Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
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 prevent online sales of illegal ivory.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The National Wildlife Crime Unit assists law enforcers in their investigations and helps prevent and detect wildlife crime, including cybercrime related to the illegal sale of ivory.
The issue of online sales was raised in response to our recent consultation on banning UK sales of ivory. We are considering this carefully, along with other issues, in developing the Government’s response to the consultation.
Several online retailers have voluntarily banned the sale of ivory online.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to introduce a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles to increase recycling rates.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
As part of the Litter Strategy for England that was published in April this year, we have established a working group to look at different voluntary and economic incentives to improve the recycling and reuse of packaging, and to reduce the incidence of commonly littered items. As well as voluntary models, the scope of the working group includes consideration of regulatory options and measures to target particular types of item or product, including the full cost impacts and benefits of different types of deposit and reward and return schemes for drink containers including plastic bottles. This working group will be consulting widely in developing its evidence base and analysis.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the UK remaining in the EU on the farming industry.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has not made any assessment of the UK remaining in the EU on the farming industry.
Asked by: Liz McInnes (Labour - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on the UK farming industry.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has not made any assessment of the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on the UK farming industry.