Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of cases of bluetongue in Hertfordshire.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra acted quickly to contain bluetongue serotype 3 (BTV-3) when the first case this season was detected on 26 August, implementing zones with movement controls on susceptible livestock to prevent spread. Disease control restrictions have been adapted in response to new findings and there is now a single restricted zone (RZ) covering the east coast and some inland areas in England, including Hertfordshire where there have been 3 cases to date.
The movement of susceptible animals from the RZ to live elsewhere in England requires a specific licence and is subject to free pre-movement and post-movement testing. This helps to prevent the possible establishment of new pockets of disease from undetected spread via animal movements. Some animals were humanely culled to prevent establishment at the outset and infected animals in cases found in free areas outside the restricted zone have also been humanely culled.
Defra has permitted the use of vaccines for BTV-3 which are now available for vets to prescribe in England.
Defra and APHA continue surveillance and epidemiological assessments, remaining vigilant for any changes, and are working closely with key industry stakeholders to review how we approach controls for BTV-3 for the coming winter months, in 2025 and beyond.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the Environment Agency is able to monitor and investigate illegal sewage discharges.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working closely with the water industry regulators, including the Environment Agency (EA), to ensure they are properly equipped to carry out investigation and enforcement action against illegal sewage discharges.
The EA is recruiting up to 500 additional staff for inspections, enforcement and stronger regulation by March next year. This will enable them to increase compliance checks, quadruple the number of water company inspections and conduct more in-depth and independent audits to get to the root-cause of incidents.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill will introduce a requirement for water companies to publish information on discharges from emergency overflows in near real-time (within an hour of a discharge occurring). This data will be independently scrutinised by the regulators, supporting investigations into possible permit breaches, and will fulfil the government’s commitment to ensure independent monitoring of every outlet.
An independent commission on the water sector regulatory system was recently announced, in conjunction with the Welsh Government. The commission will make a set of recommendations which will include ensuring that water industry regulators are effective, have a clear purpose and are empowered to hold water companies to account.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of the rural economy compared to that of other countries in Europe.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The rural economy makes a substantial contribution to England’s economy, and the government recognises that rural areas offer significant potential to support economic growth. Rural areas and the rural economy vary greatly across Europe, and it is difficult to make direct comparisons with other countries.
Defra has a team dedicated to developing the evidence base on rural areas. It publishes the Statistical Digest for Rural England to provide up-to-date analysis across a wide range of subjects including a Rural Economic Bulletin. At present this evidence base does not make any direct comparison between England and other countries in Europe.
Defra also routinely conducts research on the rural economy and is in regular contact with academic specialists in this field. This has included the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) who support collaboration between their member countries to address rural challenges.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Rural Coalition and Pragmatix Advisory Reigniting rural futures: Rural communities’ capacity to boost economic growth, published in May; in particular, the claim that the rural economy could generate between £9 and £19 billion of additional tax revenue with increased investment and infrastructure.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The rural economy contributes over £315 billion a year to England alone, with over half a million businesses are currently registered in rural areas.
We welcome the report published by the Rural Coalition and Pragmatix Advisory on Reigniting rural futures: Rural communities’ capacity to boost economic growth (attached).
Whilst the rural economy makes a substantial contribution to England’s economy, we know that overall productivity is typically lower when compared to predominantly urban areas. Additionally, we know that productivity varies greatly across rural areas reflecting their diversity. Whilst some offer good examples of successful businesses, others consist of deprived areas.
The Government recognises that rural areas, therefore, offer significant potential to support economic growth, and the government has committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities.
A prosperous rural economy will be underpinned by investment and improvements in rural infrastructure including transport, energy, digital, affordable housing and access to a diverse range of community services.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prevent the unauthorised release of beavers into the wild, and what plans they have to introduce a national strategy for the authorisation of releases.
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.
Defra will continue to work with Natural England to develop our approach to beaver reintroductions and management in England. This work includes consideration of how to prevent further unauthorised release of beavers into the wild.
Apart from the River Otter population, all other wild living beavers in England are the result of unlawful releases, escapes from enclosures or their descendants. It is an offence to release a beaver in England without a licence from Natural England. Licences are available for the release of beavers into enclosures. Licenced projects are responsible for managing animals they have released and are also expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conservation Translocations in England.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) health, and (2) environmental, implications of the disposal of plastic waste by incineration.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All energy-from-waste plants in England are regulated by the Environment Agency (EA) and must comply with the strict emissions limits set down in legislation. The EA will only grant a permit if they are satisfied that the proposal would not give rise to any significant pollution of the environment or harm to human health. When the EA receives a permit application for a new plant, they carry out a comprehensive air quality modelling assessment of emissions from the plant and consult the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for their views on the application.
The UKHSA’s position is that modern, well run and regulated municipal waste incinerators are not a significant risk to public health. UKHSA will continue to review its advice in light of any new substantial research on the health effects of incinerators published in peer-reviewed journals. To date, UKHSA is not aware of any evidence that requires a change in the position statement.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the issue of 'farmwashing' by retailers; and what steps they intend to take to tackle this issue.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will deliver a resilient and healthy food system with a new deal to ensures fairness in the supply chain across all sectors. Where farmers sell directly to retailers, their agreements will be covered within the scope of the sectoral regulations that we are introducing through powers in the Agriculture Act 2020. Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling contractual unfairness wherever it exists.
In terms of how food is presented to consumers, all food sold in the UK must comply with food labelling rules: an underpinning rule of existing legislation is that food information, whether it be mandatory or is provided voluntarily, must not mislead. For example country of origin information is required for any food where its omission, when taking into account the labelling and presentation of the product as a whole, would be misleading to consumers.
Ministers will re-examine these regulations to ensure that they are working properly in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to tackle dog attacks on livestock, following the 30 per cent increase in dog attacks on livestock in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers. We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area and will be setting out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to tackle hare coursing; and what assessment they have made of whether hare coursing is increasing.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the impact which the crime of hare coursing has on rural communities.
Measures to strengthen law enforcement and increase the powers of the courts were introduced through the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. They have been widely welcomed. The new offences and higher penalties introduced by the Act are all being used and imposed by the courts.
Wildlife crimes such as hare coursing are not ‘notifiable’ so there are no official Home Office statistics or identifiable trends to judge robustly whether such crimes are increasing or decreasing across the country. Decisions on whether to make wildlife crimes notifiable sit with the Home Office. It is reasonable to assume the 2022 legislation, along with improved police tactics, intelligence and information sharing as well as the use of community protection notices (CPN) and criminal behaviour orders (CBO), has had an effect in terms of reducing levels of hare coursing.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bellamy on 21 March (HL3214) what assessment has been made of the drop in prosecutions for poaching in England, from 107 in 2019 to 34 in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the problems and distress which poaching can cause for local communities. Tackling it is one of the UK's national wildlife crime priorities.
The number of prosecutions for poaching in England can vary year from year due to a number of factors. For example, the levels of hare coursing, an abhorrent form of poaching, can be affected by the suitability of local ground conditions during a hare coursing ‘season’. If it is too wet, there is an increased risk that the vehicles used to facilitate coursing might get stuck in fields where hares are found so the activity is less likely to be carried out. If it is too dry, the dogs used by coursers are at an increased risk of injury. The numbers of prosecutions in a local area will also depend on effective enforcement. The level of resourcing assigned to tackle poaching may vary year from year depending on decisions taken by local police forces.
The difference in prosecutions between 2019 and 2023 might also have been affected by a key change in legislation. The 2019 figure provided by the Ministry of Justice in its answer of 21 March (HL3214) is from a time prior to the enactment of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This legislation increased police powers and sentences for a number of hare coursing offences. It is reasonable to suspect it had a deterrent effect on potential offenders and offences that may have led to prosecution. In combination with this new legislation, improved police tactics, intelligence and information sharing as well as the use of community protection notices and criminal behaviour orders may also have had an impact on recent poaching prosecution numbers. Finally, it must be noted that the 2023 figure of 34 used in the Lord Bishop’s question is not consistent with the other years as it only includes prosecutions for the months from January to June rather than, as with the years being compared with it, the full calendar year.