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Written Question
Mink: Disease Control
Wednesday 3rd January 2024

Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)

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 implications for his policies of the article entitled Mink farming poses risks for future viral pandemics published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 19 July 2023.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government shares the British public’s high regard for animal welfare. Fur farming has been banned in England and Wales since 2000 (2002 in Scotland and Northern Ireland). Fur farming is legal in some countries and cases of infection with influenza A viruses of avian origin and SARS-CoV-2 have been confirmed in farmed mink in these countries in recent years.

Therefore, we remain vigilant and continue to use our established systems to monitor for new and emerging animal health risks through our Veterinary Risk Group and Animal Disease Policy Group and for public health risks through the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group. We have published a risk assessment on the transmission from animals to humans of influenza of avian origin and SARS-CoV-2 in Mustelidae population.

International collaboration and knowledge exchange on animal health risks including zoonotic pathogens is facilitated through discussions between the UK Chief Veterinary Officer and representatives from the UK’s network of national and international reference laboratories, and their counterparts in the EU and globally through the World Organisation for Animal Health and allied projects. Including through the joint WOAH-FOA Scientific Network on animal influenza OFFLU.


Written Question
Deposit Return Schemes: Plastics and Tin
Thursday 23rd March 2023

Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)

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 she has made of the effectiveness of plastic and tin deposit return schemes; and what progress her Department has made on rolling out these schemes.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Deposit return schemes (DRS) are a well-established policy mechanism across Europe and globally, with well-functioning schemes achieving collection targets of 90% or higher. DEFRA published a DRS consultation impact assessment in 2021 and are currently updating this to align with final policy positions.

In January 2023 we published the government response to the 2021 consultation, setting out policy decisions and next steps for introducing the scheme (link here) including setting out that the DRS will start from 1 October 2025. We are currently drafting the legislation to enable delivery of DRS and working to appoint a DRS scheme administrator by summer 2024.


Written Question
Food: Standards
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)

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 adequacy of food standards regulations.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Maintaining the UK’s high food standards remains our priority, underpinned by our goal to make the UK the best regulated economy in the world. HM Government remains committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate growth and international trade, and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. We keep regulations under constant review to ensure they continue to meet the needs of consumers and businesses alike.


Written Question
Furs: Sales
Friday 25th February 2022

Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish its response to the recent consultation on the fur market in the UK.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The recent call for evidence published by Defra on the fur trade in Great Britain was a key step in helping us to meet the commitment set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare to better understand the fur sector in Great Britain and gather evidence from those with an interest in it.

We received around 30,000 responses from businesses, representative bodies and individuals, demonstrating the strong public interest in this area. A summary of responses setting out the results and key findings will be published soon.


Written Question
Sanitary Protection
Friday 26th February 2021

Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)

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 trends in the level of use of reusable menstrual products; and whether his Department has set any waste reduction objectives for menstrual products.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have not carried out an assessment of the trends in the level of use of reusable menstrual products.

We have recently commissioned work into the environmental impacts of disposable versus reusable absorbent hygiene products (AHPs). The primary focus will be on nappies, but it will also include a broad assessment of other AHPs such as menstrual products. This will help inform future policy interventions on waste prevention. At this time, we have no plans to set specific waste reduction objectives in this area.