Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many marine mammals were caught by vessels fishing in UK waters in 2023.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Marine mammal bycatch is required to be reported under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. According to the Marine Management Organisation six marine mammals were reported by fishing vessels as bycatch injury or mortality in 2023.

There are various sources for marine mammal bycatch data in the UK.

The UK Bycatch Monitoring Programme provides bycatch estimates for the UK; however, these have not yet been produced for 2023.

The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme diagnosed 16 cases of bycaught marine mammals in 2023 (covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland and which all occurred in England).

In Scotland, the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme reports on incidents of marine mammal bycatch in Scottish waters.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Animals in Science Regulation Unit's Annual Report 2022 on 25 April, what assessment they have made of the adequacy of sanctions such as inspector advice and compliance letters in response to animal welfare failings, including animals dying because of a lack of food or water.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office takes non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 very seriously. The Animals in Science Regulation Unit responds to and applies sanctions in cases of non-compliance in accordance with its compliance policy, which aims to reduce the risk of future non-compliance. More rigorous sanctions are used in cases where animal welfare is impacted or there are significant systems failures.

The Animals in Science Regulation Unit will continue to assess the proportionality of its responses to cases of non-compliance.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support research into sustainable materials, including those limiting emissions along entire material and product lifecycles.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government are committed to supporting the research and development of sustainable materials, notably where it enhances our commitments to net zero. The Government set up the Henry Royce Institute in 2015, the UK’s centre for advanced materials research with an initial £235m in investment provided by HMG. In 2022 an additional £95 million was provided to the Royce Institute.

The cross-government Innovation Accelerator Programme through InnovateUK has funded a two-year pilot for a Centre of Expertise in Advanced Materials and Sustainability (CEAMS), part of wider programme that will see £100 million invested across 26 transformative R&D projects.

The UK government through UKRI has awarded the Foundation Industries Sustainability Consortium £19.5 million to run the Economic Material Innovation for Sustainable and Efficient use of Resources (EconoMISER) programme. The funding provides the UK’s Foundation Industries, who contribute 10% of the total CO₂ emitted by UK homes and businesses, with the essential tools needed to decarbonise.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to invest in infrastructure to support the re-use, repair and re-manufacturing of e-waste products according to the waste hierarchy.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Waste Prevention Programme for England: Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste (copy attached) commits the Government to prioritise measures to support the waste hierarchy in relation to electrical equipment. This includes consideration of ways to provide consumers and businesses with information on the environmental performance of electrical and electronic products, focussing on material resource efficiency aspects such as durability, reparability and recyclability. The Government has also introduced new eco-design requirements for a range of industrial appliances, white goods, electronic displays and lighting products, to increase their reparability. We have also published a consultation and call for evidence on potential reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013. The review includes measures to ensure more WEEE is properly collected for reuse and recycling, considers new metrics to evaluate the performance of the WEEE system and wider proposals that would support the circular economy. We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and call for evidence and will publish a summary in due course.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of e-waste; and what steps they are taking to address this.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is committed to delivering a more sustainable future for the UK and world. Supporting this it recently announced the world’s first United Nations-backed International Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management in the Circular Economy. In partnership with national and international partners the centre will deliver environmentally sustainable primary extraction of Critical Minerals and map the flow of these critical and priority minerals across their complete life cycle, from extraction to reuse, recovery to disposal.

Defra also published a consultation and a call for evidence on reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013 with a view to improving levels of collection for re-use and recycling, improving treatment standards and critical mineral recovery from WEEE and wider measures in support of the circular economy. The consultation and call for evidence closed on 7 March. Defra is currently analysing the responses and will publish a summary of responses in due course.

The current regulations require producers to finance the collection and proper treatment of WEEE which has stimulated investment in WEEE treatment infrastructure.

Under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 obligated producers are required to obtain Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs), as evidence that a certain tonnage of packaging waste that has been recycled. The sale of PRNs generates millions of pounds of revenue a year for reprocessors and exporters of packaging waste (circa £490m in 2022), which should be re-invested to support development of the necessary recycling and reprocessing infrastructure.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve data collection, mapping, and tracking of critical minerals and other material streams within electrical and electronic equipment.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has recently announced the world’s first United Nations-backed International Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management in the Circular Economy. In partnership with national and international partners the centre will deliver environmentally sustainable primary extraction of Critical Minerals and map the flow of these critical and priority minerals across there complete life cycle, from extraction to reuse, recovery to disposal. In addition, Defra also published a consultation and call for evidence on reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013. This sought evidence in support of future policy measures intended to improve treatment standards and critical mineral recovery from WEEE. Defra is currently analysing and will publish a summary in due course.