Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 guidance entitled Single-use vapes ban, published on 20 January 2025, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) relevant enforcement authorities and (b) Trading Standards are informed of changes to the MHRA notified products list.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working closely with regulators and enforcing authorities, including trading standards, to ensure that they are prepared for the introduction of the single-use vapes ban on 1 June 2025 and to ensure that relevant information is shared.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
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 his Department's guidance on the single-use vapes ban, published on 20 January 2025, how the Department plans to enforce this guidance; and if he will consider placing it on a statutory footing through secondary legislation.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Trading standards will be responsible for enforcing the single-use vapes ban. The published guidance provides businesses with the information they need to know to ensure that they are complying with the requirements laid out in The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024 legislation. It is already a legal requirement that this legislation is complied with and the current business guidance covers these new legal responsibilities.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to incorporate harvest control rules into future fisheries management plans.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) are evidence-based action plans ensuring stocks can be sustainably harvested. Work is being done to implement actions in the six published FMPs. Collectively, these can be considered as equivalent to the ‘harvest control rules’ for the individual fisheries. Defra published a harvest standard specification in September setting out the broad framework within which individual harvest strategies can be developed for English fisheries. Harvest standard specification for fisheries management plans in English waters - GOV.UK Harvest Control Rules require a sufficient level of data and understanding of a stock. Currently, there are some FMP stocks that they cannot apply to until there is a better evidence base.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish proposed measures for the Stage 3 offshore Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rotherham on 16 September 2024, PQ 4529.