Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to prevent the importation of factory farmed octopus food products.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have no current plans to prevent the import of farmed octopus products to the UK.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 19 March 2025 to Question 37879 on Cats: Animal Breeding, what progress he has made in reviewing the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices, published in December 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government is still carefully considering the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 publish a public consultation this year that would enable the Government to provide the best support to farmers to end the use of pig farrowing crates.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we are currently considering very carefully.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to make Animal Health and Welfare Pathway grants available to pig farmers to install free farrowing systems.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We will simplify and rationalise our grant funding, ensuring that grants are targeted towards those who need them most and where they can deliver the most benefit for food security and nature.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department holds information on the number of injuries caused by dangerous dogs to (a) postal workers and (b) courier workers broken down at (i) national, (ii) local authority and (iii) Parliamentary constituency level.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra does not hold data on the total number of dog attacks or on the number of injuries caused by dangerous dogs on postal or courier workers as enforcement authorities and healthcare services are not required to report this information to Defra. This information may be collected by the NHS, individual police forces and local authorities.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what contracts (a) BFS Group Limited and (b) subsidiary companies of BFS Group Limited hold with (i) his Department and (ii) agencies of his Department.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
In response to this question neither Defra of any of its agencies have any contracts with BFS Group or any of its subsidiaries.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 his Department has made of the effectiveness of The Mandatory Use of Close Circuit Television in Slaughterhouses (England) Regulations 2018.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Published in June 2023, the Post Implementation Review of The Mandatory Use of Closed Circuit Television in Slaughterhouses (England) Regulations 2018 confirmed that the legislation has met its objectives of improving animal welfare and providing assurance that slaughterhouses are operating to high welfare standards.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
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 he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science's report entitled Assessing the sustainability of fisheries catch limits negotiated by the UK for 2024, published 10 April 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
As an independent coastal State, the UK sets total allowable catches (TACs) each year for many fish stocks through negotiations with other coastal States. UK positions in those negotiations are informed by the best available scientific advice, including advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) on achieving the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for many stocks. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) conducts annually a robust assessment of the sustainability outcomes of our negotiations, including the number of TACs which have been set in line with the scientific advice.
In those negotiations, the UK seeks to balance the fisheries objectives set out in the Fisheries Act 2020 and the Joint Fisheries Statement. We strive for outcomes that achieve greater environmental sustainability, including aiming to increase over the medium term the total number of stocks fished at MSY.
Defra will publish in early 2025 the Cefas assessment of the sustainability outcomes of the TACs negotiated by the UK this autumn.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to address the issue of overfishing.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Sustainability is at the heart of the UK’s approach to fisheries management. Through negotiations with other coastal States, we ensure that catch limits are set sustainably, consistent with the best scientific advice. This Government is also pleased to restart the Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) programme and is grateful for the support of the fishing sector and wider stakeholders in helping to shape these plans to secure the long-term sustainability of UK fish stocks in line with obligations under the Fisheries Act 2020 and the Joint Fisheries Statement. We are now consulting on the next 5 FMPs, these cover cockles, sprat, queen scallop, skates, rays and various other demersal species in different waters around England.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help protect the welfare of greyhound dogs within the greyhound racing industry.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The welfare of greyhounds in England is protected by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The 2006 Act allows action to be taken where there is evidence of cruelty to an animal or a failure to provide for that animal’s welfare needs. This includes where greyhounds are raced at greyhound racing tracks, kept at trainers’ kennels, or kept elsewhere as pets, for example.
Further to these general provisions, specific welfare standards at all greyhound racing tracks in England are laid out in the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010. Requirements in the 2010 Regulations include having a veterinary surgeon in attendance while dogs are running (with all greyhounds inspected by the vet before being allowed to run); requiring all greyhounds to be microchipped and earmarked before they can race or trial; and requiring records to be kept by the track of all dogs run or trialled at the track and any dogs injured.
Standards in the 2010 Regulations are enforced by either the track’s local authority or the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB). The role of the GBGB as a regulator of these standards is independently scrutinised by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
In addition to its role as an industry regulator, GBGB has also undertaken a number of welfare reforms, including publishing a long term, national welfare strategy in May 2022– ‘A Good Life for Every Greyhound’. The strategy focuses not only on reducing risks of injury but also developing and implementing new management practices to improve the welfare of greyhounds throughout their lives, including after they have finished racing. The Government is monitoring GBGB’s progress in delivering the strategy and should further measures and protections be required the Government will, of course, consider options which are targeted, effective, and proportionate.