Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (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 incidence of animal welfare breaches on farms, including animals being beaten or mutilated, sick animals being left untreated, and animals left in unsanitary conditions; and what steps they are taking to ensure breaches are detected and enforcement action taken.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) investigates all allegations of non-compliance thoroughly. Where breaches of the law are identified, appropriate enforcement action is taken. This may include follow-up, unannounced inspections to ensure that compliance has been achieved and maintained. Where necessary, APHA works closely with Local Authorities to coordinate enforcement measures
According to the latest Multi-Annual National Control Plan (MANCP) annual report for 2022, compliance rates across the farming sector remained high. To promote transparency and accountability, we are actively working with Local Authorities to improve the collection and publication of data relating to on-farm inspections and enforcement activities.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the ecological and environmental damage caused by the collision between two ships in the North Sea on 10 March.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra worked with multiple organisations, including the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas). Cefas’s Premiam Monitoring Coordination Cell (PMCC) was set up immediately following this incident. This cell implements post-incident monitoring to assess the impacts of marine pollution incidents and as part of this, shellfish (seafood) and seawater samples were collected in the days and weeks following the incident. The analysis from these samples has indicated that there were no significant adverse ecological or environmental impacts due to fuel or chemicals released from either vessel, or during the response to the incident.
Plastic nurdles and burned debris washed ashore along the Lincolnshire and North Norfolk coast following the incident. Large quantities of plastic pollution and debris were recovered from the shoreline and the sea. Work is still ongoing regarding this, with Environment Agency staff regularly visiting affected sites to assess and if necessary, remove newly visible pollution.
The PMCC has now been stood down, but the impacts of this incident are continuously monitored as part of routine ongoing water and environmental sampling in the area.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas, and if so when.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to protecting and restoring our ocean to good health, delivering on our commitment to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. We have recently announced a consultation on plans to ban bottom trawling in a further 41 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), covering 30,000 square kilometres of England’s waters. This is in addition to the 60% of MPAs that already have byelaws in place to protect them from damaging fishing activity, and to existing protections provided by the marine planning and licensing regimes. The consultation on these new proposals will run from 9 June to 1 September 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase global cooperation to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government is fully committed to preventing, deterring and eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Global cooperation and collaboration are key to tackling this issue, as highlighted at this week’s United Nation Oceans Conference in Nice.
To deliver this objective, we are taking forward a wide range of actions, including, but not limited to, being a co-founder and active member of the IUU Fishing Action Alliance; prioritising tackling IUU fishing within all international fisheries governance forums, of which the UK is a Party; and delivering support and capacity-building to combat IUU fishing through international funding programmes, such as the Blue Belt Programme and the Ocean Country Partnership Programme.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is taking to work more closely with UNESCO on the Global Geoparks initiative for mutual benefit.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England works with the UK Committee for UNESCO Global Geoparks and the UK National Commission for UNESCO to mentor and support existing and aspiring UNESCO Global Geoparks. We are responsible for designating and enabling good management of geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) many of which are of international value and provide the primary mechanism for protecting the geological value of our Geoparks. In return Geoparks are exemplars of best geoconservation practice.
More recently we have enabled the participation of Geoparks in the cross-government Climate Change and UNESCO Heritage Shared Outcomes Fund project and facilitated Geopark participation in the UNESCO Local to Global initiative which has focused on capacity and resilience building, notably including the urban Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark.
In 2025 we anticipate new applications from the Charnwood Forest Aspiring Geopark as well as the Cross-Channel/Transmanche Aspiring Geopark which is a unique transboundary collaboration between the Kent Downs National Landscape and the Parc naturel régional des Caps et Marais d'Opale.
Geoparks are locally driven and are a key part of our ambition to restore nature, at scale, and to enable more people to both act for and connect with nature through our rich geological heritage.
UKRI funded a project that partnered with Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geoparks, see GtR (attached as a PDF), between July and November 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 20 March (HL5459 and HL5460), whether assessments of samples for disposal at sea are determined by cost to the applicant or best available evidence.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Before material is disposed of at sea, Defra bodies follow OSPAR guidelines for assessing contaminant levels in samples. Cefas use the best available evidence when providing advice to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on contaminant levels in such samples. Assessments required may vary depending on the type of material and historic use of a site from which any material is dredged. Assessments are only used when the evidence they provide is necessary to determine if a material is suitable for disposal at sea, and this avoids disproportionate costs for applicants. The MMO then consider this evidence when determining applications to dispose of material at sea.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 20 March (HL5458 and HL5459), in what circumstances the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) would insist that bioassays are undertaken; and how many times in the past five years CEFAS has required such bioassays, and for which disposal licences.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cefas cannot insist that specific assessments are undertaken to support disposal licence applications as Cefas holds no regulatory power in that regard. Cefas can instead advise that certain assessments are undertaken or that certain licensing decisions are made, but decision-makers are not obliged to adhere to Cefas recommendations. Cefas does not collect data on how often certain assessments are recommended, however there are likely no examples of a bioassay or other ecotoxicological assessment being recommended in the past five years. Whilst such assessments can be recommended in line with the OSPAR guidelines, there may be significant costs associated for disposal applicants and there are currently no such assessments which have been validated by the MMO. Necessary assessments are still undertaken to determine if material is suitable for disposal at sea. The MMO assess applications on a case by case basis, and will request specific information from applicants where relevant and necessary to making a decision. Cefas is exploring the use of potentially more cost-effective assessments such as Microtox.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 11 March (HL5255), what assessment they have made of the disposal of waste into Beachy Head East and Beachy Head West marine conservation zones.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are two registered disposal sites within the Beachy Head Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). All material is assessed and classified as safe for marine disposal under OSPAR and London Convention and Protocol standards, with regular sediment testing required.
For all licences to dispose of dredged material within the Beachy Head MCZs, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) consult with technical advisors Cefas. The MMO request samples to be collected at the dredge site, and establish the contaminants to test for. This testing has shown the risk to the marine environment from contaminants in the dredged material is low. The applicant must undertake robust monitoring, including further sampling and monthly disposal reporting to the MMO, throughout the duration of a licence. This ensures that the material meets the standards and remains suitable for continued sea disposal at the relevant disposal site. MCZ assessments for both disposal sites concluded that the risk to MCZ conservation objectives from disposal is likely to be low. This robust framework ensures that disposal activity does not compromise the conservation objectives of the MCZ.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 20 March (HL5461), how many marine disposal sites there are, and how many are monitored each year.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are 727 marine disposal sites in total. Of these, 251 are open, 432 are closed, and 44 are disused.
Before a disposal site is designated, an applicant must submit a disposal site characterisation report to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), or evidence to satisfy the MMO that the area is suitable for disposal. In addition, all sediment being disposed of to sea is regularly sampled and analysed, with continued disposal requiring sign off from the MMO. Monthly disposal volumes are reported to the MMO in line with OSPAR requirements.
The MMO, in conjunction with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), also undertakes an annual Disposal Site Monitoring programme. The programme sets out how sites are monitored based on location, activity level, public interest, age of current monitoring data for the area, and frequency of site usage.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 11 March (HL5254), how they will maximise or monitor the success of 'blue economy' policies without baseline data.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra invests in data collection, analysis and research every year to improve our understanding of the marine environment, provide evidence for policy decision making and improve our understanding of policy and economic performance over time. For example, over the last three years the £38 million marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme collected evidence on the location, extent and condition of our marine and coastal natural capital assets in England. Alongside this, Defra evaluates the impact and value for money of programmes and policies in line with central Government guidance on conducting effective evaluations and evaluation results are published on the Government Evaluation Registry.