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
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 Baroness Prentis of Banbury
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
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