Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the use of electronic shock collars in dog training.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation and will bring forward plans in due course. Ministers will be considering available evidence around the use of hand-controlled e-collars and their effects on the welfare of animals.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he is taking steps to (a) collaborate with international partners on best practices and (b) align regulatory frameworks for animal testing; and what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on reducing reliance on animal testing.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Many of the regulations on animal testing are backed by international agreements and the government is keen to ensure regulatory alignment where appropriate. We are engaging with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), who represent the UK at the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, on how to accelerate the acceptance of data generated using non-animal methods for drug safety decision making. Government officials and representatives of the NC3Rs regularly attend international meetings to collaborate on best practice and to consider approaches to reducing reliance on animal testing.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had recent discussions with car manufacturers on the potential impact of digitally connected cars on the safety of domestic abuse survivors.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Responsibility for domestic abuse policy rests with the Home Office. The Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The Department for Transport has not carried out discussions with car manufacturers on this issue.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many culled badger carcasses have tested positive for TB since 2013; what plans his Department has for the number of badgers to be culled up to January 2026; and of those how many and what proportion will be tested for TB.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine TB rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be undertaken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease.
The published policy guidance as introduced by the previous Government does not require routine post-mortem examinations on badgers removed under culling licences issued in the High Risk and Edge Areas of England. There are no plans to change this guidance, with existing cull processes agreed by the previous Government being honoured to ensure clarity for farmers, while new measures can be rolled out through the work on a new bovine TB eradication strategy.
Information on the number of culled badgers that have been previously tested under licences in the High Risk and Edge Area can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-surveillance-in-wildlife-in-england.
Information on the number of culled badgers that have been tested (including the proportion positive for Mycobacterium bovis) in the Low Risk Area is published annually on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-hotspots-in-the-low-risk-area-of-england.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to consult (a) civil society, (b) animal protection organisations and (c) the public on policy decisions on animal testing.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Labour Manifesto included a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will be consulting civil society and animal protection organisations as this process unfolds.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 14 October 2024 to Question 6253 on Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the decision to allow bottom trawl fishing in parts of the Farnes East marine protected area on (a) the ecological integrity of the site and (b) meeting its conservation objectives.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Protected Areas Bottom Towed Fishing Gear Byelaw 2023, which came into force on 22 March 2024, prohibited the use of bottom-towed gear over the rock and reef habitats of Farnes East Marine Protected Area. The Marine Management Organisation has been making further assessments of the impact of fishing activities on other designated habitats throughout the site and, if needed, will consult on further fishing restrictions. As mentioned in my answer to PQ 4529, the Department is considering next steps for this and other sites.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential (a) impact of inflation on thresholds for qualification as a large business under Extended Producer Responsibility and (b) merits of staggered thresholds.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The thresholds for qualification under Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility remain in line with those set out in the Packaging Waste Regulations 2007 which sets the threshold for businesses handling at least 50 tonnes of packaging materials and with a turnover of £2 million a year. This decision was made following extensive consultation, which also considered reduction or removal of the threshold, to encourage all producers to use less packaging and ensure the packaging they do use is easy to recycle.
To support this aim, the Government is also introducing a new distributor approach which places a new obligation on large packaging manufacturers and importers that sell unfilled packaging to small, unobligated producers, ensuring all packaging is subject to extended producer responsibility.
Once the scheme is fully operational, we will review these thresholds to ensure they continue to meet the aims of the scheme. This will include the impact of inflation, and the effectiveness of the new distributor obligations, to ensure that we are obligating as much packaging as possible whilst still protecting the smallest businesses from the burden of complying with the regulations.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the implementation of the recommendations of his Department's report entitled Good for you, good for us, good for everybody: A plan to reduce overprescribing to make patient care better and safer, support the NHS, and reduce carbon emissions, published on 22 September 2021.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 September 2024 to Question 2902.