Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the area of deforestation associated with UK imports of (1) cattle products, (2) soy, (3) palm oil, (4) cocoa, (5) coffee, and (6) rubber, in each year since 2021.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Estimates of deforestation associated with UK consumption of these commodities are published through the Global Environmental Impacts of Consumption indicator.
These estimates cover UK consumption rather than imports alone. The latest available data is for 2023, as the underlying datasets take time to gather, verify and process.
Estimated deforestation associated with UK consumption, in hectares, for 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively:
Cattle products: 5,280; 4,130; 4,040
Soy: 2,100; 2,120; 1,630
Palm oil: 1,450; 1,290; 964
Cocoa: 4,810; 3,110; 3,120
Coffee: 798; 587; 511
Rubber: 1,010; 822; 781
This Government is strengthening its approach to tackling deforestation in UK supply chains.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings (1) Ministers, and (2) officials in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have held with (a) businesses, and (b) trade associations, on the design of regulations under Schedule 17 to the Environment Act 2021 since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government plans to consult later this year on the GB approach to deforestation, including on the design of regulations under Schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021. Defra has been continually engaging with businesses and trade associations in the run-up to consultation (including at least 5 meetings in 2025 and at least 17 meetings in 2026) and will continue close engagement to seek views and encourage responses from businesses and trade associations on our proposed approach.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - 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 potential economic impact of the timing of UK forest risk commodity regulations on regulatory divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland following the application of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government announced the proposed UK approach to deforestation regulations in June and will consult on the approach in Great Britain later this year. To protect the UK internal market, the proposed Great Britain policy aims to operate alongside the EUDR. This Government also aims to achieve due diligence consistency for businesses working in both the UK internal market and EU single market.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their intended timetable for (1) laying before the House, and (2) bringing into force, regulations under Schedule 17 to the Environment Act 2021; and why they have not already brought forward such regulations since that Act received Royal Assent.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government recognises the urgency of tackling deforestation globally and the important role the UK has internationally. It plans to consult later this year on the GB approach to deforestation. The proposed approach includes updating existing requirements under the UK Timber Regulation and introducing regulations under Schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021. It is expected that legislation to implement this regime will be laid in 2027, with a scheme coming into force in 2028.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards implementing the reforms to the rules for carriers, brokers and dealers set out in their Waste Crime Action Plan of 20 March.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Legislation has been laid to implement reforms to the carriers, brokers and dealers system as laid out in the waste crime action plan. The legislation will come into effect from summer 2027.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have with clearing the illegal waste dump on Bolton House Road, Bickershaw, near Wigan.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 14 May Defra officials visited the site and met with local partners and residents to discuss the clearance operation. Discussions focused on site logistics, access rights, the ability of the market to provide sufficiently specialist capability, management of the fire risk, and remediation of the site once it has been cleared. Defra and local partners will continue to work together to commence the clearance operation as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce secondary legislation mandating the reform of the waste carrier, broker and dealer system before the prorogation of this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are finalising the drafting of the necessary legislative amendments, and these will be progressed as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce secondary legislation mandating digital waste tracking before the prorogation of this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Subject to parliamentary time, we expect to introduce secondary legislation mandating digital waste tracking before the prorogation of this Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a global ecosystem assessment report and, if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra routinely conducts and updates assessments on a range of threats. HMG publishes assessments in the National Risk Register and Chronic Risks Analysis, including on biodiversity loss and its interactions with ecosystems, on GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk that industrial-scale deep seabed mining will (1) damage ocean ecosystems, and (2) lead to permanent biodiversity loss.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK recognises the growing pressure to extract deep-sea resources, and is deeply concerned about the potential impacts of mining activities on the fragile marine environment.
We have commissioned an independent review of the existing literature in relation to deep sea mining, which will seek to include elements such as environmental, economic and societal considerations, and to identify key outstanding questions and evidence gaps. The terms of reference and a summary of the evidence review will be published in due course.
We have committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects, unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems, and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards are in place.
Further and detailed environmental impact assessments would be required in advance of any exploitation licence being issued.