Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
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 adequacy of (a) animal welfare and (b) environmental management protections in the comprehensive trade deal between the UK and New Zealand.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the UK and New Zealand includes ground-breaking provisions on both animal welfare and environmental protection
The forward-looking provisions in the animal welfare chapter are largely unprecedented in other FTAs. We have secured non-regression and non-derogation clauses on animal welfare. This means both countries are committed to not lowering their animal welfare standards or make exceptions for their producers in a manner that materially affects trade. The chapter includes strong commitments to work with New Zealand bilaterally and in international fora to progress animal welfare standards.
The Environment chapter demonstrates our global leadership on climate and environmental protection. It will liberalise tariffs on the largest list of environmental goods in any FTA to date and encourage trade and investment in low carbon services and technology. It includes commitments to tackle environmental challenges such as illegal wildlife trade, air pollution, marine pollution and litter, and promote biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and the transition to a circular economy. The chapter also affirms our commitments to implement multilateral environmental agreements, including the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and Paris Agreement.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to increase animal welfare standards.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
This Government has an ambitious programme of legislative and non-legislative measures that go further than ever to ensure the highest level of animal welfare standards. Our Action Plan for Animal Welfare provides an overview. As part of this, we have introduced the Animal Sentience and Kept Animals Bills and intend to legislate further in an Animals Abroad Bill.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
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 environmental benefits of banning microbeads in June 2018.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The ban on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products in 2018 was developed based on evidence of harm to the marine environment from microplastics, and specifically evidence of microbeads directly entering the marine environment through the water treatment process. It aimed to create a level playing field between businesses that had already taken voluntary action and those that continued to use microbeads. An impact assessment was carried out before the ban was implemented. The impact assessment can be found here:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2017/178/pdfs/ukia_20170178_en.pdf.
More evidence is required to understand the full impact of microplastics, including microbeads, on the marine environment. We have been working to understand other sources of microplastics into the marine environment. This includes a Defra funded study, which investigated the sources and pathways of microplastics from tyres and textiles into the ocean: