food and products they need. We are aware of the additional availability issues faced by people who have particular dietary requirements, including those intolerant to gluten, and are working with the industry to ensure that everybody is able to get the food that they need. Industry is adapting quickly to any changes in demands, and food supply into and across the UK is resilient.
The Secretary of State is holding regular conversations with industry to discuss any additional support the Government can provide. To help industry respond to this unprecedented demand we have already introduced new measures to keep food supply flowing. We have issued guidance to local authorities to allow extended delivery hours to supermarkets so that shelves can be filled up quicker, and we have implemented extensions to drivers’ hours.
The rules around labelling of allergens in food as well as labelling of ‘gluten free’ and ‘very low gluten’ will remain unchanged during the current challenging period.
We will continue to work closely with the industry over the coming days and months.