Steve Witherden: Defra: Written Answers (4)

Written Question

Furs: Sales

Tuesday 31st March 2026

Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the sale of unethical fur products.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Fur farming is banned in the UK. Restrictions also apply to imports including fur and fur products from seals, cats and dogs. Other long-established controls include those covering fur from species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

On 26 March the Government published the Opinion on the responsible sourcing of fur by our expert Animal Welfare Committee and will carefully consider its findings. The Government has also published the summary of responses to the call for evidence on the fur trade in Great Britain, which was held under the previous government in 2021 jointly with the Scottish and Welsh Governments.

Building on this, the Government will now bring together a working group on fur, with involvement from both industry experts and those who support restrictions on the trade in fur, to explore concerns and the different ways in which they could be addressed.

Written Question

Hunting: Birds of Prey

Thursday 26th February 2026

Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of exemptions permitting the use of birds of prey in fox hunting activities; and whether it plans to review those provisions.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of exemptions permitting the use of birds of prey in fox hunting activities and has no plans to review those provisions.

Written Question

Countryside: Access

Friday 28th March 2025

Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)

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 plans to publish an (a) Green Paper and (b) public consultation on access to nature; and what steps he has taken to improve people's access to nature.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We are currently developing policy to improve access to nature, working closely with other Government departments and key stakeholders, and further information will be available in due course. In addition, we are already delivering key initiatives aimed at improving people’s access to nature, including:

Completing the King Charles III England Coast Path, which will become the longest waymarked and maintained coastal walking route in the world. With over 2,400 miles of the route now approved and 1,430 miles already open, this will also create 250,000 hectares of new open access land within the coastal margin.
Designating Wainwright’s Coast to Coast route as a National Trail across the north of England.
Delivering the £16 million ‘Access for All’ programme, which is designed to make our protected landscapes, national trails, forests, and the wider countryside more inclusive and accessible to all.

Written Question

Carbon Emissions

Tuesday 28th January 2025

Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the UK's carbon footprint including emissions from imported goods is since 2010.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Information about the Carbon footprint for the UK is published here : Carbon footprint for the UK and England to 2021 - GOV.UK

Data are available up to 2021.

The total carbon footprint now includes the seven main Greenhouse Gases comprising: CO₂, Methane (CH₄), Nitrous oxide (N₂O), Hydro-flourocarbons (HFC), Perflurocarbons (PFC), Nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃) and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆).

We do not hold information on total UK emissions but can provide those associated with consumption. UK consumption emission figures, including those from imported goods, are provided in the table below.

Table 1: Greenhouse gas emissions associated with UK consumption, million tonnes CO2 equivalent, UK, 2010-2021

Year	GHG from UK produced goods and services consumed by UK residents	GHG embedded in imported goods and services to UK	UK Households heating emissions arising from the use of fossil fuels	UK Transport emissions generated directly by UK households	Total
2010	310	336	91	66	804
2011	292	347	74	66	778
2012	305	360	80	66	811
2013	295	358	82	67	801
2014	283	366	69	67	784
2015	275	362	72	68	777
2016	236	320	73	69	698
2017	211	321	71	70	673
2018	213	342	74	70	699
2019	208	336	71	70	685
2020	176	311	71	54	613
2021	189	381	76	59	705