Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to extend the ban on bottom trawling in more highly protected marine areas.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Highly Protected Marine Areas are areas of the sea which will prohibit all destructive, extractive, and depositional activities, including bottom trawling. The Government announced it will explore additional Highly Protected Marine Areas this year.
We will also continue to ban bottom trawling in our Marine Protected Areas wherever that is needed to protect the designated species and habitats. The Marine Management Organisation recently consulted on a byelaw to manage fishing using bottom towed gear in a further 13 sites and is now analysing the responses received.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on developing a system of food labelling to indicate the sustainability of the supply chain of food products.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government Food Strategy set out our commitment to deliver a sustainable and nature positive food system. Improving sustainability information is one of the ways we can support consumers who want to buy more sustainable food, tackle greenwashing and the proliferation of different labels on products to help to meet our climate and environmental goals. We have launched a Food Data Transparency Partnership which will develop a mandatory methodology that must be followed by those who want to use eco-labels or make sustainability claims about their products. We are working closely with industry and other technical experts, and will build on existing initiatives and schemes to develop our proposal, and will consult publicly on our plans in due course.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the violence at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in April 2023.
Answered by David Rutley
The Foreign Secretary has spoken to the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on 8 April following the terrorist attacks in the Jordan Valley and Tel Aviv, and we discussed the wider security situation. The UK is committed to working with all parties to maintain calm, avoid provocation and uphold the status quo to ensure the safety and the security of the al-Aqsa Mosque and all who worship there. While we recognise Israel's legitimate need to deploy security measures, we encourage Israel to deploy these in a way which minimises tension and use of appropriate force. When there have been accusations of excessive use of force, we advocate for swift, transparent investigations.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to introduce secondary legislation to implement in full the commitments made by the Government on due diligence of forest risk products in the Environment Act 2021.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to help tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains.
We ran a consultation from 3 December 2021 to 11 March 2022 to seek views on the details of regulations that will implement the Environment Act provisions, to ensure that these are designed effectively.
The Government published a summary of responses to this consultation on 1 June 2022 and is committed to implementing due diligence provisions at the earliest opportunity through secondary legislation.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to develop a strategy for the elimination of cervical cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In England, we are increasing the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of 90% through dedicated immunisation teams in schools where a 100% offer is made to all school-aged children eligible for these vaccinations. Annually, HPV vaccines are promoted to university students as they start the Autumn term, and NHS England are planning a further HPV awareness campaign.
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme already aligns with the WHO’s target of 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by 35 and 45 years old. Work is ongoing to improve this beyond the WHO target, through exploration into screening self-sampling via the YouScreen and HPValidate research.
A range of improvements and innovations have been brought in to help improve uptake in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. For example, in some Primary Care Network areas, appointments can now be made in any Primary Care setting, during evenings and on weekends, via integrated sexual health clinics.
There is currently no intention to publish a plan detailing these programmes.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the inclusion of international aviation in UK carbon budgets.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government will legislate for the inclusion of International Aviation and Shipping emissions in the Sixth Carbon Budget at the earliest opportunity, subject to Parliamentary scheduling.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proposals his Department will be making for the proposed High Seas Biodiversity Treaty; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Negotiations in the Intergovernmental Conference to negotiate a new Implementing Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) resumed at the UN on 20 February. The UK strongly supports the conclusion of an ambitious agreement at these negotiations and is working hard with international partners to achieve that outcome, which will include a mechanism for establishing Marine Protected Areas in the high seas. Negotiations conclude on 3 March.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish a workforce strategy for the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has committed to publishing a workforce plan this year, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking account of improvements in retention and productivity. This plan will help ensure that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right skills to transform and deliver high quality services fit for the future.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to accelerate the designation of Highly Protected Marine Areas in UK waters.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra recently consulted on five candidate pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). The consultation closed on 28 September. The responses are currently being analysed and will inform the Secretary of State's decision on whether pilot sites should be designated and if so, what their final site boundaries should be. Any pilot HPMAs would be designated through the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 by 6 July 2023. This would be a year from the start of the consultation as required by the Act.
Asked by: Lord Grayling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will permit the export of hexamine solid fuel tablets to Ukraine.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
All goods that require an export licence are assessed against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria on a case-by-case basis. The Export Control Joint Unit, which is responsible for export licensing in my Department, refuses only a very small proportion of export licence applications, but we will not grant an export licence if to do so would be inconsistent with the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria.