Domestic Animals: Welfare

Lord Bird Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

I do not have that information to hand. However, I hope that all in the House agree that posting grotesque acts of animal barbarity online should be controlled. We have to make sure that we have control over legislation that affects people in this country. If this is being done around the world, it is not impossible to legislate against it but it is more complicated. We want to make sure that, through this and other legislation, we are doing this in the right way and legislating where we can be effective.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

A very interesting point is that a dog can help humanise homeless people and others who are a bit lost, looking for their way in life. The problem is that there are few places where homeless people can take their dogs. It would be a good idea for the Government to lean on some of these hostels and temporary accommodation places to provide more for the dogs that people bring with them.

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. For people who are in a particularly vulnerable state, whether they have a home or not, a pet can be an extraordinary addition to their life and can help their circumstances. Whether hostels allow dogs is a matter for the people who control those hostels. They might be able to work with organisations that can house the dog while the person is in a refuge, if those kinds of local partnerships are available. I am happy to discuss with the noble Lord how we can make more of that sort of thing available.

Nitrate-free Bacon and Ham

Lord Bird Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Benyon (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right: we want to see improved animal welfare standards, productivity and growth across the agricultural sector. In East Anglia, where the majority of our larger pork enterprises exist, huge strides have been taken. As of yesterday, the pork price was about £1.98 per kilo, which is considerably up on where it was last February, when it was around £1.37. This is a massive improvement, but many pig producers are still finding that their costs of production exceed their income. The Government are doing all we can to make sure that they are a profitable part of our farming sector.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

If noble Lords will forgive me, I will take this opportunity to “do a Lord West”. The noble Lord seems to be able to get ships in everywhere. Can I get poverty in here? Is the Government going to bring home the bacon for the neediest among us?

[Noble Lords]

Oh!

Food Prices: Agricultural Policy

Lord Bird Excerpts

Thursday 18th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble (Con) [V]]

My Lords, we have set up the UK agricultural support framework precisely to ensure that there is non-legislative collaboration and co-operation on agricultural support between the four UK Administrations. We will continue with this effective co-ordination and dialogue, so that the internal market of the UK is secure.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

Does the Minister agree that a low- wage economy is one reason why we have food poverty? If we look at the agricultural industry, we see some of the lowest wages in the UK. How are we going to square that one? We want cheap food, but we want it by having cheap labour in the countryside.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble (Con) [V]]

My Lords, agricultural innovation will make a considerable difference to the qualifications and skills of the next generations of agricultural and horticultural workers. This is going to be an area of great expansion.

Recycling

Lord Bird Excerpts

Tuesday 9th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, we are working in collaboration with local authorities because we think that that is the civilised way in which we will get the results that we are expecting. Indeed, that is why there are local authorities recycling 65%, which is a very high figure, and others that are not, and why we are working with local authorities, particularly in inner cities and towns, where this is proving a problem. We need to address that, which is why the resources and waste strategy, the clean growth strategy and the industrial strategy will all be engaged on getting a better situation.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

My Lords, is it possible to bring back the totter? Could we not have all those little microconsumers going around picking up goods that have some value, such as bottles and cans? Could we not get manufacturers to put a value on them so that we could bring that stuff back into the community and use it?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, what the noble Lord said is important. That is precisely why, subject to consultation, we will be introducing, for instance, a deposit return scheme in England which will be an important part of our collaboration with business to ensure that we reuse and recycle more.

Japanese Knotweed

Lord Bird Excerpts

Monday 7th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My noble friend would make an excellent tsarina. The noble Lord will be pleased to hear that we constantly update officials in the Scottish Government because, as I say, this occurs across our nation. We need to deal with it, which is why where local action groups work together, they have been successful. They use herbicides, injections, glyphosate and all sorts of things, and they are making a difference where they want to.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

We could do what Dame Roddick did; when she went to Nepal and noticed that all the cyclamen were stopping water from flowing, she bought them and turned them into paper. If we could find a use for knotweed, all the Boy Scouts in the world could rush around to get it, raising money for our local charities.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I am all for raising money for local charities but, ideally, I would much prefer to have our native species than this invasive species, which is harming our natural environment.