Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 publish a list of fishing vessel licences including sanctions for fisheries and labour offences.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) publish UK wide lists of licensed fishing vessels and details of fishing vessel licences. The MMO does not publish sanctions for fisheries offences, but regularly publishes details of its successful prosecutions for marine and fisheries offences on the UK government website.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 29 October 2025 to question 83898, what incentives there are for volunteer participants in the design and test phase for demersal trawls using mesh sizes up to 120mm, over 10m; and how many vessels in that category have volunteered for 2026.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All vessels taking part in REM early adopter projects have the opportunity to shape Defra’s approach to roll out, participating in programme design and flagging implementation issues. Volunteers can also recommend information and data they would like us to collect and how they would like it reported back. Defra also funds REM equipment and installation for volunteer early adopters.
At present there are no volunteers for Fishery C, Demersal trawls using mesh sizes up to 120mm, over 10m, English waters of the North Sea.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 has taken to ensure that fishing catches are recorded and accounted for.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To ensure fishing catches are accurately recorded and accounted for, all English vessels must record their catches either in a logbook or, for vessels under 10 metres, using the Catch Recording application. These systems provide an accurate picture of how much fish is being taken from English waters.
Compliance with this requirement is monitored through analysis of data and vessel inspections. Fisheries control and enforcement are devolved matters, with each Devolved Administration responsible for conducting inspections within its respective waters.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 29 October 2025 to question 83891, if she will publish details of grants to the fishing and seafood sector from 2025, including details of vessels receiving funding and the nature of on-board improvements.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is committed to ensuring transparency on the use of public funds. In England, details of grant awards to the fishing and seafood sector are already published on Gov.uk. Publications are updated regularly and made in line with legal obligations, including data protection and commercial confidentiality. As we are in the process of awarding grants for Fisheries and Seafood Scheme for 2025, these awards will be published in due course.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 29 October 2025 to question 83898, how many (a) pelagic trawls over 24m and (b) demersal seines over 10m enrolled as volunteers to design and test Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) systems; and how long the design and testing phase of the REM rollout will take.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is currently working with one volunteer vessel from Fishery A, pelagic trawls over 24m. No volunteers have come forwards from Fishery B, demersal seines over 10m. The volunteer early adopter phase of each REM project will continue until the project objectives and monitoring objectives are met.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what analysis her Department has undertaken to review the cost created by Improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minor, medium and brownfield development consultation for the ecology and nature sectors in the UK.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A Government response to the ‘Improving biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield development’ consultation will be published in due course.
The Government will also publish a full impact assessment setting out all relevant costs and benefits.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to respond to the Improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minor, medium and brownfield development consultation.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A Government response to the ‘Improving biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield development’ consultation will be published in due course.
The Government will also publish a full impact assessment setting out all relevant costs and benefits.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 is taking to ensure that funding delivered through the Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund supports sustainability in fisheries.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund is a £360m investment over the next 12 years in the UK’s fisheries and seafood sector, and coastal communities. The fund aims to support the next generation of fishers and breathe new life into our coastal economies.
We are currently engaging with stakeholders to help shape the fund, ensure funding is targeted where it matters most, and to assess the best strategy for delivering impactful and sustainable investment. This includes a series of industry webinars and an online survey, and we welcome input from representatives from environmental NGOs and academia. Options to be funded are still under consideration and will be developed with due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement, to balance immediate impact with long-term sustainability.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether all catches are recorded and accounted for in UK fisheries.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To ensure fishing catches are accurately recorded and accounted for, all English vessels must record their catches either in a logbook or, for vessels under 10 metres, using the Catch Recording application. These systems provide an accurate picture of how much fish is being taken from English waters.
Compliance with this requirement is monitored through analysis of data and vessel inspections. Fisheries control and enforcement are devolved matters, with each Devolved Administration responsible for conducting inspections within its respective waters.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislation to formalise the license variation requiring English fishing vessels under 12m to operate iVMS while at sea.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A Statutory Instrument is scheduled to be laid once the Marine Management Organisation's rollout of IVMS has concluded.