Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish an Access to Nature White Paper.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will make further announcements on plans to develop policy on access to nature in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether goals to improve (a) access to and (b) engagement with nature are part of the Rapid Review of the current Environmental Improvement Plan; and what plans he has to engage with stakeholders representing public access to the outdoors as part of this process.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On the 30 July the Government announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to revise our plan for significantly improving the environment and enjoyment of it.
The Government is committed to enhancing public access to nature, as evidenced by our manifesto commitment to create nine new national river walks and three new national forests. We are currently considering how best to continue to drive forward our goals in this area and will be engaging with stakeholders as we do so.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 take steps to implement the aims of the Right to Roam campaign.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provides the public with access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land, and coastal margin in England.
The Department will continue to enhance public access by creating nine new National River Walks, planting three new National Forests, and empowering communities to develop new parks and green spaces through a new Community Right to Buy. Further details on our plans will be announced in due course
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 has he made of the potential merits of opening up green belt land to responsible public access.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing.
We are actively working on initiatives that enhance access to nature in other areas. We will create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 a recent assessment of the potential merits of granting rights of access to rivers to (a) kayakers and (b) swimmers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Inland waterways such as canals and rivers are categorised as regulated (mostly canals and some larger rivers, owned by a navigation authority) and unregulated (mostly smaller rivers and no canals, owned/managed by riparian landowners along their length).
If the waterway is owned or managed by a navigation authority, access can be obtained through the navigation authority’s licensing regime. If the waterway is unregulated then access should be negotiated with the relevant landowners through local voluntary access agreements, to ensure the interests of all parties concerned are considered. Legislating on this issue is not (currently) Government policy.
To formally designate a site as a bathing water, an application must be submitted to Defra. Defra welcomes applications for both coastal and inland waters such as lakes and rivers. Local authorities, groups and individuals can apply for sites to be designated. Defra encourages this by writing to local authority Chief Executives, and stakeholders like Swimming Associations.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the number of hunting trophies imported in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The UK records data on import permits for hunting trophies of certain species. An import permit is required for hunting trophies of all species listed on Annex A of the Wildlife Trade Regulations, and 6 species listed on Annex B.
Data on the international trade in endangered species, including information about UK imports of hunting trophies, is published in the CITES trade database (available online at trade.cites.org. For 2022, 14 instances of hunting trophies imported into GB are recorded. The UK will be submitting data for 2023 imports in due course, which will be publicly available later this year.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to reply to Question 8408 on Offences against Children tabled on 8 January 2024 by the hon. Member for Easington for answer on 11 January 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The answer to question 8408 was published on 19 January 2024.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 implications for his Department's policies of the report entitled Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2022 to 2023 published by the Office for Environmental Protection on 17 January 2024.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
This Government is committed to leaving the environment in a better state than we found it. The Office for Environmental Protection’s (OEP) report covers the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. Toward the end of this reporting period, in January 2023, the Government published its revised Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) and set its suite of ambitious 13 Environment Act targets. We are now firmly rooted in delivery mode.
Their 200-page report recognises the scale of ambition of EIP23, including our challenging interim targets. The OEP reports some environmental trends are improving, with most progress in reducing air pollutants, greenhouse gases and chemical pollutants.
We will carefully review the OEP’s findings and respond in due course.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child adopting General Comment 26, what steps he plans to take to incorporate into UK law Article 19 on the Right to freedom from all forms of violence including protecting children from exposure to violence inflicted on animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government recognises the psychological harm that encountering animal cruelty content online can have on children. Content that depicts real or realistic serious violence or injury against an animal has been listed as ‘priority’ content that is harmful to children in the Online Safety Act.
Services will be required to assess the nature and level of risk of children encountering this kind of content on their service, and then take an age-appropriate approach to protect children from encountering it. Companies must also ensure that users, including children and their parents and carers, are able to easily access reporting mechanisms to report content and activity that is harmful to children. Platforms should respond quickly and effectively to protect users and other affected persons, which could include the removal of harmful content and sanctions against offending users.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what training police staff receive to equip them with the skills to respond to reports of dangerous dog attacks from XL bullies.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The police have a range of powers available to tackle dangerous dogs of all breeds, and Defra officials are working in partnership with police forces across England and Wales to ensure the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied. As part of this, we have been collaborating with police to deliver sessions to share best practice in preventive dog control enforcement and encourage multi-agency working to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate.
Regarding the XL Bully ban specifically, Defra will be supporting the police to deliver additional training to officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced. We are liaising with the four training centres that deliver Dog Legislation Officer training to ensure officers are upskilled and able to consistently apply the breed standard for the XL Bully breed type.