Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department will publish its response to the consultation on Fur market in Great Britain, which closed on 28 June 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The recent call for evidence published by Defra on the fur trade in Great Britain was a key step in helping us to meet the commitment set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare to better understand the fur sector in Great Britain and gather evidence from those with an interest in it.
We received around 30,000 responses from businesses, representative bodies and individuals, demonstrating the strong public interest in this area. A summary of responses setting out the results and key findings will be published soon.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will take steps to (a) help tackle the causes of the covid-19 pandemic, (b) advocate for a global inter country trade ban of wildlife and wildlife products at the G20 meeting in November 2020 and (c) ban the import and export of wild animals and wild animal products coming into the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are clear that poorly managed and illegal wildlife trade (IWT) poses threats to animal health and welfare, diminishes our biodiversity, undermines governance, and can result in serious public health issues. However, well managed, sustainable trade can contribute to biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, and can help meet the nutritional needs of local and rural communities in developing nations.
The UK Government is fully committed to tackling the environmental drivers of pandemics, including by reversing global biodiversity loss, tackling both unsustainable and illegal wildlife trade, and pressing for significantly higher standards in live animal markets around the world. We are actively considering the many complex issues around the global trade in wildlife, including its relationship to Covid-19 and will support swift policy interventions where these are shown to be effective in mitigating future risk of zoonotic diseases.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure that recreational sea anglers are consulted on the implementation of Highly Protected Marine Areas.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Benyon Review was commissioned to investigate whether and how Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) could be introduced in English waters.
The Government is considering the Review’s recommendations and has started to engage with stakeholders including recreational fishers. Since publication of the Review, Minister Pow has met the Angling Trust (14 July) and Defra officials have met recreational sea anglers (29 July) and the Angling Trust (13 August) to discuss the recommendations of the Review. Further meetings with these groups are planned for early September.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the covid-19 pandemic, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of World Animal Protection's proposal to ban the global trade in wild animals and wild animal products that are involved in non-essential global commercial trade.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are clear that poorly managed and illegal wildlife trade (IWT) poses threats to animal health and welfare, diminishes our biodiversity, undermines governance, and can result in serious public health issues. However, well managed, sustainable trade can contribute to biodiversity conservation and livelihoods, and can help meet the nutritional needs of local and rural communities in developing nations.
The UK Government is fully committed to tackling the environmental drivers of pandemics, including by reversing global biodiversity loss, tackling both unsustainable and illegal wildlife trade, and pressing for significantly higher standards in live animal markets around the world. We are actively considering the many complex issues around the global trade in wildlife, including its relationship to Covid-19 and will support swift policy interventions where these are shown to be effective in mitigating future risk of zoonotic diseases.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 that the Government’s biodiversity net gain plan is fully implemented.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is fully committed to the implementation of biodiversity net gain. We have brought forward clauses in the Environment Bill to make the achievement of a 10% gain mandatory for housing and other types of development.
Throughout the two-year transition period, we will continue to work with industry bodies to make sure that appropriate training, expertise and guidance are made available.
The Government recognises the pressure that many local planning authorities are under. The net additional cost of new burdens placed on local authorities through biodiversity net gain will be assessed and funded.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 that the outcomes of biodiversity net gain are (a) monitored and (b) enforced.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s response to the net gain consultation, which was published last year, acknowledged the importance of effective monitoring and enforcement in securing meaningful gains for nature and communities.
The Environment Bill includes provisions for a public register of habitat improvement sites. This will provide an accessible public record of habitat enhancements undertaken outside the development site. This register will, as a minimum, detail the location of compensation sites, how many units and of what habitat types are created, and the planning reference of the development to which the units relate.
For delivery of habitats within development sites, planning application data is routinely published by local authorities and will provide key information about how new developments will achieve biodiversity net gain.
The Government does not propose to introduce new enforcement mechanisms for net gain; existing enforcement mechanisms in the planning system will be used. The exception to this is where habitats are secured by conservation covenants. In these cases responsibility for monitoring and enforcement would sit with the organisation that holds the covenant.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Biodiversity Net Gain, what steps he is taking to ensure that the mitigation hierarchy is fully adhered in advance of decision-making on that net gain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has been clear in its consultation on net gain, the subsequent Government response to that consultation, and in the Environment Bill’s policy paper that biodiversity net gain should not undermine the importance of the mitigation hierarchy. We have also been clear that biodiversity net gain tools and guidance will instead reinforce and support adherence to the mitigation hierarchy which is already well established in planning policy.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 that the Biodiversity Net Gain system will not undermine protections in relation to (a) ancient woodland and (b) other irreplaceable habitats.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A proposal to deliver biodiversity net gain does not affect the weight that should be given to other planning considerations, matters of planning policy, or legal obligations including those relating to protection of irreplaceable habitats.
Our irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland, ancient trees and veteran trees are afforded the strongest protection and we committed in our 25 Year Environment Plan to increase protection of our existing trees and forests. As part of this, we have already strengthened the protection of ancient woodlands through the National Planning Policy Framework and the accompanying Planning Policy Guidance.
Through this strengthening, any development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats should be refused unless there are wholly exceptional reasons and a suitable compensation strategy exists.
In circumstances in which development results in the loss of irreplaceable habitat, these losses cannot be directly replaced. The requirement for a measurable 10% net gain will therefore not apply to irreplaceable habitat. Bespoke compensation agreements should continue to be made. The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as secondary legislation is developed for irreplaceable habitats.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the cost to the public purse and (b) resources required to introduce the (a) strategic planning and (b) development management for the Biodiversity Net Gain regime in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government published an impact assessment for Biodiversity net gain and local nature recovery strategies last year, which includes an assessment of related costs and benefits.
The annual ongoing cost to local government of the biodiversity net gain regime and local natural recovery strategies is £9.5 million per year. For central government, the estimated ongoing costs are £1.8 million for Natural England, and £1.3 million for Defra with one-off capital costs of £0.5 million. We continue to work with local authorities and our agencies to quantify any additional costs to deliver biodiversity net gain, in addition to professional organisations to make sure there is access to the right training, ecological expertise and systems required.
We are continuing to engage with stakeholders to refine our estimates of cost and work towards a more comprehensive assessment of required resources.
Asked by: Tracey Crouch (Conservative - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what safeguards he plans to put in place to ensure that the exemption of development orders, brownfield sites and the power to exempt any other developments from biodiversity net gain does not lead to a significant reduction in the number of developments required to deliver biodiversity gain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As stated in the Government response to the net gain consultation, the Government will not introduce broad exemptions from delivering biodiversity net gain, beyond those exemptions already proposed for permitted development and householder applications such as extensions. The Government will instead introduce narrow exemptions for the most constrained types of development.
Permitted development rights play a vital role in freeing up local planning authorities to deal with planning applications that matter to local communities and have a wider social, economic and environmental impact. Whilst the biodiversity net gain provisions are not applicable to development undertaken through rights granted under the General Permitted Development Order, they are applicable to development permitted by local development orders and neighbourhood development orders.
The extent to which any exemption reduces the positive outcomes of this policy for wildlife and communities will remain an important consideration during the development of secondary legislation. Any further details on suggested exemptions will be subject to further engagement and consultation with stakeholders before implementation.