Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to support the growth of the Dartmoor pony population.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To help enable growth, Defra supports the conservation of livestock and equines, including the Dartmoor Pony, by monitoring populations of native breeds, with data published in the annual UK National Breed inventory. Defra also protects eligible native breeds at risk from culling during notifiable disease outbreaks. Defra can utilise the Zootechnical animal breeding legislation to support the recognised breed society to meet the aim of their approved breeding programme.
Actions will be available in Countryside Stewardship for grazing with both cattle and ponies. The Dartmoor Pony is listed on the Native Breeds at Risk list so are eligible for payments under the native breeds supplements. Defra have also made it clear within the new offer that ponies are exempt from stock removal requirements, in recognition that removal of ponies from moorland is neither feasible nor desirable in most circumstances.
For those with existing Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements and those currently working with Natural England on new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier applications, the new moorland offer will be subject to monitoring and evaluation, particularly in the first year. Any change in the pony population during this time will be investigated and further mitigations will be explored if necessary.
At present Defra are focussed on developing a new and improved SFI offer, more information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many lorries transporting goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland have been turned away at points of entry in the last 12 months due to (a) incorrect or (b) incomplete paperwork under the provisions of the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given the hon. Member for North Down, Alex Easton, on 13 November, PQ UIN 12673.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Extender Producer Responsibility fee structure on the glass packaging industry; and whether he has considered adopting a units-based metric.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (EPR) will move the cost of dealing with household packaging waste away from taxpayers and onto the packaging producers (applying the ‘polluter pays principle’). This will give producers responsibility for the costs of the packaging they use throughout its life cycle, encouraging businesses to reduce their use of packaging and use packaging which is easier to recycle and reuse.
The Government is not currently considering the adoption of a units-based metric for EPR fees. Extender Producer Responsibility disposal fees for packaging are calculated in £ per tonne of household packaging placed on the market in accordance with the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. Whilst producers report the packaging they supply on a weight basis, the costs for managing different material types, such as glass, are apportioned according to relevant cost drivers for their collection and management, including the volume of the container in bins and collection vehicles. This ensures the fair apportionment of costs between material types in line with the regulations.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to negotiate a veterinary agreement with the European Union to ensure the continued supply of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland beyond December 2025; and what alternative solutions are being considered to mitigate potential supply chain disruptions.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Maintaining availability of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland after the end of 2025 is a priority. This Government continues to progress work on this issue as quickly as possible and we continue to engage with industry to understand their intentions for supply after the grace period and what alternative products could be available. The Government has seen positive signs that the size of the issue is reducing, as businesses are making changes to their operations. The Veterinary Medicines Working Group, including experts, industry representatives and elected representatives, has also been re-established to advise the Government on this matter.
The Government is committed to resetting our EU relationship, including by seeking to negotiate an SPS agreement. We have been clear that an SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. We will not be providing a running commentary on discussions with the EU and it is too early to comment on what may be in scope of an agreement.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect blue carbon habitats from human activities.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In England, we have established a comprehensive network of 181 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which cover the majority of our saltmarsh and seagrass habitats. While blue carbon habitats may not always be an explicitly designated feature, MPA protection may still yield benefits.
Our focus is now on ensuring that these MPAs are effectively protected to allow the designated features to achieve favourable condition. Three Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMAs) designations in English waters came into force in summer 2023. Two of the three designated sites, Allonby Bay and North East of Farnes Deep, contain blue carbon habitats.
Defra set up the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership in partnership with DESNZ and the Devolved Administrations to address evidence gaps around these important habitats. We are funding a multi-year research project to increase our understanding of UK seabed sediment carbon storage and sequestration, the impact of human activities and to model potential management interventions. Initial outputs from this work were published in January 2025.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the use of nature-based solutions to tackle climate change.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has a vital role to play to ensure nature-based solutions are a core part of tackling climate change and averting its impacts. Nature-based solutions deliver multiple benefits for climate, biodiversity and people, and can therefore play a critical role in helping deliver the Government's priorities, such as ensuring nature recovery. Defra’s Secretary of State has made nature recovery one of the five top priorities for the Department.
This Government is committed to achieving its tree planting targets and is committed to the legal target to plant 16.5% tree cover by 2050. We will also restore hundreds of thousands of hectares of peatland and we are developing delivery mechanisms for peatland restoration.
Defra has secured a farm support budget of £2.4 billion for the next financial year. This means we can maintain the momentum of our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, which will rise to the highest funding levels ever by 2025/26. Through this investment, we are helping to secure a healthy and resilient future for English farming and restore our natural landscapes for generations to come whilst continuing to support farmers and landowners in their low-carbon, nature friendly practices.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his policy is on (a) chemical recycling and (b) the mass balance approach at the INC5 negotiations for the UN Global Plastics Treaty.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop a new UN Plastic Pollution Treaty, the UK will align with our domestic policy on any provisions related to chemical recycling.
The UK recognises that chemical recycling technologies can offer a complementary route to support the transition towards a circular economy, where mechanical recycling is unfeasible or uneconomic and where this waste may otherwise be incinerated.
Our domestic policy will inform our position on any provisions related to chemical recycling, including the mass balance approach, that are negotiated at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop a new UN Plastics Pollution Treaty.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the amount of funding that will be required to meet the UK's potential obligations under the proposed UN global plastics treaty.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is a leader on efforts to end plastic pollution. We already have a broad range of measures in place domestically that we are using, alongside ongoing industry and private sector engagement, as the basis to drive ambition across the proposed provisions of the UN Plastic Pollution Treaty. The Treaty is still under negotiation, with the UK committed to playing a leading role at the forthcoming fifth intergovernmental negotiating committee to ensure an effective treaty is agreed.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the number of lorries turned away at Northern Ireland ports for carrying cargo incorrectly listed on their manifests.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In line with the commitments we have made, as we move to our new UK internal market system we will ensure that the only checks when goods move within the UK internal market system are those conducted by UK authorities as part of a risk-based or intelligence-led approach to tackle criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks. But in order not to undermine that approach, as is the case across the UK we do not disclose the specific number or nature of interventions made by UK authorities.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Windsor Framework (Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals) Regulations 2024 on freedom of movement for people travelling with pets between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Northern Ireland Pet Travel Scheme will significantly reduce the burdens associated with the original Northern Ireland Protocol, and provides a stable and long-term footing for pet travel for those travelling with their pets within the United Kingdom.