Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 37715, which (a) local authorities, (b) police forces and (c) animal welfare groups his Department has had discussions with on responsible dog ownership; and when he last held a meeting on this.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra continues to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 20 December 2024 to Question 19399 on Dangerous Dogs, what the outcomes were from his discussions on improving data (a) collection and (b) recording on dog attacks; and what recent discussions he has had with (i) police and (ii) local authorities on this matter.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) police forces, (b) local authorities and (c) animal welfare groups on helping to prevent future dog-on-dog attacks.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had on the adequacy of the (a) training, (b) registration and (c) regulation of dog (i) trainers and (ii) behaviourists.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working hand in hand with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to encourage responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog, including considering the role of education and training (for both dogs and their owners).
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 25 February to Question 31434 on Animal Products: Labelling, what discussions he has had with (a) statutory bodies and (b) animal welfare campaign groups on including animal welfare labelling in future food labelling regulations.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government was elected on a mandate to improve animal welfare and has committed to introducing the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.
The Department is engaging with a range of key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of our overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more details on this in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is to respond to the consultation on fairer food labelling.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, Gareth Snell on 23 December 2024, PQ 20692.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the forthcoming consultation about the Flooding funding formula will consider instances when small communities do not qualify for the threshold for funding due to the (a) size of the communities and (b) flooding focused on roads and connectors rather than houses.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A consultation will be launched in the coming months on the flood investment framework. This will include a review of the existing floods funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection.
The consultation will be open to everyone, and we will be inviting all stakeholders, including organisations that play a role in flood resilience, community groups and members of the public, to share their views and be part of the consultation. We will review all responses received to improve our approach to floods investment.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the outcome was of the Flood Resilience Taskforce Meeting held on 5 February 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Flood Resilience Taskforce met for the second time on 5 February. It included representation from national and local government, the emergency services, businesses and environmental interest groups.
The Taskforce discussed the impacts and learning from flooding experienced since September and outline proposals to reform the flood investment framework ahead of a consultation later this Spring.
Outcomes from the discussion included agreement to continue work to improve warning and informing services, to consider the support available to local authorities, and identify vulnerable communities.
This work will be taken forward through action groups that will report to the next Taskforce meeting.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 impact of temporarily closing the Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes to new applications on farmers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s commitment to British farmers, including family farms, remains steadfast. We will always champion British farming to boost rural economic growth, strengthen food security and improve the environment.
In the Budget announced last month, the Government committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production: £1.8 billion for environmental land management schemes in 2025/26. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is open to farmers so they make their businesses more sustainable and resilient. We will continue to optimise it and our other farming schemes, so they work efficiently for all farmers, food security and the environment, especially for those that are too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 (a) undertake a review of the recording of dog on dog attacks by police forces and (b) make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing guidance to ensure consistency of reporting of those attacks.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied. As part of this work, we will continue to consider how we can improve data collection and recording on dog attacks so that we are in a better position to take action.