Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with authorities responsible for local nature recovery strategies on the land use framework consultation.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The consultation on Land Use in England is underway and the outcome will inform the publication of a Land Use Framework planned for later this year. Many of the authorities responsible for Local Nature Recovery Strategies were involved in discussions that informed the proposals and questions in the Land Use Consultation
During the consultation period, Government officials will be consulting with a wide range of respondents, including authorities responsible for Local Nature Recovery Strategies.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) pheasants and (b) partridges were imported for shooting in 2024.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
See the below table showing the number of Partridges and Pheasants imported into Great Britain in 2024. We cannot confirm whether the purpose of these imports was for hunting, as this is not recorded on the Import of products, animals, food and feed (IPAFF) system.
Species | Number of animals |
Partridges | 455,194 |
Pheasants | 487,488 |
Total | 942,682 |
This information is drawn from external IPAFF systems not directly controlled by the department.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 the Secretary of State for Transport on planting trees along new roads.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on meeting the UK's obligations under the (a) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 10 and (b) Paris Agreement.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The 2015 Paris Agreement, Article 7 established the global goal on adaptation. At COP28, the UK adopted the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience and agreed to launch a two-year work programme on indicators related to those targets. Defra is working to meet these targets alongside other Government departments.
The UK has a Paris Agreement aligned, ambitious and credible Nationally Determined Contribution target to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035, compared to 1990 levels, excluding international aviation and shipping emissions.
The UK submitted its first UNFCCC Biennial Transparency Report in December 2024, detailing the UK’s mitigation efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and support for developing countries to tackle climate change.
The UK over-achieved against the first, second and third carbon budgets. We will deliver an updated Plan in due course out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 with full detail of policy packages for all sectors.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions there have been for slaughterhouses in England not having CCTV in the last five years.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All approved slaughterhouses in England must have CCTV systems installed as required by the Mandatory Use of Closed-Circuit Television in Slaughterhouses (England) Regulations 2018. There have been no prosecutions for slaughterhouses in England for not having CCTV in the last five years.
Where non-compliances with the legislation are identified the Food Standards Agency will apply their enforcement hierarchy, from verbal and written warnings to enforcement notices and referral to the Crown Prosecution Service for prosecution.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what animal welfare protections exist for farmed animals at slaughterhouses.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 and assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing set out extensive requirements to protect the welfare of animals at slaughterhouses. Official Veterinarians of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are present in all approved slaughterhouses to monitor and enforce these animal welfare requirements. The FSA has a zero-tolerance policy to animal welfare breaches and will take appropriate action where these occur.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 discussions with the RSPCA on animal cruelty at RSPCA-approved abattoirs.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department engages regularly with the RSPCA on a range of animal welfare topics.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for publishing a response to the Fairer Food Labelling consultation, which closed in May 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous Government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling. The consultation also sought views on whether new rules should be introduced on country-of-origin labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 the adequacy of the outcomes of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16); and what steps he is taking to help achieve those outcomes.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) was the first opportunity for Parties to take stock of the progress made in implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) adopted at COP15. 27 important decisions were taken at COP16, including relating to climate change, health, and the marine environment. The decision adopted on digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources agreed the modalities for operationalising the multilateral benefit sharing mechanism for the use of DSI, and this has the potential to generate new financial resources for nature restoration globally. At the same time, the Government remains disappointed that COP16 concluded before it was possible to reach an agreement on the strategy for mobilising more international finance for nature, and we look forward to resuming discussions on this critical issue as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 he has made of the potential impact of the import of (a) beef, (b) lamb and (c) mutton through the free trade agreement between the UK and Australia on UK farmers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government's commitment to farmers and the vital role they play, remains steadfast. We will never forget that farmers are the beating heart of our great country. It is their hard work that puts food on our tables and stewards our beautiful countryside.
The Government's estimate of the potential economic impact of the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) can be found in the published Impact Assessment (IA), and suggests that gross output could be reduced by around 3% for beef and 5% for sheepmeat. Since the FTA came into force on the 31st May 2023, imports from Australia have not yet reached the levels estimated in the IA. Australia continues to focus on geographically closer markets and used 20% of its sheepmeat quota and 8% of its beef quota in 2023 since the FTA has been in force.