Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 impact of market speculation on food prices.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Increases in international food commodity prices have been driven by a range of factors, including rising energy prices, increased demand, and trade disruption. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the ability of Ukraine to produce and export key agricultural commodities. This suggests that the main driver of the observed price changes is due to Ukraine’s inability to export. Previous assessments by Government economists have suggested there are good reasons to be sceptical that speculation in futures markets has been a significant cause of food price spikes. The department continues to monitor market developments closely alongside international partners like the Agricultural Market Information System.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 merits of a revival of the whale population on (a) the international marine environment and (b) carbon capture.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government plays a leading role championing the conservation and welfare of all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) both in the UK and internationally. We fully recognise the importance of whale populations to the marine ecosystem, and the vital role they play to sequester carbon.
We play an active role in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and are Vice Chair of the IWC’s Conservation Committee. The Conservation Committee considers a wide range of cetacean conservation issues, which includes increasing our understanding of their important role in ecosystem functioning and climate change.
Research into the carbon capture potential from whales is ongoing within the scientific community and we anticipate some of this research to be reported on at the IWC’s Scientific Committee meeting in May this year. Defra officials and UK scientists will attend this meeting which will help improve our understanding of the importance of cetaceans in carbon sequestration.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department is providing to countries affected by illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK is committed to tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing globally. IUU fishing continues to be one of the most serious threats to ocean ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and the exploitation of protected and vulnerable marine species.
The UK has launched a £500 million Blue Planet Fund that will support developing countries to protect the marine environment and reduce poverty. The Fund is managed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Financed from the UK Official Development Assistance Budget, the Fund will help eligible countries reduce poverty, protect and sustainably manage their marine resources and address human-generated threats across four key themes: sustainable seafood, biodiversity, climate change, and marine pollution. Tackling IUU fishing has been identified as one of the priority outcomes of the Blue Planet Fund.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2021 to Question 157953, how many people were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of puppy smuggling last year.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra does not hold data on the number of individuals charged with and convicted of puppy smuggling related offences. Local authorities are the enforcement and prosecution body for puppy smuggling related offences. In 2020, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) was notified of two prosecutions by local authorities under the following legislation: The Welfare of Animals (Transport)(England) Order 2006, The Animal Health Act 1981, The Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974 and The Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011. However, local authorities are not required to notify Defra or APHA of prosecutions related to puppy smuggling and so this figure may not represent the total number of cases. We suspect the low number of prosecutions reported for 2020 was a result of courts being closed and cases delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 introduce measures to restrict the age at which puppies can be imported to at least 14 weeks.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra takes the issue of puppy smuggling and other illegal importations of pets seriously. It is an abhorrent trade which causes suffering to these animals and puts the health of pets and people in the UK at risk.
As per our pet travel and commercial importation requirements, the minimum age a cat, dog or ferret can be vaccinated against rabies is 12 weeks old, followed by a 21 day wait when travelling from an EU Member State or another 'listed' third country. This means that the minimum age a cat, dog or ferret can enter GB from an EU Member State or another listed third country is 15 weeks old.
At present, there has been no substantive change to the pet travel requirements for pets entering Great Britain (GB) from the EU.
Now the Transition Period has ended, we have the opportunity to manage our own pet travel and commercial importation rules. We are actively listening to the concerns of stakeholders and the Government is considering options to strengthen our efforts to tackle puppy smuggling. These options will take into consideration the results from our latest disease risk assessments for GB and recommendations of stakeholders such as the British Veterinary Association and Dogs Trust, and recent parliamentary work from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking (a) separately and (b) with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to help maintain fish stocks in that region.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK is taking action on a number of international fisheries issues alongside our international counterparts including from the Asia-Pacific region. These include, but are not limited to, playing a leading role in the global fight to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing, and engaging proactively in the work of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, to which many Asia-Pacific countries are also party, to ensure more sustainable management of high seas fisheries and maintain stocks in those waters. We are also participating actively in UN fora such as the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Fisheries, and advocating for the elimination of incentives and harmful subsidies for fisheries that are detrimental to the conservation of marine biodiversity in the ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organization, and in the context of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on gene editing.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra’s view is that gene-edited organisms should not be regulated as genetically modified organisms if the end product could have been produced naturally, or by traditional breeding methods. Such gene-edited organisms would not contain DNA from other species. Defra is currently consulting on a proposal to amend the definition of a genetically modified organism as it applies in England.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the welfare standards for the production of chicken in (a) Poland, (b) the Netherlands and (c) the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
As members of the European Union, Poland and the Netherlands will need to comply with the European regulations concerning animal welfare standards, including Council Directive 2007/43/EC which lays down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production. As we leave the EU, we are committed to maintaining our position as one of the world leaders in animal welfare and want to improve and build upon that record, working in partnership with farmers to support healthier, higher welfare animals.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what laboratory capacity his Department and it's Agencies have provided to NHS Test and Trace.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra’s agencies have significant laboratory capacity and expertise that have been repurposed and provided to NHS Test and Trace.
Defra’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) temporarily supplied staff and equipment to the Lighthouse laboratories and has a contract with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to test up to 2000 samples per day. APHA also has a contractually based involvement in a research project called Safe & Certain (DHSC-funded project), coordinated by University of Southampton, which involves direct testing on saliva samples. APHA participated in Phase 1 of the project (July/August 2020) and is now embarking on Phase 2 involving testing of up to 60,000 samples over the next month.
The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Science (Cefas) provided four key pieces of Polymerase Chain Reaction testing equipment to the UK’s mass diagnostics facility in Northern Ireland, and personal protective equipment to NHS facilities in the Dorset region. Cefas has registered details of its remaining capacity through DHSC’s online portal.
The Environment Agency has been working with core Defra and the Joint Biosecurity Centre to trial the use of waste water testing for Covid-19 RNA, to help identify increases in Covid-19 prevalence at population level and help target testing capacity.
Fera Science Ltd provided critical testing equipment to the Lighthouse laboratory in Glasgow.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the value was of imported chicken to the UK in 2019; and what the top five countries were for imported chicken to this country in that year.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
According to the latest HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics, UK imports of chicken in 2019 were worth £1.1 billion.
The top five countries importing chicken into the UK in 2019 were as follows: