Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 27 February 2024 to Question 14673 on Dangerous Dogs: Registration and with reference to his oral contribution on 1 February 2024, Official Report, column 970, for what reason he advised those who had not yet registered their XL Bully dogs to register them as soon as possible.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I would like to clarify that during his oral contribution on 1 February the Secretary of State inadvertently misspoke. As highlighted in the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14673 on Dangerous Dogs, the scheme through which owners could register their XL Bully dog for a Certificate of Exemption closed at midday on 31 January 2024. This deadline was set out in The Dangerous Dogs (Compensation and Exemption Schemes) (England and Wales) Order 2023.
From 1 February 2024, it became a criminal offence to possess an XL Bully breed type without a valid Certificate of Exemption, and new exemptions can now only be authorised by a court order. If owners think they have an XL Bully dog and do not have a Certificate of Exemption, we advise that they should contact their local police force.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 plans to reopen registrations for XL bully dogs for owners who missed the deadline.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no plans to reopen registrations for XL Bully dogs for owners who missed the deadline to apply for a Certificate of Exemption. Applications opened on 14 November 2023 and closed at midday on 31 January 2024. This date was set out in legislation and gave owners over two months to apply. It is now against the law to keep an XL Bully dog without a valid Certificate of Exemption, and new exemptions can only be authorised by a court order. If owners think they have an XL Bully dog and do not have a Certificate of Exemption, we advise that they should contact their local police force.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 publish guidance for owners of XL Bully dogs who were unable to register their dogs by the deadline.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Applications for a Certificate of Exemption to keep an XL Bully dog opened on the 14 November and closed at midday on 31 January. This date was set out in legislation and gave owners over two months to apply. It is now against the law to keep an XL Bully dog without a valid Certificate of Exemption, and new exemptions can only be authorised by a court order. If owners think they have an XL Bully dog and do not have a Certificate of Exemption, we advise that they should contact their local police force. We have published this guidance on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 is providing to people who were unable to register their XL Bully dogs before the deadline on how to (a) remain compliant with the law and (b) ensure that their dog is not at risk of being destroyed.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Applications for a Certificate of Exemption to keep an XL Bully dog opened on 14 November and closed at midday on 31 January. This date was set out in legislation and gave owners over two months to apply. It is now against the law to keep an XL Bully dog without a valid Certificate of Exemption, and new exemptions can only be authorised by a court order. If owners think they have an XL Bully dog and do not have a Certificate of Exemption, we advise that they should contact their local police force.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 is providing to XL bully dog owners who were unable to neuter their dog before the deadline.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Owners who applied for a Certificate of Exemption by 31 January 2024 must provide evidence of neutering to Defra by the relevant deadlines to ensure that their certificate remains valid. We provided extended neutering deadlines so that owners did not need to wait to have their dog neutered before applying for a Certificate of Exemption. Dogs that were older than one year old on 31 January 2024, must be neutered and evidence received by 30 June 2024. Dogs that were younger than one year old on 31 January 2024 must be neutered and evidence received by 31 December 2024. We recommend that owners arrange for their dogs to be neutered as soon as possible to meet these deadlines.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) algorithmic and (b) other automated decision making systems her Department uses; and for what purposes.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is using algorithms for land use mapping at a national scale which include:
To some extent automated processes are used to complete transactions. But decisions are still governed by the policy lead, budget holder (or other) approvals. There is no independent, algorithmic logic making choices without human approval. Predictive analytics is only used at aggregate level. Individuals are not profiled.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure of 14 June 2023 at Topical Questions, T7, Official Report, column 286, what plans her Department has to (a) utilise the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill and (b) use smart data in new sectors.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is tracking the passage of the Bill closely and was consulted during the drafting process. We recognise that there is exciting potential to explore Smart Data in further sectors, beyond Open Banking. Government, regulators and industry experts are working together via the Smart Data Council to ensure that the UK continues to be at the forefront of developments in this area.
Before committing to use the provisions in Part 3 of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill in any given sector, there is work to be done to understand how Smart Data can best empower consumers and increase competition.
Once the Bill is law, we will also look in further depth at the implications and opportunities for Defra’s own data use and sharing, working with other Government departments where appropriate.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria, checks and procedures his Department used to decide where to site Automatic Urban and Rural Network units.
Answered by Steve Double
Defra adheres to the Air Quality Standards Regulations (2010) when deciding where to site Automatic Urban and Rural Network units. This includes detailed provisions on the location and number of sampling points, the measurement methods to be used, the classification of sites, the data quality objectives and the siting criteria each monitoring station must meet. Potential new sites are subject to a detailed technical review process, to ensure that they meet these requirements.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 support local authorities with combatting fly-tipping.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Ending the menace of fly-tipping is a real priority. We have already introduced fixed penalty fines for fly-tipping and are working with councils to develop a fly-tipping toolkit. We have also provided over £450,000 in direct grants to help councils tackle fly-tipping with measures like CCTV – with more to come this year. Additionally, measures such as digital waste tracking and improvements to waste licensing will make it easier than ever to find and punish professional fly-tippers and other waste criminals.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
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 raising public awareness of how to identify a legitimate waste carrier license.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our consultation on potential measures to strengthen the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regime closed in April. We are looking carefully at the comments made and will respond in due course.