Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their target for the number of badgers to be vaccinated against bovine tuberculosis in England in 2024.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no specific target number for badger vaccination in 2024. In 2023, just over 3,000 badgers were vaccinated in England. This was the highest annual number vaccinated since the vaccine was authorised in 2010. Whilst we expect numbers to increase this year, the absolute number vaccinated will depend on which areas are targeted and factors such as weather and annual changes in badger populations.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - 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 number of badgers that will be killed in (1) Oxfordshire, and (2) England, in 2024 as part of the bovine tuberculosis control programme.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No estimate has been made on the number of badgers to be removed in Oxfordshire and England in 2024, as part of our bovine tuberculosis eradication strategy. The minimum and maximum numbers for each licensed cull area will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the yearly targets for manufacturers of electric vehicles will be in line with the Climate Change Committee's balanced net zero pathway.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are continuing to analyse responses to the technical consultation on zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate policy design, and will bring forward the Government’s response in due course. We remain committed to targets entering into force from January 2024.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in light of the sustainability objective in section 2(b) of the Fisheries Act 2020, what steps they will take in order to determine whether current fleet capacity matches available fishing opportunities.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK produces an annual fleet capacity report which assesses how effectively the fleet is operating.
The Government is committed to engage with stakeholders to address sustainability and fleet management issues through Fisheries Management Plans.
The current management system of licences and quota restrictions ensure that the sustainability objectives in the Fisheries Act are addressed, with licence conditions amended where necessary to match demand against fishing opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what new financial support they will allocate to support building a (1) sustainable, (2) low carbon, fishing industry.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The £100 million UK Seafood Fund has been carefully crafted to support projects that will support the long-term viability of the sector. This is being done through all four elements, infrastructure, science and innovation, skills and training, and exports.
Additionally, one of the UK Seafood Fund’s overarching objectives is to increase environmental sustainability. It is one of the mandatory criteria that applicants must cover if applying under the Infrastructure pillar.
Funding is also available to enable each of the devolved administrations to deliver their own grant funding schemes. The scheme for England – the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme – has driven meaningful change to increase sustainability, provide world-class fisheries management and support a thriving marine environment.
The Marine Management Organisation is looking to relaunch the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme this month. The new iteration of the scheme will continue to deliver investment to safeguard the long-term sustainability, resilience and prosperity of the seafood sector across England. It will include support for projects that limit carbon emissions, reduce the environmental impact of fishing, enable the collection of marine litter, and deliver professional advice for seafood businesses on environmental sustainability.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what new (1) evidence, or (2) research, has been (a) commissioned, or (b) submitted, regarding the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 since its approval in December 2021.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Regulations made on 2 December 2021 will require medium and large businesses, including those with 50 or more employees, to restrict volume price promotions such as ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘3 for 2’ offers on high fat, salt or sugar products. Less healthy products in scope of the restrictions will also no longer be featured in key locations, such as checkouts, store entrances, aisle ends and their online equivalents. Free refills of sugary soft drinks will also be prohibited in the eating-out sector. These restrictions will come into force in October 2022.
The Restricting promotions of products high in fat, sugar or salt by location and by volume price: implementation guidance was published in an online only format on 6 April 2022. The guidance was developed in collaboration with trade associations, businesses and local authorities, to provide further clarification on which businesses and which products are in scope of the Regulations to help businesses to plan ahead.
The Government is committed to reviewing the Regulations within five years of the Regulations coming into force. The National Institute for Health and Care’s Policy Research (NIHR) Programme has commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to assess the extent and nature of location-based promotions of food and drink high in fat, salt or sugar in supermarkets in England. Officials are developing further plans to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of this policy.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent progress they have made towards implementation of the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021; and when they will publish the technical guidance for the implementation of those regulations.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Regulations made on 2 December 2021 will require medium and large businesses, including those with 50 or more employees, to restrict volume price promotions such as ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘3 for 2’ offers on high fat, salt or sugar products. Less healthy products in scope of the restrictions will also no longer be featured in key locations, such as checkouts, store entrances, aisle ends and their online equivalents. Free refills of sugary soft drinks will also be prohibited in the eating-out sector. These restrictions will come into force in October 2022.
The Restricting promotions of products high in fat, sugar or salt by location and by volume price: implementation guidance was published in an online only format on 6 April 2022. The guidance was developed in collaboration with trade associations, businesses and local authorities, to provide further clarification on which businesses and which products are in scope of the Regulations to help businesses to plan ahead.
The Government is committed to reviewing the Regulations within five years of the Regulations coming into force. The National Institute for Health and Care’s Policy Research (NIHR) Programme has commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to assess the extent and nature of location-based promotions of food and drink high in fat, salt or sugar in supermarkets in England. Officials are developing further plans to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of this policy.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to impose sanctions on local authorities that have not used grants under the Emergency Active Travel Fund to introduce relevant measures to encourage or facilitate active travel; and what sanctions these will be.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport has consistently made clear to local authorities that it reserves the right to claw back funding for active travel schemes where it is not satisfied that it has been appropriately spent. In determining future funding allocations, it will take into account local authorities’ track record in delivering active travel schemes.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the funding awarded from the Emergency Active Travel Fund to Oxfordshire County Council to support the Jericho Low Traffic Neighbourhood has been used for the purpose for which it was awarded.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has asked all local authorities, including Oxfordshire County Council, to monitor and evaluate the impacts of their active travel schemes, and will take this into account in determining future funding allocations. The detailed design of local schemes is however, a matter for local authorities.
Asked by: Lord Krebs (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 22 March (HL13985), what plans they have to reduce air pollution from diesel (1) engines, and (2) generators, on canal boats moored in residential areas.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government is working to address emissions from canal boats as part of our wider commitment to improve air quality. Recent efforts have focussed on reducing pollution from solid fuel burning but government is actively exploring what options are available in the longer term to eliminate harmful emissions from the small diesel engines used on watercraft including the inland waterways sector.
Analysis undertaken by the Department for Transport has identified that alternative fuels and power sources will be needed in order to achieve substantial long-term reductions in air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from the inland and UK domestic fleets. In response to this the Government has recently launched the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, a £20m fund aimed at supporting innovation in the wider maritime sector and accelerating the commercial availability of low and zero emissions technology for vessels in the UK. While primarily focused on maritime activity it is expected that this fund will also benefit related sectors including inland fleet, particularly in areas like engine technology and alternative fuels.
Additionally, the maritime elements of the Government’s forthcoming Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP) will consider the wider opportunities to reduce pollutant emissions arising from our transition to net zero in 2050 and will consult upon appropriate policy responses to support this outcome. The TDP is planned for publication in late Spring.