Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 impact of climate change on (a) inland waterways and (b) the costs of maintaining inland waterways.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Ministers do not have a role in operational matters on inland waterways, which rests with the navigation authorities that own and manage them. This includes having appropriate maintenance programmes in place to ensure public safety and resilience of their assets and infrastructure against the effects of climate change. Under the upcoming fourth round of climate adaptation reporting (ARP4), introduced under the Climate Change Act 2008, the Government will invite the Canal and River Trust (C&RT) and the Environment Agency to report on their canal and river activities.
On 10 July the Government announced a very substantial grant of over £400 million new funding for the C&RT between 2027 and 2037. This is a significant sum of money and a sign of the importance that we place on our inland waterways. It will provide the C&RT with certainty about the level of Government grant funding for its future business planning and continue to support the C&RT to maintain its canal network.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 Committee on Climate Change's report entitled Net Zero - The UK's contribution to stopping global warming, published May 2019, and research by CPRE on increasing the hedgerow network by 40 per cent by 2050; whether the Government plans to set a target on hedgerow planting.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Hedgerows make a valuable contribution to climate change, our countryside, nature and much more and we are already investing heavily in this crucial habitat. Through Countryside Stewardship up to 2022, there were over 11,000 live agreements that included hedgerow management covering 58,000 kilometres of hedgerow. There are also over 4,000 km of new hedges planted through the scheme. Defra will encourage and support increased hedgerows through our environmental land management schemes, including providing funding through the Sustainable Farming Incentive which we intend to roll out next year.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to adjust commercial fishing licences for 2023 to stop industrial fishing in Marine Protected Areas, in the context of declines in fish populations.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Management measures in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are introduced on a site-by-site basis to ensure that measures can be tailored to meet the conservation objectives of each site and without unnecessarily restricting fishing activity. We are aiming to have all English MPAs protected from damaging fishing activity by the end of 2024, and have recently consulted on candidate Highly Protected Marine Areas. As set out in the Fisheries Act 2020, FMPs will also be important tools to deliver sustainable and well managed fisheries around the UK, that meet our national and international commitments.
HM Government is reviewing its policy on industrial fishing, and we will continue to engage with stakeholders about our future approach over the next few months, particularly towards industrial fishing of sandeel and Norway pout within our waters. The UK advocates an approach towards setting Total Allowable Catches (TACs) which is founded on the best available scientific advice and that will maintain or rebuild sustainable fish stocks and fisheries.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to (a) reduce textiles waste in the UK, (b) improve the environmental sustainability of materials and production processes used in the production of textiles sold in the UK, (c) tackle exploitative labour practices used in the supply chains of textiles sold in the UK, (d) tackle lack of access to clothing in the context of the rise in the cost of living and (e) support consumers to make sustainable clothing choices.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Government’s Resources & Waste Strategy for England identified textiles as a priority sector for action. We fund Textiles 2030, a voluntary partnership with industry to reduce the environmental impact of textiles, with signatories covering over 62% of all clothing put on the UK market. This programme is underpinned by ambitious science-based targets, including halving the carbon footprint of new products and reducing the water footprint by 30%, both by 2030.
Our landmark Environment Act 2021 provides general powers to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, design standards and require information on the resource efficiency of products, which will enable us to act more effectively
With those powers in mind, we are considering what wider framework of policy measures could best help reduce the environmental footprint of fashion and building our evidence base. This could include options to reduce waste through increased producer responsibility for goods at end of life, measures to drive increased reuse and longevity of garments as well as better product design and information standards to support consumers to make the most environmentally friendly choice.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals to amend the Hunting Act 2004 to prevent dogs from (a) seeking out, (b) injuring and (c) killing wild mammals.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act, and completely bans hare coursing. The Government does not therefore see the need to review the Hunting Act 2004.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ban cages for breeding (a) partridges, (b) pheasants and (c) other game birds.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We are committed to maintaining our position as world leaders in farm animal welfare and want to improve and build upon that record, working in partnership with farmers to support healthier, higher welfare animals. As referenced in the recently published Action Plan for Animal Welfare we are actively exploring options for strengthening the UK system moving forward and are examining the evidence around the use of cages in farming, including their use for breeding and rearing of gamebirds.
The welfare of gamebirds is protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal. The Statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes offers additional protection and provides keepers with guidance on how to meet the welfare needs of their gamebirds as required by the 2006 Act. It recommends that barren cages for breeding pheasants and small barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used and that any system should be appropriately enriched.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) carry out targeted inspections on gamebird farms. Appropriate action is taken against anyone who breaks the law.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the steps the Government is taking to implement the ban on ear cropping dogs in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is currently an offence in England and Wales to carry out a non-exempted mutilation e.g. where it is not carried out for medical purposes, including the cropping of a dog’s ears. The procedure is considered unnecessary and compromises the animal’s welfare. Once the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 comes into force on the 29 June 2021, anyone convicted of such an offence faces being sent to prison for up to five years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both.
This strengthened penalty sends a clear message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated and will enable our courts to take a firmer approach to cases of illegally cropping a dog’s ears and other forms of cruelty such as dog fighting, abuse of puppies and kittens, or gross neglect of farm animals.
On 12 May 2021 the Government published its Action Plan for Animal Welfare. This is a wide-reaching and ambitious plan to set out our current and future work on animal welfare. The Government has a manifesto commitment to crack down on puppy smuggling and one of our key reforms in the plan is to end the abhorrent, cruel practice of puppy smuggling and low-welfare pet imports. We are planning to bring in powers that will allow us to prohibit the importation and non-commercial movement of dogs into Great Britain that have been subject to low welfare practices, such as ear cropping, in line with our domestic legislation on these practices.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to increase animal welfare standards for the pig farming industry.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The Government shares the public's high regard for animal welfare. As referenced in the recently published Action Plan for Animal Welfare we are actively exploring options for strengthening the UK system moving forward and are currently examining the evidence around the use of cages for farm animals.
We introduced a new pig welfare code of practice, which came into force in March last year, and this provides guidance to keepers and farmers on legal requirements and encourages high standards of husbandry. The pig code states that the aim is for farrowing crates to no longer be necessary and for any new system to protect the welfare of the sow, as well as her piglets. We are continuing to discuss and work with the industry on this issue.
We are co-designing an Animal Health and Welfare Pathway with industry, to promote the production of healthier, higher-welfare animals at a level beyond compliance with current regulations, underpinning our high international reputation for health and welfare and future increases to regulatory standards.
We are committed to maintaining our position as world leaders in animal welfare and want to improve and build upon that record, working in partnership with farmers to support healthier, higher welfare animals.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to (a) ensure that the running of pet registration databases is fully accountable to pet owners and (b) create a Government-run pet registration database.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Under the Microchipping of Dogs Regulations 2015, it is compulsory for owners to microchip their dogs and their details must be recorded on a compliant database. The Regulations set out conditions which microchip databases must meet to be compliant. There are 16 compliant microchip databases, which are listed on gov.uk.
We are currently carrying out a post-implementation review of the Regulations, which will be published later this year. It will consider how the current database system is working in practice and will identify whether improvements are required.