Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in plastic (a) products and (b) packaging on human health.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has been working with other government Departments and researchers to address evidence gaps and to inform potential action relating to the risks from endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Regulatory action can and has been taken to address these risks, including those associated with plastics and packaging.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish a schedule of plastic bans.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently considering the actions that can be taken to address the challenges associated with single-use plastic products and is committed to moving to a circular economy. As a part of this transition, managing and reducing plastic waste and following the principles of the waste hierarchy: reduce, reuse, recycle, will be crucial.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support businesses to transition away from plastic.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Stakeholder engagement continues to be at the core of our packaging reforms, and we continue to engage with all sectors in bringing this policy into place. Additionally, Defra has updated guidance on all single-use plastic regulations to improve clarity on single-use plastic bans and restrictions.
Defra continues to engage with and support industry through the UK Plastics Pact to tackle plastic waste and pollution. The pact's membership represents two-thirds of all consumer packaging in the UK. Members have reduced their problematic and unnecessary plastic items by 84% since 2018.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 17 September 2024 to Question 3584 on Foie Gras: Imports, whether he plans to publish a consultation on a potential ban on the import of foie gras.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare and has made clear that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese using force feeding raises serious welfare concerns.
The Government looks forward to delivering the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.
Ministers are reviewing policies and any next steps will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues on the application of the Welfare of Animals at Time Of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 to (a) commercial fishing operations and (b) other activities to which the Animal Welfare Act 2006 does not apply.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Commercial fishing activities are not covered by the relevant welfare at killing legislation unless animals are kept alive for processing later. In these circumstances fish and invertebrates shall be spared any avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations. Defra has not issued guidance on these issues.
Following publication of the Animal Welfare Committee’s updated Opinion on the welfare of farmed fish at the time of killing, a GB-wide farmed trout joint government and industry working group is examining the issues raised in the report to explore potential options for more detailed welfare at killing requirements. The Scottish Government is similarly working closely with the salmon industry.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 adequacy of the enforcement of the (a) Welfare of Animals at Time Of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 and (b) Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 by local authorities; and whether he plans to take steps to help improve enforcement the enforcement of those regulations.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Post Implementation Review to the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015 published in Jan 2021 addressed the roles of the Food Standards Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and local authorities in enforcement of the regulations. No such assessment has been made of the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order.
Defra regularly engages with local authorities, APHA and other interested parties to discuss the enforcement of animal welfare regulations.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to improve (a) data collection, (b) mapping and (c) tracking of (i) critical minerals and (ii) other material streams in (A) electrical and (B) electronic equipment.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has recently announced the world’s first United Nations-backed International Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management in the Circular Economy. In partnership with national and international partners the centre will deliver environmentally sustainable primary extraction of Critical Minerals and map the flow of these critical and priority minerals across there complete life cycle, from extraction to reuse, recovery to disposal. In addition, Defra also published a consultation and call for evidence on reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013. This sought evidence in support of future policy measures intended to improve treatment standards and critical mineral recovery from WEEE. Defra is currently analysing and will publish a summary in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to (a) support the development of recycling (i) infrastructure and (ii) technologies and (b) help enable increased recovery of (A) critical minerals and (B) other materials.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is committed to delivering a more sustainable future for the UK and world. Supporting this it recently announced the world’s first United Nations-backed International Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management in the Circular Economy. In partnership with national and international partners the centre will deliver environmentally sustainable primary extraction of Critical Minerals and map the flow of these critical and priority minerals across there complete life cycle, from extraction to reuse, recovery to disposal.
Defra also published a consultation and a call for evidence on reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013 with a view to improving levels of collection for re-use and recycling, improving treatment standards and critical mineral recovery from WEEE and wider measures in support of the circular economy. The consultation and call for evidence closed on 7 March. Defra is currently analysing the responses and will publish a summary of responses in due course.
The current regulations require producers to finance the collection and proper treatment of WEEE which has stimulated investment in WEEE treatment infrastructure. Under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 obligated producers are required to obtain Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs), as evidence that a certain tonnage of packaging waste that has been recycled. The sale of PRNs generates millions of pounds of revenue a year for reprocessors and exporters of packaging waste (circa £490m in 2022), which should be re-invested to support development of the necessary recycling and reprocessing infrastructure.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 take steps to support the (a) re-use, (b) repair and (c) re-manufacturing of electronic waste products according to the waste hierarchy; and if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of recycling infrastructure in supporting the management of e-waste.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Waste Prevention Programme for England: Maximising Resources, Minimising Waste (MRMW), commits the government to prioritise measures to support the waste hierarchy in relation to electrical equipment. This includes consideration of ways to provide consumers and businesses with information on the environmental performance of electrical and electronic products, focussing on material resource efficiency aspects such as durability, reparability and recyclability. The government has also introduced new eco-design requirements for a range of industrial appliances, white goods, electronic displays and lighting products, to increase their reparability. We have also published a consultation and call for evidence on potential reforms to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013. The review includes measures to ensure more WEEE is properly collected for reuse and recycling, considers new metrics to evaluate the performance of the WEEE system and wider proposals that would support the circular economy. We are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and call for evidence and will publish a summary in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the volume of (a) imported and (b) exported animal (i) fur and (ii) fur products in the last 10 years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
i) We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee into the issue of what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.
ii) HMRC statistics for the import and export of fur and fur products over the 10-year period 2014-23 are available online and can be accessed at Overseas trade data table - UK Trade Info using the relevant HS4 codes (4301, 4302 and 4303).