Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with counterparts in the Welsh Government on improving equine identification and traceability.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of engaging with Devolved Governments on a regular basis. Defra officials hold regular monthly meetings with Welsh Government to discuss improvements to equine identification and traceability; there is also an open channel of communication between officials to deal with shared issues in a timely manner.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Equidae were recorded as leaving the UK via (a) Dover, (b) Cairnryan, (c) Holyhead, (d) Harwich and (e) other ports since the ban on live exports to slaughter and fattening was brought into force.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table below contains the number of Export Health Certificates (EHC) dispatched for the export of Equidae from 22/07/2024 to date.
Each EHC issued is for the export of one equine. The point of exit and purpose of movement are not recorded as the Export Health Certificate Online System (EHCO) does not capture that information.
Date | Number of EHCs Dispatched for the Export of Equines |
2024 | |
Jul | 904 |
Aug | 2307 |
Sep | 2342 |
Oct | 3334 |
Nov | 2422 |
Dec | 1714 |
Total | 13023 |
2025 | |
Jan | 1697 |
Feb | 1739 |
Mar | 1948 |
Apr | 1451 |
Total | 6835 |
Grand Total | 19858 |
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
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 had recent discussions with his counterpart in the Welsh Government on taking steps to help tackle livestock worrying.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has spoken to his Welsh counterpart on a range of issues.
The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers. We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area to ensure that livestock are suitably protected. We will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
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 bring forward legislative proposals on livestock worrying.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers.
We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area to ensure that livestock are suitably protected. We will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help tackle livestock worrying.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers.
We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area to ensure that livestock are suitably protected. We will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
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 made an estimate of the potential cost to farmers of dog attacks on farm animals in the last 12 months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not collect its own data on the cost of dog attacks on farm animals to farmers. However, the National Farmers’ Union approximates that UK farm animals worth an estimated £2.4million were severely injured or killed by dogs in 2023.
The Government recognises the distress livestock worrying can cause animals and their keepers. We are considering the most effective ways to deliver our commitments in this area to ensure that livestock are suitably protected.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
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 responses to his Department's call for evidence on the fur trade.
Answered by Mark Spencer
A summary of replies received to the Call for Evidence on the Fur Market in Great Britain should be published in due course. At this stage we do not have a confirmed date for publication.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
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 potential merits of making provision of data on water use rates a requirement for agricultural water licences.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Environment Agency assesses water use for agriculture as part of the abstraction licence application process both when it first grants an abstraction licence and at renewal. The Environment Agency uses the following guidance to assess water need and use rates: Optimum use of water for industry and agricultural dependent on direct abstraction - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Environment Agency already receives information about how much water is used under abstraction licences in England. All ‘full’ abstraction licences must include requirements to measure or assess the amount of water abstracted. Licence holders must keep a record of how much water they abstract available for inspection. Licences that authorise the abstraction of 100 cubic metres per day or more must also send a return to the Environment Agency of how much water they have abstracted. The Environment Agency uses this information to assess compliance with licences and the environmental effects of abstraction. It also uses information about past usage to determine whether a time limited abstraction licence should be renewed on the same terms or for example have its quantities reduced.
The Environment Agency collates information about abstraction from all sectors and makes it available to Defra in a report called ‘ABSTAT’. The Environment Agency is currently producing an update to the ABSTAT report and will provide it to Defra in due course.
Defra and the Environment Agency are working to move the water resources licensing regime into the Environmental Permitting Regime (EPR). Under EPR, abstraction data will become public register information.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
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 reform the abstraction licensing regime in England.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Plan for Water, Defra and the Environment Agency are undertaking a programme of changes to modernise abstraction licensing in England. We are working to move the water abstraction licensing system into the Environmental Permitting Regime. This will provide a modern, consistent and flexible legal framework upon which the management of abstraction can be developed to meet the needs of today and the future.
Alongside the legislative changes, the Environment Agency is modernising its digital systems to maximise the opportunities the new legislation provides. This will bring new functionality to improve the way abstraction is managed, including a water abstraction eAlerts system which provides notifications directly to farmers. As the environment and our climate changes, the Environment Agency is adapting its policies in response. The Environment Agency has recently produced a regulatory position statement setting out how flood water can be abstracted for the benefit of abstractors but ensuring that the environment is protected.
The Environment Agency is also undertaking a refresh of the National Framework for water resources, which looks at how best to manage water resources across England. Through this, abstractors from all sectors will come together to identify water needs and the best way of meeting them.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to improve the collection of data in agricultural water use.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency regulates water abstraction in England. The information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Environment Agency’s ‘Managing Water Abstraction Service’ enables abstraction licence holders to submit records of how much water they had taken electronically rather than on paper. The Environment Agency estimates quicker, and easier submission of returns data digitally saves abstractors £247k each year. Some 95% of returns now come into the Environment Agency digitally.
Defra is working on rolling out a Water Farm Practices Water Survey involving crop types and volumes of water used. This will be an extension of the annual farming practices survey, which provides a snapshot of the farming landscape across England. It will give an opportunity to update data last collected in 2010 on agricultural water management.
Natural England is this week due to report on its latest phase of Catchment Sensitive Farming water advisory visits in the Southwest of England.
As part of the Prime Minister’s commitment at last year’s Farm to Fork Summit Defra has funded an agriculture project on supply demand balances which have been piloted in Cambridgeshire and will be rolled out to wider parts of England. The water data from this work will be used to update the next round of Regional Water Resource Plans on agriculture water requirements (together with the Environment Agency’s Water Resources National Framework which will be published next spring). A sister project funded by Defra will also include agriculture water use data to assess and screen local resource options (such as reservoirs and rainwater harvesting) to help groups of farmers improve their water resilience.