Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the recruitment process to appoint a new Chair of the Office For Environmental Protection has not yet commenced.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has initiated the internal process for appointing a new Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection, which includes consultation with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, and relevant Select Committees. The competition will be launched shortly.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the trends in the number of verifications of catch certificates accompanying seafood imports undertaken by UK authorities.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra and the Marine Management Organisation work closely with Devolved Governments, Local Authorities and Port Health Authorities to ensure illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing documentary checks are completed at the border and appropriate verifications are conducted on seafood imports to the UK. Verifications, defined under Article 17 of the UK’s IUU Regulation, are formal checks beyond standard documentary reviews. Competent Authorities conduct risk-based checks, and if concerns arise, the MMO may hold consignments and carry out verifications.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provisions of the Marine Policy Statement 2011 in the context of achieving his Department’s policy on new oil and gas licencing.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

In March, the Government consulted on its commitment not to issue new licences to explore new fields.

The Marine Policy Statement was published in 2011 under a previous government. It includes support for oil and gas exploration.

Subject to the outcome of the consultation, this aspect of the Statement is unlikely to carry any practical effect in future.

Updating the Statement would be resource intensive for all governments involved. Instead, the Government is taking a more strategic approach to marine spatial planning, developing colocation solutions and working with the Marine Management Organisation on the replacement of the East Marine Plan.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to bring forward primary legislation to ban new oil and gas licences.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government has committed to not issue new licences to explore new fields while managing existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan.

On 1 October, the Secretary of State announced legislation to end new onshore oil and gas licensing in England.

Our ‘Building the North Sea’s energy future’ consultation, which closed earlier this year, sought views on how we should implement these commitments. We will respond in due course.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with the Advanced Research and Invention Agency on marine geoengineering.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

As set out in ARIA’s Framework Agreement, ARIA has unique operational freedoms, including over its research and project choice and its procedures. This independence allows ARIA to take bold steps to better understand the world we live in, and the Government supports ARIA exploring critical areas like this.

The government is not in favour of using Solar Radiation Modification. ARIA is an independent research body, and they are conducting cautious, controlled research aimed at improving understanding of its risks and impacts. ARIA are not funding experiments that release toxic materials to the environment. The government supports ARIA’s mission to fund transformational research programmes with long-term benefits.

For further detail on ARIA’s ‘Exploring Climate Cooling’ programme specifically, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer that was provided on 2 May 2025 to Question UIN 47970.

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 (a) amending the Protected Landscapes duty under section 245 of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023, (b) publishing supporting regulations and (c) updating guidance.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are working with a range of partners to consider the impact of the Protected Landscapes Duty. The duty is intended to facilitate better outcomes for England’s Protected Landscapes, which are in line with their statutory purposes.

In December, Government published guidance on the Protected Landscapes duty to ensure public bodies operating in these areas, including water companies, deliver better environmental outcomes working together with Protected Landscape organisations.

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 send a delegation to the (a) 47th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention and (b) 20th Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol meeting.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The 47th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention and 20th Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol will take place from 27-31 October 2025. The UK will send a delegation.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on marine geo-engineering.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Marine-based GGR techniques present potential environmental risks that need to be managed alongside potential climate benefits. Our priorities are developing the evidence base and establishing a science-based framework for regulation of these techniques.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department has provided to (a) the Marine Management Organisation and (b) port health authorities on applying a risk-based approach to identifying seafood consignments for scrutiny under illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing regulations.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) provides training and guidance to port health authorities (PHAs) on implementing the UK’s IUU Regulation, which PHAs apply through their local risk-based approaches. Where concerns arise, the MMO engages with third-country authorities to resolve the issue or reject the consignment. Defra attends monthly PHA forums chaired by the MMO, where issues related to IUU imports and risk assessment are discussed. At these meetings, Defra provides policy advice to support the operational guidance shared by the MMO and PHAs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to adopt a digitised catch certificate scheme that is interoperable with the EU’s new CATCH IT system for (a) receiving and (b) processing seafood catch certificates.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK will be updating the information required on catch certificates this year. These changes will focus on ensuring the robustness of the data on traceability measures and will ensure that UK exporters can continue to re-export seafood originating from other countries to the EU. The UK’s Fish Export Service (FES) enables exporters to generate electronic IUU catch documentation, including catch certificates. The UK also plans to integrate FES with the EU’s CATCH system in 2026 to support system interoperability.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to update the catch certificate system for seafood imports to mirror upcoming changes being made by the EU to its catch certificate scheme.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK will be updating the information required on catch certificates this year. These changes will focus on ensuring the robustness of the data on traceability measures and will ensure that UK exporters can continue to re-export seafood originating from other countries to the EU. The UK’s Fish Export Service (FES) enables exporters to generate electronic IUU catch documentation, including catch certificates. The UK also plans to integrate FES with the EU’s CATCH system in 2026 to support system interoperability.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adopting an EU-style carding system to (a) warn and (b) sanction states that are not sufficiently tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK has retained the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Regulation following its departure from the EU and continues to apply its provisions. While the UK has not formally adopted the EU’s carding system, it does enforce import bans on seafood from countries that have been red-carded by the EU, such as Cambodia, Comoros, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Imports and landings from vessels listed on the UK’s IUU vessel list are also prohibited. Imports from yellow-carded countries are permitted to avoid unnecessary trade disruption because marking these countries as IUU offenders may undermine their efforts to improve compliance and address IUU fishing. The UK keeps issues related to IUU fishing and human rights abuses in seafood supply chains under active review, and we welcome robust evidence from stakeholders to inform future policy development.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the risk that seafood imports from (a) China, (b) Russia and (c) countries yellow-carded by the EU may be linked to (i) illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and (ii) human rights abuses.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK has retained the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Regulation following its departure from the EU and continues to apply its provisions. While the UK has not formally adopted the EU’s carding system, it does enforce import bans on seafood from countries that have been red-carded by the EU, such as Cambodia, Comoros, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Imports and landings from vessels listed on the UK’s IUU vessel list are also prohibited. Imports from yellow-carded countries are permitted to avoid unnecessary trade disruption because marking these countries as IUU offenders may undermine their efforts to improve compliance and address IUU fishing. The UK keeps issues related to IUU fishing and human rights abuses in seafood supply chains under active review, and we welcome robust evidence from stakeholders to inform future policy development.

Cumulative disruption proposals and the right to protest

Proposal for a wealth tax

Two-child limit

Freezing of Local Housing Allowance

Found: Hallam) Julia Buckley (Labour; Shrewsbury) Dr Ellie Chowns (Green Party; North Herefordshire) Barry Gardiner

Found: meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Carla Denyer; Barry Gardiner

Found: meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Carla Denyer; Barry Gardiner

Found: meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Carla Denyer; Barry Gardiner