Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 set out a timetable for bringing forward a ban on live exports.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain committed to ending the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter. There have not been any live exports for fattening or slaughter since 2020 and we want to make this permanent. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 announce the members appointed to the Animal Sentience Committee.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 25 May 2023, we announced that the Animal Sentience Committee has been established. The Committee is chaired by Michael Seals CBE, who was appointed on 02 September 2022. He is joined by five experts in animal welfare, who were appointed on 25 May 2023.
The five new members are Professor Richard Bennett, Richard Cooper, Dr Penny Hawkins, Professor Anna Meredith and Professor Christine Nicol.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to restore (a) saltmarshes, (b) native oyster reefs and (c) seagrass meadows in the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government recognises that protecting, restoring, and sustainably managing coastal and marine habitats such as saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reefs can provide benefits for society, biodiversity and climate adaptation, as well as for carbon sequestration.
We are working to protect these habitats, including through the Marine Protected Area network, which already contains the majority of saltmarsh and seagrass habitats in the UK. A number of estuarine and coastal habitat restoration initiatives are also underway including the Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative which aims to reverse centuries of coastal habitat decline by restoring seagrass meadows, saltmarsh and native oyster reefs to bring benefits to people and nature. The Environment Agency’s restoration handbooks and restoration potential maps are also a key tool to support restoration of coastal blue carbon habitats in the UK and beyond.
In addition, the Government’s £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund has supported a range of nature recovery projects across England, some which have included saltmarsh and seagrass restoration.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to create an extended producer responsibility scheme for fishing gear in order to reduce global ocean plastic.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is committed to protecting the marine environment from all human-induced stressors, including marine litter such as abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG). We are exploring methods to recycle and reuse ALDFG as well as end of life gear at ports and aquaculture farms with the intention of moving the sector towards a circular economy model. This involves assessing all potential options and considering proportionality and value for money. We will consult on the most appropriate solution to managing end of life fishing gear.
In addition the UK is also working collaboratively at the International Maritime Organisation to further address actions that have been identified under its 2018 Action Plan and 2021 Strategy on marine plastic litter from ships, in particular ALDFG.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to implement the recommendations of the Benyon review Into Highly Protected Marine Areas.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government confirmed earlier this year that the first three Highly Protected Marine Areas in English Waters will be designated before 6th of July 2023 and further sites will be identified by the autumn.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in view of the incidence of fly tipping, whether she is taking steps with local authorities to increase access to recycling and refuse centres.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Last year, Defra issued a call for evidence on booking systems at household waste recycling centres alongside the consultation on preventing charges for DIY waste at household waste recycling centres. The consultation and call for evidence closed on the 4th of July 2022. Alongside this, we commissioned research into the use of booking systems at household waste recycling centres to see if they have had an impact on fly-tipping levels. The government’s position on booking systems will be outlined shortly as part of the government response to the consultation on preventing charges for DIY waste at household waste recycling centres.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 adequacy of food (a) labelling practices by supermarkets and (b) processing legislation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels, whether that be mandatory or voluntary, so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy
All food sold on the UK market must comply with food labelling rules. The fundamental principle of food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable the safe use of food.
Responsibility for assessing business compliance with the majority of food legislation rests with Local Authorities (LAs). The Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides a framework for LAs to regulate food businesses. A key aspect of this is the statutory Food Law Code of Practice (Code) and associated Practice Guidance, which establish a set of expectations for the activities LAs are responsible for under food law and how these are to be delivered.
Food law provides a robust framework that protects public health and requires food businesses that produce, process, and distribute food to apply food safety controls that ensure food they place on the market is safe. The FSA completed a Post Implementation Review of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England ) Regulations 2013 in 2020.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the accuracy of food labelling.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels, whether that be mandatory or voluntary, so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy
All food sold on the UK market must comply with food labelling rules. The fundamental principle of food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable the safe use of food.
Responsibility for assessing business compliance with the majority of food legislation rests with Local Authorities (LAs). The FSA provides a framework for LAs to regulate food businesses. A key aspect of this is the statutory Food Law Code of Practice (Code) and associated Practice Guidance, which establish a set of expectations for the activities LAs are responsible for under food law and how these are to be delivered.
The FSA’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) works closely with the Food Industry Intelligence Network (FIIN), whose members include supermarkets and many businesses within their supply chains.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 has made of the potential merits for anglers of maintaining the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is in the process of analysing and assessing its retained EU law stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, including in relation to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect (a) puffins, (b) kittiwakes and \(c) other marine life from the industrial fishing of their food source of sandeels; and whether she is taking steps to (i) ban and (ii) restrict supertrawlers from access to UK waters.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is concerned about the effects on the marine ecosystem from the removal of forage fish, like sandeels, by industrial fishing. Defra is presently consulting on spatial management measures for industrial fishing for sandeel in English waters of the North Sea. These proposed measures will deliver greater resilience for our sandeel stocks, as well as species which rely on them as a food source, including vulnerable seabirds, commercially valuable fish and marine mammals.
We are considering our policies for large pelagic trawlers, commonly known as supertrawlers, and working to develop more robust management of the non-quota species which these vessels are targeting alongside quota stocks. Any action needs to be evidence-based and in line with the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) continues to monitor fishing activity in English waters with dedicated enforcement and surveillance work to protect fisheries, including offshore patrol vessels for at-sea surveillance.