Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban the import of dogs with cropped ears.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The end of the transition period has opened up new opportunities for managing our own pet travel and commercial importation rules. We are actively listening to the concerns of stakeholders and the Government is considering options regarding the importation and commercial movements of dogs with cropped ears into Great Britain in line with World Trade Organization rules.
Importers of animals must adhere to welfare standards as set out in Council Regulation (EC) 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport and in domestic legislation, The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 (WATEO). This legislation aims to protect the health and welfare of animals during transportation and applies to dogs that are suffering injury as a result of non-exempted mutilations including cropped ears.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to provide written guidance (1) to informal organisations, and (2) to individuals, about the suitability of trees for planting according to (a) habitat, (b)(i) carbon, and (ii) pollution, control, and (c) the encouragement of (i) insects, and (ii) other forms of animal life.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The United Kingdom Forestry Standard (UKFS) is publicly available and is relevant to all those with an interest in UK forests and woodlands. It outlines the context for forestry and sets out the approach of the UK governments to multi-purpose sustainable forest management, which includes defining standards and requirements. Tree planting could be for amenity and recreation, to help in the fight against climate change, improve habitat including soil and water, help biodiversity, manage and enhance historic environment, or for timber production. A series of Practice Guides support the Standard and new guides on riparian woodland management and climate change adaptation are forthcoming.
Those interested in planting trees for carbon sequestration and to help battle climate change can access guidance on the need to incorporate the effects of climate change into woodland design and management. Forest Research also provide the ecological site classification which helps inform appropriate tree species choices by site.
The Forestry Commission continues to refine and improve the environmental protection measures and processes for woodland creation by assisting the planning and planting of woodlands in lower risk areas of England. Last year the Forestry Commission updated the Low Risk Map for woodland creation to better represent the distribution of best and most versatile agricultural land and introduce a buffer for all Sites of Special Scientific Interest. This map will continue to be reviewed and updated as further information becomes available.
The Forestry Commission also published priority habitat guidance. This provides an overview of priority habitats, their definitions, and includes characteristic plants and their associated national vegetation communities.
The Forestry Commission will also be publishing guidance on Woodland Creation Design and Natural Colonisation.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to ban the consumption of meat derived from (1) a cat, or (2) a dog, in the UK.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government shares the public's high regard for animal welfare, including the welfare of dogs and cats, and we are committed to making the UK a world leader in the protection of animals now we have left the EU.
The Government is appalled by the prospect of dogs and cats being consumed. However, it is already illegal to sell dog and cat meat for human consumption and the Government has seen no evidence that dog and cat meat is being sold or consumed in this country.
We are confident that our current position sends a clear message that the slaughter and consumption of dogs and cats will never be acceptable. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office raises concerns about the welfare of animals with other governments at every suitable opportunity, and we are pleased to hear that authorities in China are proposing to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the International Finance Corporation about the impact on (1) deforestation, (2) biodiversity, (3) water, and (4) soils, of producing feed for animals farmed in the projects which they fund.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK Government monitors the International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s application of the Social and Environmental Performance Standards which apply to all IFC projects. Performance Standard 6 covers Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources. For each proposed project, IFC publicly discloses summary project information, environmental and social implications, and expected development impact. Where projects present particular environmental and social risks, IFC sets out a time-limited Action Plan that the project must deliver. The UK Government uses its seat on the IFC Board to ensure that these procedures are followed.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many truckloads of (1) sheep, and (2) calves, were exported for slaughter or fattening from the port of Ramsgate between 1 January 2019 and the latest date for which figures are available; and how many were subject to supervised loading by the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
83 consignments of sheep but no consignments of calves were exported for slaughter or fattening from the port of Ramsgate between 1 January 2019 and 30 July 2020. Of these, 76 consignments were subject to supervised loading at the premises of origin by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
One consignment that was not subject to supervised loading at the premises of origin was supervised when loading additional animals prior to arrival at Ramsgate. The remainder of consignments that were not subject to supervised loading at the premises of origin were subject to additional checks by APHA staff at the port of exit.
The above figures are based on journey logs issued rather than the number of truckloads; occasionally one vehicle may have more than one journey log for each trip.
We have a manifesto commitment to end excessively long journeys for live animals going for slaughter and fattening, which is an opportunity we have gained through leaving the EU. We intend to issue a consultation on how we deliver on that commitment in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many infringement notices in relation to breaches of animal welfare regulations were issued by the Animal and Plant Health Agency between 1 January 2019 and the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Six Statutory Notices were served relating to breaches of animal welfare regulations. All of the notices related to consignments of sheep exported for slaughter or fattening for the period 1 January 2019 and 30 July 2020.
We have a manifesto commitment to end excessively long journeys for live animals going for slaughter and fattening, which is an opportunity we have gained through leaving the EU. We intend to issue a consultation on how we deliver on that commitment in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to set a date to reinstate the pensions of war widows that were withdrawn on remarriage or cohabitation before April 2015.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Officials have now developed a number of options to be considered. The full financial and legal implications of these options are being explored so that the Defence Secretary can decide how to proceed. Work on this is continuing at pace both in the Ministry of Defence and across Government.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they make of the number of UK nationals in South Africa awaiting repatriation; and what travel arrangements they have in hand to enable those nationals to return; and on what dates any flights for such purposes are due to occur.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We are working closely with the Government of South Africa and airlines to ensure British nationals can return home from South Africa. To date, 2058 British travellers have returned home on ten special charter flights organised by the UK government. South African airspace is currently closed to commercial airlines as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. It is not yet clear when commercial flights will be permitted to operate again. The FCO does not have a central registration system for flights and British nationals will only be asked to register for flights with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) when charters have been announced for a country. We are looking at all options to help those stranded and the British High Commission is working hard to ensure that British nationals who remain in South Africa are safe and getting the support they need.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what urgent steps they intend to take explicitly to ban the slaughter of dogs for human consumption in the UK.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
I can assure you that the Government shares the public’s high regard for animal welfare, including the welfare of dogs, and we are committed to making the UK a world leader in protection of animals as we leave the EU. The Government has made wide ranging commitments on animal welfare.
The Government is appalled by the prospect of dogs being consumed. However, it is already illegal to sell dog meat for human consumption and the Government has seen no evidence that dog meat is being sold or consumed in this country. We are confident that the current position in this country sends a clear message that the slaughter and consumption of dogs will never be acceptable.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why ornamental horticulture and floristry has been removed from Annex C of the funding regulations for post-16 education.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not hold the total spend on horticultural education and training for students over 16 years old. This is because the agency cannot disaggregate this information from the data that they hold.
Ornamental horticulture has never been an identified occupational area in the criteria used to assign specialist status; consequently it has not been removed from Annex C. However, the specialist provision group (a group with whom the ESFA consults which includes representatives from land-based colleges) agrees that ornamental/amenity horticulture requires very similar resources to production horticulture (which is an identified occupational area in the criteria), and therefore that the list of land-based occupational areas will be updated so that production horticulture changes to horticulture (thereby including ornamental, amenity and production horticulture).
Floristry was removed from the criteria on the advice of the specialist provision group when the criteria were reviewed in November 2015. It was removed because it does not require exceptionally significant resources that must operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the year - a fundamental principle in awarding land-based institutions specialist resources.