Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to introduce management measures for the stage 3 and stage 4 offshore marine protected areas.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is essential to manage damaging fishing activity in our Marine Protected Areas appropriately due to the significant damage it can have on protected habitats and species. The department is considering next steps for both stages 3 and 4 in the context of our domestic and international nature conservation obligations and how we support the fishing sector.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental impacts of the Cayman Islands government’s proposed east-west arterial road project.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The responsibility for any environmental impact assessments for road projects is with the Cayman Islands Government, as environment is devolved to Overseas Territories (OTs) governments. Defra regularly engages with the OTs to facilitate knowledge exchange on environmental issues, where requested.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a new UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government will work with the Governments and Administrations of the UK Overseas Territories on timescales for publishing a new UK Overseas Territories Biodiversity Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to continue financing Darwin Plus at £10 million per year after the current commitment ends in 2025.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Running since 2012, the Darwin Plus programme has invested over £55 million in more than 320 projects across the UK Overseas Territories. The UK Government has recently expanded the Darwin Plus programme to better meet the needs of the UK Overseas Territories. In 2023, Darwin Plus introduced a new local scheme aimed at building capacity, and a new strategic scheme for fostering great innovation, ambition and collaboration in and between territories, both of which are now funding live projects.
Post March 2025, Darwin Plus funding will be subject to outcomes of the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies prohibits fuel subsidies for fleets and vessels catching depleted fish stocks in UK waters.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies prohibits specific subsidies, including specific fuel subsidies, for fishing or fishing related activities regarding an overfished stock. The UK does not provide specific fuel subsidies to the UK fishing fleet.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in reforming incentives, including subsidies for ecologically harmful activities, as required under Target 18 of the Global Biodiversity Framework.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
In May 2024, the UK plans to publish its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), which will set out national targets and policies for implementing targets in the Global Biodiversity Framework, including Target 18. This will include a target to identify any incentives and subsidies that are harmful to biodiversity. The UK already has a positive story to tell on reforming incentives through our work to deliver the Agricultural Transition. Our Environmental Land Management schemes will incentivise farmers to improve biodiversity, soil health and air and water quality, reduce agricultural emissions, restore peatland, and establish and restore woodlands and forests.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their timetable for the (1) introduction, and (2) implementation, of activity regulations under the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 provides a framework for the introduction of future bans on the advertising and offering for sale, in England and Northern Ireland, of low-welfare animal activities abroad.
Future decisions on which specific animal activities will fall in scope of the advertising ban will be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. Sufficient, compelling evidence will be required to demonstrate why any specific advertising ban is needed.
This Government continues to make animal welfare a priority and we are currently exploring a number of options to ensure progress as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to expedite the delivery of the apex goal set out in the Executive Summary of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 to halt the decline in biodiversity and achieve 'thriving plants and wildlife'.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
We are committed to meeting our ambitious target to halt and then reverse species decline and are accelerating action towards delivery.
In June last year we launched a multi-million-pound Species Survival Fund to provide early progress towards our species abundance targets and support the recovery of declining species. The fund will support projects focussed on the creation and restoration of wildlife-rich habitats, including on protected sites.
Through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme, launched April 2023, we have also provided £14.5M of funding for 63 projects delivered in partnership with 74 different organisations to take action to halt and reverse the decline of 150 rare species, including the critically endangered European eel and the Greater Mouse-eared bat.
In November we announced the 34 projects selected for the £25 million second round of our Landscape Recovery scheme. These projects will collectively restore more than 35,000 hectares of peatland, sustainably manage more than 20,000 hectares of woodland, including some temperate rainforest, create over 7,000 hectares of new woodland and benefit more than 160 protected sites (SSSIs). This builds on the success of the first 22 Landscape Recovery projects which are already underway, aiming to restore more than 600 km of rivers and targeting the conservation of more than 260 flagship species. This is alongside increased incentives, announced in January, for farmers to deliver environmental outcomes which will support habitats and species through our Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship schemes.
We are also rolling out Nature Recovery Projects across the country to create improved and better-connected habitats for wildlife and improve public access to nature. In July 2023 we launched a further six projects covering over 176,000 ha of land across England. These projects build on the G7 legacy project in Cornwall launched in 2021 and the five other nature recovery projects launched in 2022 which together span around 120,200 hectares.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to publish a timebound strategy to meet their legal obligation to aim that fishing occurs at sustainable levels.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
As an independent coastal state, the UK now sets catch limits through negotiations with other coastal states, led by the best available science. In line with the sustainability objective in the Fisheries Act 2020, our aim is to achieve environmentally sustainable outcomes as well as socio-economic benefits. The UK Joint Fisheries Statement, published last November, lists 43 Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) to be developed across the UK and sets out a timetable for their publication. The FMPs will set out policies to maintain or increase stocks to sustainable levels (or contribute to doing so). Our FMPs will contain short-, medium- and long-term time bound actions to be delivered over the lifetime of the plan. The actions are to support the sustainable management of fish stocks – they are based on the best available evidence and input from the fishing sector. We plan to publish the first FMPs by the end of this year.
Asked by: Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in agreeing sustainable fishing catch limits for 2024–26 with the EU, what consideration they have given to advice provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, and whether these limits will or will not exceed this advice.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
As an independent coastal State, the UK sets total allowable catches (TACs) through negotiations with other coastal States led by the best scientific advice, including advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) on maximum sustainable yield (MSY). For the majority of stocks TACs will be set for 2024, with a small number agreed biennially through to 2025.
Per our obligations under the Fisheries Act 2020 and Joint Fisheries Statement, we seek to achieve, or contribute to the achievement of the fisheries objectives. In particular, we strive to deliver environmental sustainability, including increasing the total number of stocks fished at MSY, as well as economic benefits. In early 2024, following the conclusion of the annual fisheries negotiations, the Government will publish an independent assessment of the number of TACs set consistent with ICES advice for 2024.