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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on implementing the Animal Welfare strategy.

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

The Animal Welfare Strategy sets out the priority issues that this Government will address, focusing on the changes and improvements that Defra aim to achieve by 2030 to improve the lives of millions of animals across the UK.

This Government is determined to deliver these reforms and has already undertaken a number of consultations on phasing out cages for laying hens, improving lamb welfare and trail hunting. Defra are now analysing the responses to these consultations. A call for evidence on gamebirds was also recently published.

This Government has published Animal Welfare Committee Opinions on breeding in commercial livestock and responsible sourcing of fur. The department have also held the first meeting of the fur working group to explore concerns and the different ways in which they could be addressed.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency has been commissioned to conduct a review of the evidence relating to mole traps; corvid traps; and the spring traps listed on the Spring Trap Approval Order as it applies in England. This review is underway and is expected to conclude by April 2027.

As set out in the strategy Defra are working with industry, keepers and farmers to improve resilience to a changing climate. This summer, the department met with the pig sector on this and also with the meat chicken industry to discuss the impact of the heatwaves and to hear from them about the effectiveness of the mitigations they have put in place since the 2022 heatwave.

Defra is continuing to progress implementation of the strategy in a phased way.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps are being taken to speed up Ofsted's voluntary register processing time for home child carer applications.

Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

​​This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to (a) encourage Electric Vehicle ownership take-up and (b) improve access to EV charging.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is investing £7.5 billion to support industry and drivers to switch to zero emission vehicles, including the £2 billion Electric Car Grant which has helped over 190,000 drivers choose an electric car. We work closely with industry to address concerns and misconceptions about electric vehicles and promote consumer confidence.

Government and industry are delivering charging infrastructure to match rising demand. There are now more than 123,000 public chargers across the UK, and the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund will deliver another 100,000 charge points in England.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has held discussions with the FCA following reports that a Russian-backed money launderer used an FCA regulated British fintech company to process payments and avoid financial sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, assesses every instance of reported non-compliance with UK financial sanctions and takes action in all cases where it concludes that a breach has occurred. OFSI works closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in respect of the enforcement of UK financial sanctions where cases concern FCA-regulated firms. The FCA is responsible for supervising regulated firms to ensure that they maintain adequate systems and controls to mitigate the risk of breaching sanctions and facilitating evasion.

Found: Norfolk BV2012028/1 Andrij Werenicz 04/04/2001 Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Norfolk BV2012028/1 Andrij Werenicz 04/04/2001 Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Norfolk BV2012028/1 Andrij Werenicz 04/04/2001 Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Norfolk BV2012028/1 Andrij Werenicz 04/04/2001 Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West