Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the next set of Greening Government Commitments will be published for the years 2025-2030.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 April 2025 to PQ 45716.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 page 326 his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24, HC 314, published on 18 December 2024, what recent progress has been made on (a) creating a natural asset register presented within an accessible geospatial mapping format and (b) other aspects of the cross-government nature strategy; when he plans to publish these maps; whether these maps will be available on the Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside website; and how the cross-government nature strategy relates to the forthcoming land use framework.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is making progress on creating a natural asset register presented within an accessible geospatial mapping format and developing a cross-Government nature strategy.
A geospatial natural capital register of the Defra group estate has now been developed. Defra is leading on expanding the geospatial natural capital register for the government estate. Defra is considering the publication of the geospatial natural asset register on the Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside (MAGIC) website. No date for publication has been set.
Defra is leading the development of a cross-Government nature strategy. The strategy will apply the principles of the land use framework.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a Minister from his Department will attend the fifth round of negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty in Busan, Korea.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The fifth round of negotiations on the global plastic pollution treaty (INC-5), beginning on 25 November 2024 does not include a formal Ministerial segment. The UK will continue to be appropriately represented, and we will keep the need for Defra ministerial attendance at INC-5 under review
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 of 12 September 2024 to Question 3775 on Plastics: Treaties, which Ministers from his Department will attend the fifth intergovernmental negotiation meeting for the Global Plastics Treaty in November 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The host country and Secretariat for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution have confirmed there will not be a dedicated Ministerial segment at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. As with previous negotiating committee sessions, the UK plans to have a strong negotiating presence to pursue our aims of an ambitious Treaty covering the full plastics life cycle.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 of 12 September 2024 to Question 3775 on Plastics: Treaties, whether he plans to personally attend the fifth intergovernmental negotiation meeting for the Global Plastics Treaty in November 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The host country and Secretariat for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution have confirmed there will not be a dedicated Ministerial segment at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. As with previous negotiating committee sessions, the UK plans to have a strong negotiating presence to pursue our aims of an ambitious Treaty covering the full plastics life cycle.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 of 12 September 2024 to Question 3774 on Plastics: EU Law, whether he plans to sign the Bridge to Busan declaration.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On the 24 September in New York, the Foreign Secretary announced the UK had endorsed the Bridge to Busan declaration to support greater ambition on addressing unsustainable levels of primary plastic production in the negotiations for a new treaty to end plastic pollution. Further information, including the full list of signatories to the Bridge to Busan declaration can be found at the following address: https://www.bridgetobusan.com.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to send a representative from his Department to the fourth intergovernmental negotiation meeting for the Global Plastics Treaty in November 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yes, officials will attend the fifth session, due to be held in November in Busan, South Korea.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the Bridge to Busan declaration.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Bridge to Busan is a political declaration to raise ambition on addressing primary plastic polymers. It aims to achieve the goal of ending plastic pollution in the context of the plastic pollution treaty, currently being negotiated by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. As a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, the United Kingdom is calling for binding provisions in the treaty to restrain and reduce the production and consumption of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) supply chain, (b) labelling and (c) other processes and requirements are in place to ensure that imported wood comes from a sustainable forestry scheme.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The United Kingdom Timber Regulations (UKTR) prohibit the placing of illegally harvested timber on the market. Under the Withdrawal Act, UKTR applies to GB. Businesses must exercise due diligence on timber imports to demonstrate legality of harvest.
The Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulations and associated Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA), aim to improve the supply of verified legal timber to the UK market. Producer countries who have agreed a VPA with the UK and can demonstrate effective nationwide controls verifying legality of harvest, can issue FLEGT licences.
Under the UK Government Timber Procurement Policy, all timber products procured for use on the Government estate must meet accepted standards of legality and sustainability.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for consulting on activity regulations to be introduced under the Animals (Low-Welfare Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Future decisions on which animal activities will fall in scope of the legislation will need to be evidence-based and subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. 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. Additionally, we are supporting several Private Members’ Bills to deliver on animal welfare measures in the Kept Animals Bill, and I will be in the chamber tomorrow to listen to the proposals put forward by my Right Honourable Friend the member for North Devon.