Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the number and countries of origin were of dogs imported into the UK for (a) non-commercial reasons under the Pet Travel Scheme and (b) commercial reasons in 2017.
Answered by George Eustice
The total number of dogs entering Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme in 2017 was 287,016. The list of countries that these dogs come from are listed in Annex 1.
The purpose of the Pet Travel Scheme is to manage the risk of rabies entering the UK and to ensure appropriate vaccination, at an appropriate age, therefore the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) do not systematically record numbers for all imports from individual countries.
The data for commercial dog imports found in Annex 2 was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES). In some cases imports are recorded on TRACES as ‘Canis familiaris / Felis catus’, so APHA is unable to distinguish between cat or dog imports. These are included in the table in the column ‘Mixed’.
Leaving the European Union provides an opportunity to improve and modernise the legislation in this area and consider how APHA can collect more detail in the future.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
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 Answers of 30 November to Questions 114885 and 114886, how many of the reindeer imported into the UK in 2016 were (a) females, (b) intact males and (c) castrated males; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
119 reindeer were imported into the UK in 2016; 51 were female and 68 were male.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency is unable to break down imported males into castrated and intact, because this information is not recorded on TRACES.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
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 consult Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and other animal welfare charities on draft legislative proposals to increase the maximum animal cruelty sentence to five years imprisonment.
Answered by George Eustice
As announced on 30 September, draft legislation to increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty to five years will be published for consultation around the turn of the year. We will welcome comments from animal welfare charities who have campaigned for this change.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many reindeer in how many consignments from which countries were imported into the UK in 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
The number of reindeer and the number of consignments imported into the UK in 2016 is as follows:
Country from | Consignments | Animals |
Finland | 3 | 81 |
Netherlands | 1 | 17 |
Sweden* | 1 | 17 |
Switzerland | 1 | 4 |
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is not able to provide any data regarding the number of imports from countries outside the EEA, as data is not available.
* Exports of deer species, including reindeer and moose were banned from Norway and Sweden in October 2016 by the EU Commission as a special measure to protect deer species elsewhere in the EU. The consignment of reindeer from Sweden in the table above were imported into the UK in February 2016.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
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 ensure the welfare of reindeer imported into the UK for use in Christmas displays and events; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
Reindeer are protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. Under the Acts it is an offence for keepers to cause unnecessary suffering to animals including reindeer, or to fail to ensure the needs of their animals are met to the extent required by good practice. Defra has a welfare Code for farmed deer which offers guidance on their health and welfare, some of which would also be applicable to reindeer.
Certain diseases affecting reindeer are notifiable. These diseases include foot and mouth disease, bluetongue and chronic wasting disease. We are aware of suspected cases of chronic wasting disease which have been disclosed in wild reindeer in Norway. Exports of deer species, including reindeer and moose, have subsequently been banned from Norway and Sweden by the EU Commission as a special measure to protect deer species elsewhere in the EU.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when animal welfare charities will be able to comment on draft legislation to increase the maximum sentence for animal cruelty to five years' imprisonment.
Answered by George Eustice
As announced on 30 September, draft legislation to increase the maximum penalty for animal cruelty to five years’ imprisonment will be published for consultation around the turn of the year. We will welcome comments from animal welfare charities who have campaigned for this change.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of fly-tipping incidents on private land in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15, (c) 2015-16 and (d) 2016-17.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We do not hold information on the number of fly-tipping incidents on private land.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he will appoint a national fly-tipping tsar with responsibility for co-ordinating with national agencies on tackling serious organised criminal gangs, monitoring and reporting on the scale of the problem across public and private land and benchmarking enforcement performance across all relevant agencies.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Tackling fly-tipping is a Government priority. We recently introduced fixed penalty notices of up to £400 for small-scale fly-tipping to give local authorities an alternative to prosecutions and enable them to take a more proportionate enforcement response. We have also enhanced local authorities’ and the Environment Agency’s ability to search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers and cracked down on offenders by strengthening the Sentencing Council’s Guideline for fly-tipping offences.
As part of our waste and resource strategy, we are developing further proposals to tackle fly-tipping. We will enhance partnership working and intelligence sharing between Government agencies and local landowners. Through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group we are also working to improve reporting of fly-tipping on private land to better target enforcement, and support local authorities and the Environment Agency to investigate fly-tipping incidents on private land.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
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 work with local authorities to permit private landowners to dispose of fly-tipped waste free of charge at local authority waste sites.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
All private landowners are responsible for dealing with waste that is dumped on their land. We expect all local authorities to investigate fly-tipping incidents on private land and prosecute the fly-tippers when there is sufficient evidence. On conviction, a cost order can be made by the court so that a landowner’s costs can be recovered from the perpetrator. Through the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group we provide advice and guidance to landowners and businesses on measures they can take to prevent fly-tipping on their land.
I will raise charging at local authority waste sites in my next meeting with the Local Government Association.
Asked by: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
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 support the policy of the European Council of Ministers on the North Sea Multiannual Plan to legally sanction overfishing of bottom dwelling fish stocks such as cod and haddock over the next five years.
Answered by George Eustice
The draft North Sea Multi Annual Plan includes an upper range for fishing consistent with Maximum Sustainable Yield. Exploitation rates may be set within this upper range only in certain prescribed circumstances, for example to maintain balance in a mixed fishery. The UK supports this general approach, which we consider to be consistent with the principle of sustainable fisheries.