Asked by: Steve Race (Labour - Exeter)
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 help ensure regulators sponsored by his Department have sufficient resources for enforcement work.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department recognises the vital role that regulators play in the context of enforcement. The enforcement powers of bodies such as Ofwat and the Environment Agency are key to ensuring companies meet their obligations across the water and waste sectors in England and Wales. The Water (Special Measures) Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 4 September, will strengthen the power of the water industry regulators and expand the cost recovery powers available to the regulators, enabling them to recover their costs for enforcement action from water companies.
Officials work closely with Defra’s public bodies throughout each spending review period, to agree enforcement plans and the required resources.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to his Department was of ministerial severance payments in each year from 19 December 2019 to 30 May 2024; which Ministers received a severance payment; and how much each Minister received.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The details of any ministerial severance payments can be found in our Annual Report & Accounts.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Reform UK - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many positions in his Department included (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity and (d) equality in their job title in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of the salaries of each such job was in each of those years.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not routinely collate information on specific words and collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost.
Information on spending and staffing can be found in the department's annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend (1) to respond to the consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on fairer food labelling that closed on 7 May, and (2) to bring forward the proposals to improve transparency in method-of-production welfare labelling for pork, chicken and eggs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers are carefully considering all responses provided to a public consultation on fairer food labelling before deciding on next steps.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to manage the potential impact of implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on glass manufacturers.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Government’s commitment to implement Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) and the benefits it will deliver, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is working alongside the Department for Business and Trade to discuss the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility on specific packaging sectors, including glass. We will continue to engage with industry on this matter.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the findings of the Decapods: Call for Evidence, published on 5 July 2023; and what recent estimate she has made of when the Animals in Science Committee will report on options for the future regulation of the use of decapod crustaceans in research.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following earlier research and reports on this issue, the next step is for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to decide whether to regulate Decapods under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Any decision of publication of earlier research or the commissioning of further advice will follow in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government who are the members of the Health and Safety Executive's UK Rodenticide Stewardship Government Oversight Group that oversees second generation anticoagulant rodenticides and their effect on non-target species.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK Rodenticides Stewardship Government Oversight Group is chaired by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and comprises representatives of other government stakeholders, who are HSE Northern Ireland; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; UK Health Security Agency; Natural England; and the Welsh and Scottish Governments. The group relies on analysis of environmental monitoring data provided by an independent research institute.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making crimes against wildlife notifiable offences.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit to help tackle these crimes.
The National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agenciesacross the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity. The NWCU uses this information to produce strategic and tactical assessments of wildlife crime across the UK.
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 Department's policy that deliberate cruelty against companion animals is a standing item on the agenda of the Animal Welfare Committee.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is an offence under Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. In 2021, the maximum sentence for this offence was increased to five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
The Government can seek independent, authoritative, impartial and timely advice from the Animal Welfare Committee for all animal welfare matters relating to animals kept by people.
In relation to companion animal welfare, the Committee advises the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Scottish and Welsh Governments. The Committee produce reports according to topics agreed annually, but do not have standing items on their agenda.
More information on AWC’s terms of reference and workplan is available on the GOV.UK page (here).
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department spent on communications in the last year for which data is available.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra spent £1,503,000 on communications activity in the 2023/2024 financial year. Defra publishes details on spend on a monthly basis on GOV.UK as part of routine Government transparency arrangements.
Communications campaigns are an important part of delivering some of the Department’s policies. Communications spend allows us to reach audiences in places and ways that ensure they are more responsive and open to hearing about our work and hopefully changing their attitudes and behaviours towards positive action.