Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish measures for the remaining offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) under stage (a) 3 and (b) 4 of the Marine Management Organisation's offshore MPA process.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rotherham, on 16 September 2024, PQ 4529: It is essential to manage bottom trawling in our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) appropriately due to the significant damage it can have on protected seabed habitats. The department is considering next steps in the context of our domestic and international nature conservation obligations and how we support the fishing sector.
The Department is considering next steps for both stages 3 and 4 of the process.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels are taking part in the early adopter phase of the remote electronic monitoring rollout by having cameras installed; and what steps he is taking to increase the number of vessels taking part.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
There is one early adopter vessel volunteering to take part in the first fishery, over-24 metre pelagic trawlers in all English waters. Further vessels will be recruited for implementation in other fisheries.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
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 publish the opening positions for each Total Allowable Catch in the (a) EU/UK bilateral and (b) EU/UK/Norway trilateral negotiations.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Due to the nature of the negotiations, it is not appropriate to publicly disclose negotiating documents detailing the UK’s opening positions. Our bilateral negotiations with the EU and our trilateral negotiations with the EU and Norway have both concluded. The written record of the bilateral and agreed record of the trilateral negotiations, including final total allowable catch limits are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Civil Service employees from core departments retained continuity of employment for contractual purposes when they transferred from working for their previous department to work for the Marine Management Organisation in 2009.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Continuous statutory service would be transferred as per the protocols. However, Defra does not keep information on staff who have transferred under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)/ Cabinet Office Statement of Practice. All data becomes owned by the organisation that the work moves to, as the staff are theirs as if they had always been their staff.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under which staff-transfer protocol employees of core civil service Departments were transferred to the Marine Management Organisation in 2009; and whether this protocol has been applied to other employee transfers.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra follows the correct protocols for each staff transfer as set out in the Statement of Practice.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to set a target for a reduction in the use of chemical pesticides.
Answered by Mark Spencer
We have been assessing the potential role of targets to support our policy ambitions to reduce reliance on the use of conventional chemical pesticides We are clear that any targets that we set must be meaningful and designed to deliver our desired outcomes, which are to minimise the risks of pesticides to the environment and encourage sustainable pest management.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of treating biopesticides under a separate regulatory system than chemical pesticides.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Microbiologicals formulated into products, semiochemicals, plant extracts, and other substances based on biological materials are regulated as biopesticides, under the same regulatory system as chemical pesticides, if one of their functions is to protect a plant from pests. We currently do not intend to change this.
However, we plan to review regulatory processes and data requirements to identify where approvals and permissions for biopesticides can be made simpler and speedier. Our assessment is that this should reduce regulatory burden on applicants and lead to quicker approval timelines, without compromising environmental and human health standards.