Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 end animal testing; and what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress towards the (a) development and (b) adoption of non-animal testing methods.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing, which is a long-term goal.
Progress has been made towards the development and adoption of non-animal test methods within the OECD’s Environmental Health and Safety Programme. The UK leads on and supports numerous projects producing internationally harmonised tools and guidance for ‘New Approach Methodologies’ based regulatory chemical assessment across a number of working groups. This includes the Test Guidelines Programme, where the UK recently contributed to the development of the first internationally harmonised guideline to describe a non-animal defined approach that can be used to replace completely replace animal tests to identify skin sensitizsers and predict potency.
In line with the Government’s Manifesto commitment, Defra, along with partners from sectors with interests in animal science and on a cross-Government level are currently engaging with DSIT to develop a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods to animal testing. We expect the publication of this strategy later this year.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 review the ranking of the use of municipal solid waste to produce sustainable aviation fuel in the waste hierarchy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 8 May 2024 to Question 49143.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 potential merits of amending the Waste Hierachy to place Sustainable Aviation Fuel produced by waste-to-liquid above that produced by energy-from-waste.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The waste hierarchy sets out a priority order in which waste should be managed (prevention, preparing for reuse, recycling, recovery, disposal). The process of converting waste (both biogenic and fossil fractions) into fuels/energy is a recovery operation for the purposes of the waste hierarchy. This is because once combusted, material is lost from the circular economy.
Whilst we have no plans to change the waste hierarchy, Defra’s position is that we welcome innovative and new measures to manage residual waste and that there is nothing to stop the production of fuel from residual waste if this is determined, by local authorities or other waste producers, to be the best overall environmental outcome for such waste.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting businesses in the hospitality sector from charges under Extended Producer Responsibility.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging obligates brands and packaging producers to pay the costs of managing household packaging waste. Therefore, no assessment has been made of the merits of exempting all businesses in the hospitality sector.
This is because a wide range of hospitality businesses operate take away business models, where food, and primarily non-alcoholic drinks, are taken away by consumers and disposed of off premises. There is also packaging used in the hospitality sector which can be evidenced as not ending up in household bins. Under the current regulations producers can exempt this packaging from being classed as household packaging.
Since autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders to make an assessment of whether amendments to the regulations or the guidance can be made to further help producers in exempting packaging.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed base-rate Extended Producer Responsibility fees on levels of use of different recyclable materials by the packaging industry.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) requires producers to bear the end-of-life costs associated with packaging that they place on the market, rather than the proportion of recycled materials contained.
The Recyclability Assessment Methodology (RAM) has been used by producers to assess packaging recyclability from January 2025. The RAM is an important aspect of pEPR as it will determine the modulation sub-category, and therefore the level of fees applicable to that material, with higher fees applied to less sustainable packaging.
We have made a full impact assessment of implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have which we published when The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 were laid before parliament.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 improve the availability of feedstocks for the production of renewable fuels.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
British farmers are world-leaders and know their own land best - carefully planning their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy.
The demand for UK produced crops is subject to global market prices and supply. Crop varieties grown in the UK can be of a specification for food, feed and/or bioenergy standards. This provides an in-built flexibility for farmers seeking an end-use market for their product. For farmers, the opportunity to sell into bioenergy often offers a secondary market for their surplus or lower quality crops and associated agricultural residues. The production of biofuels also produces valuable by-products including protein rich animal feed which is used by livestock farmers.
In 2023, 133 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the UK were used to grow crops for bioenergy. This area represents 2.2% of the arable land in the UK. 36% of land used for bioenergy was for biofuel (biodiesel and bioethanol) in the UK road transport market with the remainder mostly used for heat and power production.