Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she intends to introduce a ban on electric shock collars.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We plan to introduce regulations soon which will prohibit the use of remote controlled electronic training collars that deliver an electric shock to cats and dogs.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 take steps to remove the business test in the dog breeding regulations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (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 have a valid licence from their local authority.
We are always seeking to learn from the implementation of legislation and make improvements where necessary. The 2018 Regulations are currently being reviewed, and the Government’s report on the review will be published later in 2023. As part of this review my department is re-examining the scope and operability of the licensing framework. We currently have no plans to introduce self-regulation by systems such as the Kennel Club Assured Breeders scheme.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 make it her policy to include the Kennel Club assured breeder scheme in the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 to allow the scheme to self-regulate its members.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (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 have a valid licence from their local authority.
We are always seeking to learn from the implementation of legislation and make improvements where necessary. The 2018 Regulations are currently being reviewed, and the Government’s report on the review will be published later in 2023. As part of this review my department is re-examining the scope and operability of the licensing framework. We currently have no plans to introduce self-regulation by systems such as the Kennel Club Assured Breeders scheme.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce compulsory microchipping for cats.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We plan to lay regulations soon, which will bring compulsory cat microchipping into force in England. Once in force, cat keepers will have 12 months to comply with the new requirements.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill will be brought back to Parliament.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Bill will progress when Parliamentary time allows. The date for the remaining stages in the Commons will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she makes of the adequacy of the progress of implementing the Action Plan for Animal Welfare.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to strengthening animal welfare standards and protections, and our Action Plan for Animal Welfare sets out our vision to introduce a wide range of ambitious improvements. We continue to drive forward this agenda through legislation as Parliamentary time allows, and through non-legislative reforms.
The passing of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 realises the Government’s manifesto commitment to introduce tougher penalties for animal cruelty. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 has delivered on the commitment to introduce new laws for animal sentience.
We have also introduced new powers for police and courts to tackle the illegal and cruel sport of hare coursing through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and we also backed bills introducing penalty notices for animal welfare offences and to ban glue traps, all of which have received Royal Assent.
The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was reintroduced in May 2022 and will continue its passage through the Commons when parliamentary time allows. The Bill delivers key manifesto commitments to end the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter, crack down on illegal puppy smuggling, and ban the keeping of primates as pets. It will also update the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, introduce a new pet abduction offence following the work of the Pet Theft Taskforce and reform legislation to tackle livestock worrying.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 cumulative impact of successive trade deals on Welsh agriculture.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
HMG publishes scoping assessments to assess the impacts of free trade agreements, in advance of negotiations. Following signature of an agreement, a full impact assessment is published prior to implementation. These assessments set out the impact of each agreement at a sectoral (including agriculture and the food sector) and sub-national level including Wales.
The exact impacts of future trade agreements are uncertain and together with the devolved administrations, Defra has established the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG) to monitor and assess the impact of market developments across the UK. The group monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, trade and recent developments, enabling it to provide forewarning of any atypical market movements. The UKAMMG will flag where further investigation of market developments is required and when policy teams and Ministers should be informed of any developments. Whilst the UK Government works closely with the Welsh Government in monitoring the UK agricultural markets it remains sensitive to the fact that agriculture is a devolved policy area.
In addition, HMG is actively monitoring the impact of newly implemented free trade agreements and is currently developing the tools and evidence for future monitoring and evaluation of free trade agreements.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 requiring households to have water meters in England and Wales.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2019 the Government carried out a consultation on measures to reduce personal water consumption, which sought views on households being charged by the volume of water they consume. The Government’s response to the consultation was published in a Written Ministerial Statement on 1 July 2021.
Responses to the consultation and call for evidence are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/water-conservation-measures-to-reduce-personal-water-use
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to ensure that farmers continue to receive financial support after the transition period.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
In our 2019 manifesto we promised to maintain the current annual budget to farmers for the lifetime of this parliament. When we made this commitment in 2019, the total farm support provided to Welsh farmers that year was £337 million. For 2021/22, the UK government have therefore provided new exchequer funding on top of the remaining £95 million of EU funding to ensure that £337 million of support continues to go to Welsh farmers this year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department holds information on the location of protected trees throughout the UK.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Woodland Trust manages the Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI), which is a database recording over 150,000 ancient, veteran or notable trees across the UK. This is a volunteer database, with verified records, which does not have complete or consistent coverage across the UK.
Records for trees protected through Tree Preservation Orders (TPO) are held by local authorities, not by central government. Local planning authorities are also responsible for trees in conservation areas.