Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to ensure that Natural England accepts requests to meet members of Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As our main arm’s length body for nature in England and in line with its statutory purpose, Natural England is keen to keep Parliament and Parliamentarians up to speed with its operations. Natural England makes its wealth of science, evidence and experience of delivery available to Parliament in a number of ways including regular contributions to Parliamentary Select Committee inquiries and Parliamentary groups such as APPGs as well as individual meetings with MPs, Peers and Parliamentary staff where that is appropriate and adds value.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will take steps to ensure that correspondence from a member of Parliament to a chief executive officer of a non-departmental public body is answered by the chief executive officer.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Guide to Handling Correspondence, sets out the guidance for Government departments and executive agencies to follow in responding to correspondence from members of Parliament. While it is not mandatory for correspondence from members of Parliament to be answered by Chief Executive Officers of non-departmental public bodies, correspondence responses should be high quality and answered within set timeframes.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Parliamentary Undersecretary for State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 25 March (HC Deb col 924), what plans they have to raise awareness and improve pet owners' education with regards to using fipronil and imidacloprid.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The cross-Government Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE) Group is convening a workshop in August 2025, focused on the environmental impact of pet parasiticides.
This event will bring together representatives from across the companion animal sector to share knowledge and expertise on this issue. The primary objective of the workshop is to collaboratively develop and agree on consistent messaging for pet owners regarding the appropriate use of topical parasiticides for cats and dogs. A key focus will be on how this messaging can be effectively disseminated across different settings - with the aim to minimise potential environmental impacts.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 27 March 2025 (HL5886), whether they will publish the roadmap to address levels of fipronil or imidacloprid in UK waterways.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The roadmap to address levels of fipronil or imidacloprid in UK waterways will be published imminently, subject to ministerial clearance and upon receipt of a grid slot.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Khan of Burnley on 12 June (HL Deb 324GC), which stakeholders they have consulted with in respect of the wildfire policy scoping work; and what plans they have to consult with landowners, land managers, and wildfire experts.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is taking a joined-up approach to enhancing resilience to wildfires. Improvements are being driven in wildfire data collection through the introduction of the new Fire and Rescue Data Platform – a new incident reporting tool used by Fire and Rescue Services. This will introduce a formal definition for ‘wildfire’ for the purpose of fire incident reporting, which will enable Government to collect official data on the number of incidents and publish official statistics. These improvements will allow us to track data trends, the concentration of wildfire events and provide a solid evidence base for future wildfire policy and operational planning.
Prior to the transfer of fire functions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. This included a workshop, led by Defra, on land management issues. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Officials continue to engage actively with landowners, land managers and wildfire specialists through established forums including the England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF).
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what date they will provide a formal definition of a wildfire; and which stakeholders they are consulting to agree that definition.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is taking a joined-up approach to enhancing resilience to wildfires. Improvements are being driven in wildfire data collection through the introduction of the new Fire and Rescue Data Platform – a new incident reporting tool used by Fire and Rescue Services. This will introduce a formal definition for ‘wildfire’ for the purpose of fire incident reporting, which will enable Government to collect official data on the number of incidents and publish official statistics. These improvements will allow us to track data trends, the concentration of wildfire events and provide a solid evidence base for future wildfire policy and operational planning.
Prior to the transfer of fire functions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Home Office convened a number of stakeholder workshops with the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra), its agencies, and other stakeholders to identify policy options for addressing wildfire risk. This included a workshop, led by Defra, on land management issues. The outcomes of this work are currently being considered.
Officials continue to engage actively with landowners, land managers and wildfire specialists through established forums including the England and Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF).
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to resume the chemical control of bracken to protect human health, biodiversity and the historic environment.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the challenge that bracken presents to land managers, particularly in upland regions. Mechanical control and chemical control using glyphosate can be useful tools in controlling bracken, though the government recognises their limitations. It is for individual land managers to decide how to control bracken within safe and legal means.
The Government encourages industry and other external partners to develop new tools that will help to address the challenge of managing bracken. Any herbicides not currently allowed for bracken control would require authorisation for that purpose by the Health and Safety Executive.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to restricting tick and flea treatments for pets containing fipronil or imidacloprid to prescription only, in the light of evidence of their human and environmental toxicity and their detrimental effects on aquatic life.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Parasiticides, such as those containing fipronil and imidacloprid, play an essential role in protecting both animal and human health against fleas and ticks and their associated vector-borne diseases, which can lead to parasitic disease in pets and present zoonotic risks to humans, as well as causing distress and discomfort. The concerns regarding the potential contribution of flea and tick treatments to the levels of imidacloprid currently being detected in UK surface waters are recognised. The Veterinary Medicine Directorate (VMD) is currently gathering evidence on this issue and has initiated the formation of a cross-governmental Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE) Group.
The PiE Group has set out a roadmap of activities to address levels of fipronil and imidacloprid in UK waterways. The immediate priority is to collaborate with key stakeholders to enhance and promote consistent messaging to users on the appropriate use of topical parasiticides for cats and dogs, aiming to reduce potential environmental impacts. Beyond this, actions will focus on developing our evidence base through research and monitoring. The group will use this evidence to improve understanding of the issue and inform future policy activities in the longer term.
At this stage, there are no plans to restrict flea and tick treatments to prescription only. Any future regulatory decisions will be based on robust scientific evidence to ensure both environmental protection and continued access to essential veterinary medicines.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a timetable for implementing the provisions in the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Secretary of State has recently announced that the secondary legislation necessary to implement the Precision Breeding Act for plants in England will be laid by the end of March.
Defra is also considering the animal welfare framework outlined in the Precision Breeding Act.
Asked by: Earl of Caithness (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of their commitment to introduce secondary legislation to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for a new trade deal with the European Union.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The European Commission has proposed to adopt a new, less restrictive, regulation for the marketing of plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques (NGTs) and their use for food and feed. An approach similar to that used in the Precision Breeding Act.
The proposal is still under consideration in the European Council and its contents are subject to change.
We will continue to monitor progress in the EU to understand implications for trade, including in the context of the Government's commitment to seek to negotiate a veterinary / Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement with the EU.