Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the annual revenue from the import and sale of real fur into the UK.
Answered by George Eustice
In 2017 the UK imported £63 million worth of fur and articles with fur. In the same year the UK exported £33 million worth of fur and articles with fur, suggesting that around £30 million was for UK use1.
The Government shares the British public’s high regard for animal welfare. The UK continues to support higher animal welfare standards worldwide as the best way of phasing out cruel and inhumane fur farming and trapping practices that are banned here.
The Government is planning that after we leave the EU, we will retain all the current regulations banning imports of cat and dog fur and seal products from commercial hunts, as well as controls on products from endangered species and humane trapping. It will be open to Governments in future, once the UK has left the EU, to consider whether they wish to go further than current EU arrangements.
The Government is not preparing a report on the fur trade.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 the sale of real fur.
Answered by George Eustice
In 2017 the UK imported £63 million worth of fur and articles with fur. In the same year the UK exported £33 million worth of fur and articles with fur, suggesting that around £30 million was for UK use1.
The Government shares the British public’s high regard for animal welfare. The UK continues to support higher animal welfare standards worldwide as the best way of phasing out cruel and inhumane fur farming and trapping practices that are banned here.
The Government is planning that after we leave the EU, we will retain all the current regulations banning imports of cat and dog fur and seal products from commercial hunts, as well as controls on products from endangered species and humane trapping. It will be open to Governments in future, once the UK has left the EU, to consider whether they wish to go further than current EU arrangements.
The Government is not preparing a report on the fur trade.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 publish his Department's report into the fur trade.
Answered by George Eustice
In 2017 the UK imported £63 million worth of fur and articles with fur. In the same year the UK exported £33 million worth of fur and articles with fur, suggesting that around £30 million was for UK use1.
The Government shares the British public’s high regard for animal welfare. The UK continues to support higher animal welfare standards worldwide as the best way of phasing out cruel and inhumane fur farming and trapping practices that are banned here.
The Government is planning that after we leave the EU, we will retain all the current regulations banning imports of cat and dog fur and seal products from commercial hunts, as well as controls on products from endangered species and humane trapping. It will be open to Governments in future, once the UK has left the EU, to consider whether they wish to go further than current EU arrangements.
The Government is not preparing a report on the fur trade.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of a reduction in local government funding on litter and fly tipping.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was announced on 15 December. This is the second year of a four year settlement where local authority core spending power is set to increase from £44.5 billion in 2015-16 to £44.7 billion in 2019-20. Councils in England will receive more than £200 billion for local services over the lifetime of this Parliament.
In December 2015, the Government announced that it would develop a Litter Strategy for England. We want to be ambitious: our goal is to achieve a substantial reduction in litter and littering in England, ensuring that our communities, natural landscape, roads and highways are free of litter.
We are committed to tackling fly-tipping and, as set out in the Government’s manifesto, have given local councils the power to issue fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping. These new enforcement tools have been available to councils since May 2016, providing them with an alternative to prosecutions and assisting them in taking a proportionate enforcement response. This builds on previous action to tackle fly-tipping.
The presence of litter or fly-tipped waste in the area can put off potential customers and investors. It will therefore be in local authorities’ interests to keep their communities consistently clean to support a thriving local economy. The Government believes that local authorities are best placed to decide how best to meet their statutory duty to keep their relevant land clear of litter and refuse, and how to prioritise this against other local services.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce litter and fly tipping.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government is developing a Litter Strategy for England. We want to be ambitious: our goal is to achieve a substantial reduction in litter and littering in England, ensuring that our communities, natural landscape, roads and highways are free of litter.
The Litter Strategy for England will focus on three key themes: education and awareness; improving enforcement; and better cleansing and litter infrastructure. These will be backed up by specific actions under each objective. We are keen to publish the Strategy as soon as we can and a great deal of work is being done to achieve this.
We are committed to tackling fly-tipping and, as set out in the Government’s manifesto, have given local councils the power to issue fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping. These new enforcement tools have been available to councils since May 2016, providing them with an alternative to prosecutions and assisting them in taking a proportionate enforcement response.
This builds on other Government action to tackle fly-tipping, which has included: working with the Sentencing Council on its guideline for sentencing for environmental offences; making it easier for vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime to be stopped, searched and seized; and continuing our work with the Defra chaired National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to promote and disseminate good practice in the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipped waste.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will continue to implement the provisions of the European school milk scheme after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
The EU School Milk Scheme under which the UK claims around £3.5 million of EU funding annually plays a valuable role in encouraging the consumption of dairy products and contributing to the development of healthy eating habits from an early age. A much larger nursery milk scheme for children under 5 is funded by UK Health and Education departments and is worth £67million a year. We will continue to participate in the new EU school scheme from 1 August 2017. We will need to consider the longer-term approach to school milk provision as part of future domestic policy and we will ensure consultation with stakeholders in relation to any future scheme for the UK.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to retain the effect of EU environmental directives in UK law after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union (EU) and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force.
The Prime Minister has announced a Repeal Bill to convert EU law into domestic British law. This provides certainty for consumers, workers and businesses by maintaining existing laws wherever practicable.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the UK meets the EU target to reuse and recycle 50 per cent of household waste by 2020.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The UK Recycling rate has increased from 11% at the turn of the century to 44.9% now. This increase is thanks in large part to the hard work of local authorities and householders to recycle more.
The Government is committed to meeting the EU target to increase the preparing for reuse or recycling of wastes from households to 50% by 2020 and we regularly review progress to achieving this.
Local authorities are best placed to determine the most appropriate waste collection and recycling services in their area and we work closely with them and the Waste and Recycling Action Programme (WRAP) to promote best practice and to increase the quantity and quality of material collected for recycling.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will introduce a new programme to replace the EU School Milk Scheme after the UK's exit from the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the EU and current EU funding arrangements will continue unchanged. The Government will work with industry and the public to develop any new proposals that support our agricultural industry as we leave the EU.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of fireworks on animal welfare.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government accepts that fireworks can have a detrimental effect on some animals. However, we consider that if users follow the correct and sensible use of fireworks combined with owners of animals taking certain precautions, these can help to avoid or reduce any detrimental effects.