Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what physical checks on (a) food safety, (b) animal health and (c) plant health will be necessary at Border Control Posts in Great Britain in relation to the movement of goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain under the proposed Windsor Framework.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Windsor Framework assures unfettered access for Northern Ireland's businesses to the UK market on a permanent basis, with controls applied only where strictly necessary to manage our international obligations, such as for movements of endangered species.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will provide guidance on what changes if any the Windsor Framework will make to the checking of products exported from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Windsor Framework ensures unfettered access for Northern Ireland's businesses to the UK market on a permanent basis. It removes the requirement to provide export declarations, or any equivalent information, for businesses moving goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, with controls applied only where strictly necessary to manage our international obligations, such as for movements of endangered species. In those very narrow range of cases where any process applies, it will be UK authorities responsible for managing them (with the relevant UK authority as specified within the relevant regulations).
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which authority will check any non-Northern Irish products which enter Great Britain from ports in Northern Ireland under the proposed arrangements in the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Windsor Framework ensures unfettered access for Northern Ireland's businesses to the UK market on a permanent basis. It removes the requirement to provide export declarations, or any equivalent information, for businesses moving goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, with controls applied only where strictly necessary to manage our international obligations, such as for movements of endangered species. In those very narrow range of cases where any process applies, it will be UK authorities responsible for managing them (with the relevant UK authority as specified within the relevant regulations).
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s timeline is for responding to (a) the UN Office of Drugs and Crime’s 2021 report on the UK's approach to tackling wildlife crime and (b) the recommendation for stronger regulation to properly address raptor persecution.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We welcomed the UN Office of Drugs and Crime report and the fact that it recognised the UK's global leadership in fighting wildlife and forestry crime. We invited the UN to undertake this analysis and we are proud to be the first G7 country to request this assessment.
We have carefully considered all the recommendations of the report and they are informing our work to help us build on the positive progress we have already made in tackling wildlife crime. This will include strategic engagement with our partners that have responsibilities where individual recommendations are concerned such as the devolved administrations, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU).
Progress has already been made in response to the report. For example, in 2022 Defra more than doubled its funding of the NWCU from a total of £495,000 over the three previous years to £1.2 million for the three year period of 2022-25. Additionally, Border Force has increased numbers in their team specialising in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Defra is not under any obligation to formally respond to the UNODC's assessment and has no plans to do so, but we will identify where we can act, including with stakeholders, to strengthen the UK's approach to tackling wildlife and forestry crime. This includes recommendations to address raptor persecution. Where any protected birds are killed illegally the full force of the law should apply to any proven perpetrators of the crime. We already have significant sanctions for this type of wildlife crime in place which includes an unlimited fine and/or a six-month custodial sentence. To address concerns about the illegal killing of birds of prey, senior government and enforcement officers have identified raptor persecution as a national wildlife crime priority. Defra continues to be fully involved with the police-led national Bird of Prey Crime Priority Delivery Group which brings together police, government and stakeholders and the extra funding we now provide to the NWCU is also to be allocated towards wildlife crime priorities including crimes against our birds of prey.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
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 tackle the poaching of (a) jaguars and (b) endangered animals.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK is committed to protecting endangered animals and plants from poaching and illegal trade to benefit wildlife, local communities and the economy while protecting global security. As part of this commitment, we are increasing our funding and will invest a further £30 million between 2022 and 2025 to directly counter poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Through Defra’s grant scheme, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, we are funding practical projects to protect endangered species – including jaguars - and reduce poverty in developing countries. This includes a project that aims to tackle the poaching of jaguars by targeting the illegal jaguar teeth trade in Bolivia by expanding local intelligence networks. Further information on Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund projects is available here: https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 make estimate of the number of rhinos in sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK Government does not undertake its own assessments of rhinoceros populations. The African Rhino Specialist Group, part of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission, collects rhinoceros population statistics and analyses trends. Recent population estimates were submitted to the 19th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which took place in November 2022.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Botswanan counterpart on the levels of rhino poaching in that country.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Secretary of State has not discussed the levels of rhino poaching with her counterpart in the Botswana Government. However, officials met with the Botswana delegation, including the Minister of Environment and Tourism, ahead of and during the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES COP19). Discussions covered a range of important biodiversity issues, including sustainable conservation and the challenges facing local communities living alongside large animals.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on bringing forward a full prohibition on the import of fur, foie gras and hunting trophies from overseas into the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Action Plan for Animal Welfare outlined our intention to explore potential action on the import of animal fur. We have since conducted a Call for Evidence on the fur sector along with other forms of engagement with interested parties. We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, and we are also committed to building a clear evidence base to inform any potential future decisions relating to foie gras imports.
The Government has pledged to ban the imports of hunting trophies from thousands of species. We are committed to a ban that is among the strongest in the world and leads the way in protecting endangered animals. We are supporting the Private Member’s Bill led by the hon. Member for Crawley that will deliver this.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
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 compatibility of the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill with her Department’s international development strategy.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government has pledged to ban the imports of hunting trophies from thousands of species. We are committed to a ban on imports of hunting trophies that is among the strongest in the world and leads the way in protecting endangered animals. We are supporting the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, a Private Member’s Bill led by the hon. Member for Crawley, that will deliver this. This is consistent with our commitment to protect nature that we set out in the strategy for international development published in May 2022.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has discussed the poaching of rhinos in Namibia with her Namibian counterpart.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Secretary of State has not discussed the poaching of rhinos in Namibia with her Namibian counterpart. However, her Ministerial team recently met with their counterparts in Namibia in advance of CBD CoP15 and discussed a range of biodiversity issues, including protected areas and species targets.
The UK is fully committed to protecting endangered animals and plants from poaching and illegal trade to benefit wildlife, local communities and the economy, and protect global security. At the recent Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES COP19) held in Panama, the UK engaged proactively in discussions with Namibia and other countries on the continued poaching and illegal trade in rhinos, fully supporting the reconvening of the Rhinoceros Enforcement Task Force which we consider to be a key instrument for addressing this issue. The illegal harvesting of wildlife has also been identified as a priority issue in Namibia and the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) under our new Biodiverse Landscapes Fund. Through this we aim to strengthen policy, legal and judicial procedure by improving the capacity of investigators and prosecutors, facilitating intelligence analysis and information sharing, supporting legislative reform, and revising sentencing guidelines for wildlife crimes.