Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to build stronger links between national strategies for biodiversity and climate change.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Tackling biodiversity and climate change together is important both nationally and internationally. This government is demonstrating international leadership in this space. We have recently appointed Ruth Davis OBE as Special Representative for Nature; she will champion our ambition to put climate and nature at the heart of our foreign policy.
On the 30th of July, we announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). We are working with civil society, business and local government to review and revise the EIP to develop an ambitious programme to better protect the environment, create a zero-waste economy, save nature, reach net zero and adapt to climate change.
We are committed to concluding the review by the end of the year. A statement of key findings will be published in early 2025, to be followed by publication of a revised EIP.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a scheme to permit or require the surrender of neonicotinoid pesticides for destruction to prevent them from entering waterways.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not have any such plan. For all pesticides, including neonicotinoids, there are legal requirements to store the product securely, use it according to its authorisation (which will include conditions considered appropriate to protect people and the environment) and dispose safely of any surplus.
Recent emergency authorisations for Cruiser SB as a seed treatment on sugar beet seed have carried very specific conditions. These include a requirement to dispose of unused stock by the end of the emergency authorisation period at the beginning of June. There should not, therefore, be any current stocks of the product.
Furthermore, we would not expect there to have been any significant surplus. Cruiser SB is applied in centralised facilities as a treatment to pre-ordered seed. The quantity required is therefore known in advance and there is no reason for additional stocks to have been acquired.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental and human impact of the continued UK manufacture for export of pesticides banned for use within the UK; and whether they will extend existing and future pesticide bans to the production, as well as the use, of such pesticides.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to protecting human health and the environment. Pesticides pose risks if not used properly anywhere in the world.
Requirements for the export of hazardous chemicals are agreed at the international level under the Rotterdam Convention, recognising the environmental and human impacts of such exports.
The export of certain hazardous chemicals is regulated through the GB Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation, implementing the Convention. For certain pesticides, the UK goes beyond international requirements, whereby the explicit consent of the importing country is required under GB PIC before export can take place. This enables the importing country to make informed decisions about the import of those chemicals and how to handle them safely.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support veterinary practices to adopt an aligned approach to antimicrobial use, and increase the use of antimicrobial prescribing guidelines.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A key commitment of the AMR National Action Plan is to work alongside the veterinary profession to ensure they are supported to prescribe antibiotics responsibly and support animal health and welfare. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate lead on this work and have funded online training for both farm animal and companion animal vets through the RCVS Knowledge VetTeamAMR (attached: VetTeamAMR – RCVS knowledge) initiative. This provides important advice on how to manage different diseases and conditions where antibiotics are most commonly used, as well as modules on diagnostics, behaviour change, and infection control. The Veterinary Medicines Regulations were revised in 2024 and include provisions which increase the scrutiny on antibiotic prescribing. We have published guidance (attached: Veterinary Medicines Guidance) to help vets comply with the AMR elements of the VMRs and ensure responsible use of antibiotics under the cascade. We also work alongside the veterinary profession through antibiotic stewardship groups to encourage and support the development and dissemination of guidelines to vets (attached: Guidelines and guidance on the responsible use of veterinary medicines). Examples include the recently updated BSAVA/SAMSoc guidance for dogs and cats, the PROTECT ME guidelines for horses, the Pig Veterinary Society prescribing principles and guidance for dairy vets on reducing antibiotic milk residues.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to support extirpated species being reintroduced where it is socially and ecologically feasible.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports species reintroductions where they are economically feasible and there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment. All reintroductions in England are expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conservation Translocations. Conservation translocations are the deliberate movement and release of plants, animals or fungi into the wild for conservation purposes. This includes reintroductions, which are one type of conservation translocation.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reconsider the status of wild boar in England, following the move to make the beaver a European protected species in England under the provisions of the Beavers (England) Order 2022.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have no current plans to reconsider the status of wild boar.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to authorise new badger culls, excluding where they have already made commitments.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine tuberculosis (TB) rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be undertaken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease. By beating the disease we will end any need to cull badgers.
Existing cull processes, set up under the previous administration, will be honoured to ensure clarity for farmers involved in these culls whilst new measures can be rolled out through work on the new strategy. No new intensive or supplementary badger control licences will be issued, with all existing licences issued under these policies ending by January 2026. Any application for a licence received in respect of a TB hotspot in the Low Risk Area, would be processed by Natural England, as the delegated licensing authority, in accordance with the published policy guidance for this licence type, as introduced by the previous government in 2018.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce more stringent biosecurity measures to reduce the risk of African Swine Fever entering the UK, building on the mitigation measures introduced in September.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Preventing an outbreak of African swine fever in the UK remains one of Defra’s key biosecurity priorities. UK safeguard measures are in place prohibiting live pigs, wild boar, or pork products from affected European Union (EU) areas from entering Great Britain. Enforcement is carried out by Border Force and Port Health Authority officers at seaports and airports.
Under the enhanced safeguard measures introduced in September, travellers are no longer allowed to bring pork products into Great Britain unless they are produced and packaged to the EU’s commercial standards and weigh no more than two kilograms.
Defra and its agencies continuously review the spread of African swine fever and are ready to introduce further biosecurity restrictions should these be deemed necessary in response to new scientific and risk data. Risk assessments can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animal-diseases-international-monitoring.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the minimum and maximum kill targets for each area for the intensive badger cull that began around 1 September.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine tuberculosis (TB) rates to save cattle and farmers' livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be under-taken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease.
The published policy guidance as introduced by the previous Government requires Natural England to set a minimum and maximum number of badgers to be removed for bovine TB disease control purposes. These numbers are published annually on GOV.UK and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-authorisation-for-badger-control-in-2024.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to revise the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 or its associated regulations.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not have any plans to revise the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act, 2023. Currently, there are no associated implementing regulations, but my department will lay before parliament the secondary legislation required to unlock the benefits of the Precision Breeding Act as soon as parliamentary time allows.