Asked by: Dan Norris (Labour - 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 (Labour - 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 (Labour - 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 (Labour - 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 (Labour - 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 (Labour - 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 (Labour - 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.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Labour - 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 discussions he has had with national park authorities where trail hunting takes place.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter with regard to Scotland and Northern Ireland; hunting with dogs is a reserved matter with respect to Wales and therefore, the information provided relates to England and Wales only.
The Government committed to enacting a ban on Trail Hunting in line with our manifesto commitment. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing and is at a very early stage. Initial discussions have been held with officials from other departments but, to date, none have taken place with the National Parks Authorities.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Labour - 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 steps his Department is taking to help mitigate the risk from Asian hornets to bees.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Contingency action has been taken against the Yellow-Legged Hornet (YLH) since the first GB incursion in 2016. Contingency action is delivered on the ground by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU). The NBU have located and destroyed 1-4 nests each year since 2016. However, in 2023 72 nests were located and destroyed.
Genetic analysis of hornet samples is carried out to inform the response for the following year. From the analysis of samples from 2023, some areas were identified where there was a risk that hornet queens may have been released, overwintered and created new nests in the spring.
In 2024 the NBU carried out spring trapping at these locations and caught a small number of lone hornets. Results from analyses of these hornets provided evidence that hornets had overwintered. However, this is not considered to be evidence of YLH being established in GB.
From August 2024 the NBU have been responding to credible sightings of YLH and as of 7th October 2024, have located and destroyed 19 YLH nests.
Raising awareness is a key aspect of the response, allowing swift and effective action to be taken to stamp out the threat posed by Asian hornets.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Labour - 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 discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on a timetable for introducing activity regulations under the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Animal welfare is a devolved matter and we continue to work closely with the devolved administrations on animal welfare policies.