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Written Question
Animals: Exports
Monday 23rd November 2020

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by Kent Action Against Live Export (KAALE) sent to his Department by that organisation on 25 October 2020 and by the hon. Member for South Thanet on 20 October 2020; and what steps he plans to take in response to the findings of that report.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The report produced by Kent Action Against Live Exports (KAALE) is currently being reviewed by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on behalf of Defra. Where any non-compliance set out in the report is confirmed, APHA will take appropriate regulatory or enforcement action.

The Government is committed to the welfare of all animals and to making further improvements to animal welfare in transport. We fully intend to take advantage of our departure from the European Union to improve animal welfare and to ensure the highest standards. We have a commitment to end excessively long journeys for slaughter and fattening and we intend to consult on how we deliver on that manifesto commitment before the end of this year.


Written Question
Ramsgate Port: Livestock
Monday 23rd November 2020

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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 make an assessment of whether all live animals for export loaded onto livestock transporters at Ramsgate Port have received full inspections by adequately accredited veterinary officers; and if he will publish that assessment.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Government accredited Official Veterinarians ensure that every animal for which export certification is requested is fit to travel and has been rested, fed and watered.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) undertakes supervised loadings in all bar exceptional circumstances at departure premises where animals are being exported for further fattening or slaughter. In addition, welfare checks are conducted on all vehicles on arrival at Ramsgate. These checks range from ensuring all watering and ventilation systems are fully functional, to an inspection of the animals on board the vehicle.

APHA inspectors are present at every sailing from Ramsgate involving the export of live animals destined for slaughter. Where breaches in the legislation are identified APHA can, and does, take regulatory action to ensure compliance, protect the welfare of the animals and to achieve ongoing compliance.


Written Question
Livestock: Transport
Monday 16th July 2018

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether under the terms of the 6 July 2018 statement of the Government and its reference to a common rulebook the UK will be able to ban live animal exports for slaughter from January 2021 without there being consequences for trade.

Answered by George Eustice

The Government’s proposal for a common rulebook on goods only relates to those technical and product safety rules necessary to provide for a frictionless border. The proposal does not extend to wider single market legislation nor animal welfare and would not fetter our abilities to restrict or ban live animal exports.

The White Paper published on 12 July 2018 explains: “By being outside the CAP, and having a common rulebook that only applies to rules that must be checked at the border, the UK would be able to have control over new future subsidy arrangements, control over market surveillance of domestic policy arrangements, an ability to change tariffs and quotas in the future, and the freedom to apply higher animal welfare standards that would not have a bearing on the functioning of the free trade area for goods – such as welfare in transport and the treatment of live animal exports.”


Written Question
Fishing Catches
Thursday 8th February 2018

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to maintain the discard ban on fish after the UK leaves the EU.

Answered by George Eustice

The UK Government remains fully committed to ending the wasteful practice of discarding after the UK leaves the EU and will continue to work with the industry to address this issue.


Written Question
Fisheries
Thursday 8th February 2018

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his policy is on banning the use of electric pulse fishing in UK waters after the UK leaves the EU.

Answered by George Eustice

The original ban on fishing methods using electric current in EU legislation was followed by a specific derogation to permit electric pulse beam trawl fishing under certain conditions. Those arrangements are currently under consideration.

We will continue to consider all the scientific evidence to inform our negotiations on the EU approach and to develop the UK’s future fisheries regime. The government does have concerns about some of the impacts of pulse trawling.

Whatever the outcome on pulse fishing agreed in EU legislation, once we leave the EU we will decide the terms of access to UK waters. That will give us the ability to ban certain approaches where the latest scientific evidence indicates that is necessary.


Written Question
Fisheries
Thursday 19th October 2017

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment on the benefits for Great Britain and Northern Ireland's coastal communities of the marine resources in the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone being used solely for the benefit of the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Answered by George Eustice

On leaving the EU, the UK will become an independent coastal state with responsibility for controlling and managing our Exclusive Economic Zone. This will provide an opportunity to negotiate new agreements on access and quota arrangements which will benefit our coastal communities. We are undertaking ongoing analysis on fish stocks in our waters.


Written Question
Common Fisheries Policy
Thursday 19th October 2017

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the entirety of the Fisheries acquis will be transferred into domestic legislation in the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.

Answered by George Eustice

The purpose of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is to provide stability and certainty so that wherever practical, the same laws and rules will apply immediately before and immediately after our departure. On that basis, most of the fisheries acquis will be transferred into domestic legislation. The Queen’s Speech, however, set out the Government’s plans for a fisheries bill for the UK to control access to its waters and set fishing opportunities when we leave the EU and the Common Fisheries Policy. Provisions in the Fisheries Bill would supersede the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill.


Written Question
Cornelis Vrolijk: Quotas
Monday 27th February 2017

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of England and Wales fishing quotas are accounted for by Cornelis Vrolijk.

Answered by George Eustice

The Cornelis Vrolijk holds 457,166 Fixed Quota Allocation units. These units were equivalent to 38,900 tonnes of fishing quota in 2016. This amount was 25% of the total quota for England and Wales, or 7% of the UK quota in 2016.


Written Question
Flood Control: South Thanet
Thursday 23rd February 2017

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been spent on flood defences in South Thanet in each of the last five years.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

Between April 2011 and March 2016, £31.2 million have been spent in the South Thanet constituency to deliver flood and coastal risk management schemes, better protecting 1,918 properties. The table below summarises spending for each of the last five years.

2015/16

£3,444,630

2014/15

£9,673,122

2013/14

£8,258,145

2012/13

£9,282,870

2011/12

£590,203


Written Question
Livestock: Transport
Tuesday 26th January 2016

Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of vehicles transporting livestock through UK ports were inspected by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency in each of the last three years; and in what proportion of such inspections animal ear tags were physically inspected.

Answered by George Eustice

The information requested is not available. The Animal and Plant Health Agency does not hold comprehensive data on the proportion of livestock vehicles transported through GB ports that were subject to inspection.


However, in the specific case of exports of livestock for slaughter from GB, 100% of livestock vehicles and 100% of ear tags were physically inspected by APHA at the point of loading on every occasion in each of the last 3 years.