Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
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 recent trends in the use of catapults against wild and domestic animals.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously and is aware of the misuse of catapults against wild animals and domestic pets which is causing great concern to some local communities.
Sufficient laws are already in place to protect animals against the targeted use of catapults. However, the 2025 Animal Welfare Strategy commits the Government to reviewing and looking to strengthen penalties for cruelty to wildlife so they are consistent with higher levels of sentencing available for offences against pets and livestock. Incidents involving catapults that cause unnecessary suffering to wild animals would be in scope of any strengthened penalties.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to protect wildlife from targeted use of catapults.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously and is aware of the misuse of catapults against wild animals and domestic pets which is causing great concern to some local communities.
Sufficient laws are already in place to protect animals against the targeted use of catapults. However, the 2025 Animal Welfare Strategy commits the Government to reviewing and looking to strengthen penalties for cruelty to wildlife so they are consistent with higher levels of sentencing available for offences against pets and livestock. Incidents involving catapults that cause unnecessary suffering to wild animals would be in scope of any strengthened penalties.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to ensure that it makes appropriate provision for the accessibility requirements of disabled people.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department currently has no plans to review the School Standards and Framework Act 1988. There are a range of measures already in place to meet the accessibility requirements of disabled people.
The Equality Act 2010 requires local authorities to prepare accessibility strategies for the schools for which they are the responsible bodies. There is a similar duty for individual schools of all types to develop accessibility plans.
We have published funding allocations and guidance for key elements of the £4 billion investment previously announced to prepare for our proposed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms. This includes support for schools, colleges, early years settings and local authorities to improve inclusive provision and better meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first-html-version.
This is in addition to £3.7 billion of capital investment between 2025 and 2030 to create 60,000 specialist places. Alongside expanding access to inclusion bases, this funding can be used to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings for pupils with SEND.
We have also published new guidance on inclusive education estates, to support local authorities, responsible bodies and mainstream settings to identify the most affordable, high-impact adaptations in their context, based on pupils’ needs and estate opportunities, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-education-estates. This could include improved sensory comfort through acoustics and lighting adaptations, improving physical accessibility, or creating calm, quiet spaces for flexible use.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the SFI scheme on the planting of harvestable legumes as break crops.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting protein crops and their contribution to domestic food supply and is working with the sector to investigate the opportunities to support wider growing of protein crops.
Actions within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) can support pulse crops, including through companion cropping. We have assessed impacts of SFI on food production and some actions now have lower payment rates and a limited area of 25%, so they are less competitive against break crops including pulses.
To date the Government’s Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has committed over £7.2m support within a sustainable farm-based protein competition.
Governments Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) also include research on pulse crops.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what study her Department has made of whether the Canadian Government’s investment in their pulses industry could be replicated in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting protein crops and their contribution to domestic food supply and is working with the sector to investigate the opportunities to support wider growing of protein crops.
Actions within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) can support pulse crops, including through companion cropping. We have assessed impacts of SFI on food production and some actions now have lower payment rates and a limited area of 25%, so they are less competitive against break crops including pulses.
To date the Government’s Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has committed over £7.2m support within a sustainable farm-based protein competition.
Governments Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) also include research on pulse crops.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
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 will develop and implement a National Protein Strategy.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting protein crops and their contribution to domestic food supply and is working with the sector to investigate the opportunities to support wider growing of protein crops.
Actions within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) can support pulse crops, including through companion cropping. We have assessed impacts of SFI on food production and some actions now have lower payment rates and a limited area of 25%, so they are less competitive against break crops including pulses.
To date the Government’s Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has committed over £7.2m support within a sustainable farm-based protein competition.
Governments Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) also include research on pulse crops.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Independent - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to incentivise the growing of protein crops.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting protein crops and their contribution to domestic food supply and is working with the sector to investigate the opportunities to support wider growing of protein crops.
Actions within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) can support pulse crops, including through companion cropping. We have assessed impacts of SFI on food production and some actions now have lower payment rates and a limited area of 25%, so they are less competitive against break crops including pulses.
To date the Government’s Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) has committed over £7.2m support within a sustainable farm-based protein competition.
Governments Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) also include research on pulse crops.