Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will he make an assessment of the potential impact of the import of (a) soy, (b) palm oil, (c) cocoa and (d) other products on the UK's contribution to tropical deforestation.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK consumption of soy, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, rubber and cattle products was associated with 15,363 hectares of deforestation in 2021 of which 11,201 was tropical deforestation. These commodities are estimated to account for 55% of the UK’s tropical and non-tropical deforestation footprint.
This Government recognises the urgency of taking action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation. We will set out our approach to addressing UK consumption of forest risk commodities in due course.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had discussions with police forces on the provision of training on potential inks between domestic violence and violence against animals.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government will treat violence against women and girls (VAWG) as a national emergency. We have set out our ambition to halve VAWG in a decade using every available lever.
Committing violence towards a pet or an assistance animal or using them to control or coerce a victim should be considered as risk factors for domestic abuse and must be treated seriously by the police. It is essential that every force has the right specialist capability to properly investigate these crimes taking into account the relevant risk factors.
We are committed to ensuring policing have the right skills and training to respond appropriately to victims of VAWG. We are working closely with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to strengthen police training for all forms of VAWG, including domestic abuse.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of crime perpetrated by fraudsters posing as legitimate food wholesalers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not hold crime data relating to this question. Fraudsters posing as legitimate food wholesalers are committing theft, which would primarily sit under a policing remit.
However, the FSA has published research on the broader wholistic cost of food crime. Phase 2 of the Cost of Food Crime report was published in October 2023, based on data up until 2022. It estimates the cost of food crime to the United Kingdom economy to be between £410 million and £1.96 billion per year. The report is available at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/Cost%20of%20Food%20Crime%20report.pdf
Furthermore, in September 2024, the FSA published its Food Crime Strategic Assessment, in collaboration with Food Standards Scotland. This articulates our understanding of food crime threats and trends. The assessment is available at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/FSA-Food%20Crime%20Strategy%202024.pdf
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with rail companies to help support the safety of (a) passengers and (b) rail staff during heatwaves.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Train operators are required by law to mitigate and manage the safety risks to staff and passengers associated with heatwaves. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) recently updated its guidance in June 2023 covering the specific arrangements and measures that operators should have in place to manage hot weather. This includes communicating travel conditions to passengers, providing access to water, recognising the signs of heatstroke, and administering medical assistance where needed. Operators are also expected to manage station and train environments to maintain comfortable temperatures, which extends to upgrading air conditioning and ventilation on new rolling stock and rectifying faults with these systems quickly in the event they stop working.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) funding and (b) other support his Department is providing to farmers to transition to more sustainable agricultural practices in (i) East, (b) South West and (c) South East of England.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes in 2025/26. This funding will deliver improvements to food security, biodiversity, carbon emissions, water quality, air quality and flood resilience.
Environmental Land Management schemes will remain at the centre of our offer for farmers, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery all continuing. These offer funding streams for farmers to make their businesses more sustainable and resilient, including those who have been often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenant farmers.
We will work with the sector to continue to roll out, improve and evolve these schemes, to make them work for farming and nature.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 help support the conservation of endemic tree species.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Genetic conservation is critical to maintaining the genetic pool of England’s native and endemic tree species. This diversity is important for evolutionary adaptation to environmental change.
The Millennium Seed Bank, managed by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, safeguards seed from the majority of UK endemic tree species, including all those that reliably produce viable seed. Further collecting is ongoing, with seed and data available to support research, conservation and reintroduction work.
Forestry England’s arboreta also currently support ex situ and in situ conservation of endemics from many countries. Alongside this, in September, Westonbirt National Arboretum launched the Global Conservation Consortium for Whitebeams, Rowans, and Service Trees, with initial focus on threatened UK and Irish species.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the Advertising Standards Authority upholds standards in relation to pre-watershed online gambling adverts in mobile gaming apps that may be used by children.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As part of the UK Advertising Codes, issued by the Committees for Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committees of Advertising Practice (BCAP), sister organisations of the Advertising Standards Authority, adverts must not be placed in children’s media, for instance a game mainly intended for children, and advertisers must take all reasonable steps to ensure that under-18s are excluded from their targeted marketing. There are also a range of robust rules and restrictions which apply to gambling adverts, wherever they appear, including online. As the statutory regulator for gambling in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission requires all licensed operators to abide by the Advertising Codes.
We are considering the best available evidence, including on advertising, from a wide range of sources to inform decisions on how best to fulfil the manifesto commitment to reducing gambling-related harm. We will provide further updates to the House soon.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.3.2 of the report of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, published on 4 September 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendation that on trade rules the Commission should ensure (a) coherence between EU animal welfare standards and (b) that the EU livestock production model and EU Animal Welfare legislation are not undermined.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Strategic Dialogue of the Future of EU Agriculture provided a mechanism for EU stakeholders to make suggestions to the European Commission to help inform its work shaping its Vision for Agriculture and Food. As this report represents those stakeholder recommendations to the commission, it is too early to say what potential implications it may have on current or future Government policies. This will depend on the positions developed by the Commission in response to the report.
The UK and EU have shared ambitions and challenges in our agricultural sectors, including supporting farmers in the context of climate and food security demands, strengthening the position of farmers in supply chains, and exploring innovation and Agri-Tech to support production.
The President of the European Commission and the Prime Minister have agreed to strengthen the relationship between the EU and UK. The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards. The Government has already committed to seek to negotiate a veterinary/sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to help boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in the UK and the EU.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding his Department made available for school transport for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in academic years (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22, (c) 2022-23, (d) 2023-24 and (e) 2024-25.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Most central government funding for home to school travel is provided through the local government finance settlement (LGFS), which is administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This funding is non-ringfenced, giving local authorities the flexibility to make the best decisions for their local area. In total, the LGFS for the 2024/25 financial year makes available up to £64.7 billion for local authorities in England. Further details on the settlement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2024-to-2025.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to protect the welfare of beagles bred for sale to animal testing facilities.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
animals bred in the UK for use in scientific procedures. All establishments licenced to breed protected animals under ASPA are required to comply with the published Code of Practice, which sets out standards for the appropriate care and accommodation of animals, including dogs.
The majority of Beagles bred for use in science (85%) are for the purposes of regulatory testing under legislation on pharmaceutical products for human use. The number of Beagles bred is largely determined by the forecast needs of the pharmaceutical industry that require testing of medicines, and the Animals in Science Regulation Unit conducts both announced and unannounced audits to ensure establishments compliance with the terms of their licences, the Code of Practice and with ASPA.
The Home Office assures that, in every research proposal, animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible, the number of animals are reduced to the minimum necessary to achieve the result sought, and that, for those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering.
The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) is leading on plans to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternatives to animal testing.