Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ban the use of electronic pet training collars.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 27 August 2018, the Government announced that it would ban hand-held remote controlled electronic training collars for dogs. We are currently drafting the legislation needed to implement this ban.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has conducted an economic impact study on the effects of clean air zones and associated air quality measures on businesses in Nottingham.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government assessed the impacts of charging clean air zones on businesses nationally in the 2016 impact assessment. This did not look at the impacts on Nottingham in isolation.
As set out in the NO2 plan, it is the responsibility of local authorities such as Nottingham to, as part of their feasibility studies, assess the impact a local plan could have on individuals and businesses, including through an economic impact assessment and a distributional and equalities impact analysis. This includes consultation of relevant stakeholders where appropriate.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials of his Department have had with small and medium businesses in Nottingham on the financial effect of proposed clean air zones and associated air quality measures.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has not had direct discussions with small and medium-sized businesses in Nottingham about the financial effect of clean air zones.
The Government assessed the impacts of charging Clean Air Zones on businesses nationally in the 2016 impact assessment. This did not look at the impacts on Nottingham in isolation. The UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations and documents associated with it, such as the Clean Air Zone framework, were consulted on several times, inviting relevant stakeholders to submit their views.
As set out in the UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations, it is the responsibility of local authorities such as Nottingham to, as part of their feasibility studies, assess the impact a local plan could have on individuals and businesses, including through an economic impact assessment and a distributional and equalities impact analysis. This includes consultation of relevant stakeholders where appropriate.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer question 138535, on Dogs: Smuggling, how many puppies were seized at Dover and Folkestone and placed in quarantine under the Puppy Pilot in (a) each month between 1 October 2017 and 31 March 2018 and (b) April 2018.
Answered by George Eustice
The number of puppies seized and quarantined at Dover and Folkestone under the Puppy Pilot from 1 October 2017 to 30 April 2018 are as follows:
Month | Puppies seized and quarantined |
October 2017 | 61 |
November 2017 | 37 |
December 2017 | 23 |
January 2018 | 5 |
February 2018 | 12 |
March 2018 | 5 |
April 2018 | 3 |
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many disqualification orders have been issued in England and Wales under s34 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
Records of disqualification orders are not held centrally.
Records of the number of offenders convicted of animal welfare offences are held by the Ministry of Justice. However, records of disqualification orders made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 are not routinely held by that department, but are held on the Police National Computer. To breach a disqualification order is an offence and therefore numbers of breaches are held by the Ministry of Justice.
Although records of disqualification orders are held on the Police National Computer, because of the way they are recorded it is not possible to link the number made under the 2006 Act to the number of convictions under the same Act.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of training provided by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to (a) carrier staff and (b) pet checker staff who operate on behalf of the APHA to ensure that they are able to identify fake pet passports used for animals travelling under the Pet Travel Scheme.
Answered by George Eustice
Pursuant to the answer provided on 23 April 2018 to PQ 136010, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is responsible for providing carriers and checkers with training information and an overview of the requirements for the approved carriage of dogs, cats and ferrets under the Pet Travel Scheme.
APHA carries out quality assurance checks on carriers and pet checkers to monitor the ongoing standard of performance of the carrier or approved checker when checking that animals meet the requirements of the scheme.
The quality assurance process focuses on overall compliance with the Pet Travel Scheme. This includes ensuring that carriers or checkers can identify animals that do not meet the general requirements of the scheme; identifying suspected smuggling cases; and identifying fraudulently completed or fake passports.
The level of quality assurance checks carried out is established using factors such as the volume of animal throughput, the previous quality assurance checks undertaken, performance of the carrier or checker and any high risk considerations.
APHA field teams are in communication with their carriers and checkers. Where non-compliance is identified, extra checks must be undertaken as part of the recorded follow-on actions, along with any training or action taken with the carrier or authorised checker.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
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 his Department's summary of responses to its Consultation on the Review of the Non Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order 2011, what steps he is taking to bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the number of dogs being brought illegally into the UK for sale after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The Post Implementation Review (PIR) will evaluate the effectiveness of the Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order 2011. A public consultation was conducted and responses published in June 2017. We are seeking to publish the PIR report before summer recess.
Whilst we remain a member of the EU, we continue to be signed up to the requirements of the Pet Travel Scheme. At present the Government is negotiating our departure from the EU and Defra is looking at future arrangements, including those for the Pet Travel Scheme.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many disqualification orders issued under section 34 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 have been breached in England and Wales in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
The number of offenders found guilty of breaches of animal disqualification orders in England and Wales from 2012 to 2016 can be viewed in the table below.
Court proceedings data for 2017 is planned for publication in May 2018.
Offenders found guilty at all courts of breaches of animal disqualification orders (1), England and Wales, 2012 to 2016 (2)(3) | ||||
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
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73 | 102 | 81 | 68 | 54 |
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(1) An offence under S34(9) Animal Welfare Act 2006 | ||||
(2) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. | ||||
(3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when this data is used. | ||||
Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish its post implementation review of the Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order 2011.
Answered by George Eustice
The Post Implementation Review (PIR) will evaluate the effectiveness of the Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals Order. A public consultation was conducted and responses published in June 2017.
We intend to publish the PIR report before summer recess.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer question 115400, on Dogs: Smuggling, how many illegally imported puppies have been seized at Dover and Folkestone ports by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and placed into quarantine via the Puppy Pilot in the last six months.
Answered by George Eustice
From 1 October 2017 to 31 March 2018, 143 puppies were seized at Dover and Folkestone and placed into quarantine under the Puppy Pilot.