Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the range of wildlife crimes which have notifiable status.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government recognises the importance of tackling wildlife crime, which is why, along with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Home Office directly funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to help tackle these crimes.
The NWCU provides intelligence, analysis and investigative assistance to the police and other law enforcement agencies across the UK to support them in investigating wildlife crime. This includes supporting cases referred by Border Force to the National Crime Agency or to individual forces. The NWCU is also the UK policing focal point for EUROPOL and INTERPOL wildlife crime activity.
The NWCU uses this information to produce strategic and tactical assessments of wildlife crime across the UK. These assessments also take into consideration the views of the Wildlife Crime Conservation Advisory Group, which highlight priorities based on the conservation status of specific species and review all other non-priority intelligence to identify any emerging threats. It is these assessments which ultimately drive the operational response to tackling wildlife crime in the UK.
We will keep under review any legislative proposals to increase the range of wildlife crimes that have notifiable status. If a non-notifiable wildlife crime is reported to police it can still be investigated. Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 had recent discussions with the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales on steps to improve crop resilience.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our fantastic British farmers are world leaders and carefully plan their planting to suit the weather, their soil type and their long-term agronomic strategy. I understand the increasing importance of farmers having access to crop varieties that are resistant to climate change and variable weather conditions, to maintain crop quality and yields.
The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses the 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third Climate Change Risk Assessment. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety and quality from climate change overseas.
One of these responses, the recent Precision Breeding Act, is a major step in unlocking growth and innovation in technologies like gene editing and supports Defra’s efforts to reinforce food security in the face of climate change. Through the Act we want to encourage researchers and commercial breeders to be at the forefront of capturing the potential benefits of precision breeding for British farmers and consumers. For instance, research into wheat that is resilient to climate change is currently underway at the John Innes Centre. Gene editing techniques have been used to identify a key gene in wheat that can be used to introduce traits such as heat resilience whilst maintaining high yield. This could help to increase food production from a crop that 2.5 billion people are dependent on globally.
Also included in the NAP3, Defra’s flagship breeding research programme, the Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) on Wheat, Oil Seed Rape, Pulses and Vegetable crops identify genetic traits to improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and nutritional quality of our crops. The GINs also provide a platform for knowledge exchange for breeders, producers, end users and the research base, and a means for the delivery of scientific knowledge, resources and results to add value to wheat crops.
The £270 million Farming Innovation Programme also supports industry-led research and development in agriculture and horticulture. All projects support productivity and environmental outcomes that will benefit farmers and growers in England. In our latest ‘climate smart’ farming themed competition, we awarded over £11 million to projects investigating novel approaches to growing and managing crops. Previous competitions have also supported crop-related research.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures are being taken to ensure that the UK's defence spending aligns with the current strategic threat landscape, particularly in the light of emerging hybrid and cyber warfare tactics observed in recent international conflicts.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Since the latest Defence Command Paper was published the security landscape has continued to deteriorate and hybrid threats persist. The volatile, complex and ambiguous security environment demands a fully integrated approach to deterrence and our defence - including across domains, across the spectrum of competition, across Government, and with allies and partners - exploiting all the levers of state power.
To support this, the Prime Minister has committed to defence spending reaching 2.5% of GDP in 2030. Defence is establishing a prioritisation process to work through future capability and investment choices which will conclude at the next Spending Review. In the immediate term, this increased investment will be focused in part on accelerating investment in new technology for defence and ensuring our Armed Forces are benefitting from the latest technologies.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 lay the Windsor Framework (Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals) Regulations before Parliament.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is continuing to take forward work on the arrangements for the movement of pet animals under the Windsor Framework and will set out further detail in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
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 improve flood defences in North West Leicestershire constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, a £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, £170 million for economic recovery from flooding and over £30 million of funding for flood incident management.
In the £5.2 billion capital investment programme, funding is consistently distributed across the country wherever the risk is greatest and the benefits are highest. The Environment Agency administer this funding to maintain flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) assets across NW Leicestershire and is responsible the management of flood risk from watercourses designated Main River. They complete routine maintenance on assets with support from partners/contractors and this programme includes regular vegetation management, blockage removal and conveyance work to keep watercourses clear.
Packington was impacted by flooding in September 2023 and the Environment Agency are working with Leicestershire County Council (LCC) to assess what improvements can be made locally, such as improved flood warnings, property flood resilience (PFR) and natural flood management (NFM) mitigation measures.
A further 63 properties in the constituency were affected by flooding during Storm Babet in October 2023, and 43 impacted by Storm Henk in January 2024. In the current national 6-year programme, more than £0.5 million of government investment is planned by the Environment Agency to support schemes led by LCC at Breedon on the Hill, Diseworth & Long Whatton. Again, a variety of PFR, NFM and other flood alleviation measures will be utilised, aiming to better protect more than 60 properties.
The Environment Agency has also improved local flood modelling information and used this to work with developers to reduce flood risk in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people of what grade (a) joined and (b) left the workforce at HMP Parc in each month of 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HMPPS takes the findings of every HMI Prisons inspection seriously and responds to each with a detailed action plan that seeks to address all concerns raised within the inspection report. For privately run prisons, HMPPS works closely with the Prison operator to ensure that the expected standards are met, through the local controller team and contractual escalation route, if required. HMPPS officials meet with HMIP regularly to discuss the general landscape across the prison estate and will continue to do so. HMP and YOI Parc assess all prisoners who transfer into the prison including reviewing all previous information held on the prisoners to inform intelligence.
HMPPS continues to work extensively with G4S and is closely overseeing the prison to improve safety and reduce harm. All establishments are required to have a safety strategy in place, which includes actions to address violence. HMPPS remains committed to providing a safe, decent and secure environment for all committed to our care.
As HMP and YOI Parc is a privately operated prison, HMPPS do not hold data relating to the G4S workforce, and recruitment of healthcare staff is the responsibility of the Local Health Board, therefore, HMPPS are not the data holder for healthcare staffing information.
The information requested on finds in prisons is published at HMPPS annual digest: HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2022 to March 2023 - GOV.UK, specifically in tables 8.2b, 8.3 and 8.4 of this link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64c143b41e10bf000e17cf9e/8.__Finds.ods.
Data on assaults are found in tables 8a-8f: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/662a24fb690acb1c0ba7e57c/Safety-in-custody-summary-q4-2023_final_table.xlsx.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 hold discussions with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a comprehensive surveillance programme in place to monitor the level of BSE over time and check on the continued effectiveness of our BSE controls. It was the effectiveness of these controls that recently identified a case in Scotland. Defra officials have engaged closely with Scottish counterparts on this matter, as they do regularly on animal disease issues more broadly with officials from all UK administrations under the Animal Health and Welfare Framework.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the use of electronic shock collars on (a) cats and (b) dogs.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to banning electronic training collars controlled by hand-held devices that administer electric shocks to cats or dogs.
We will pursue new regulations to deliver this commitment on a revised timeline. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspections of shellfish waters his Department has conducted in each year since 2015.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is responsible for designating shellfish water protected areas. Investigations are carried out by other organisations that have a role in water quality in shellfish waters, such as the Environment Agency and water companies (if directed to do so by the Environment Agency). Defra does not oversee these investigations to provide a figure.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
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 preserve psammosere environments in (a) Southport constituency and (b) across the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The sand dune habitats of the Sefton Coast benefit from a range of legal protections - as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Ramsar site and National Nature Reserves (NNRs).
Natural England (NE) works proactively with landowners, land managers, developers, and the public to ensure these important habitats are protected. The Sefton Coast Partnership has a key role in bringing stakeholders together to ensure dune habitats are conserved. The Sefton Coast was a location in the Dynamic Dunescapes project which actively restored dune habitats by removing scrub, helping dune re-mobilisation, and utilising livestock grazing to manage vegetation.
In England, we have set four legally binding targets for biodiversity, to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; to reverse species decline by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, which will include psammoseres. These targets, alongside other targets on water and air quality for example, will drive action to create and restore habitats, reduce pressures on nature, and recover species.
A recently published paper, Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions, developed jointly by Defra and Natural England, provides detail for those involved in on-the-ground activities to restore or create wildlife-rich habitats. It includes the list of wildlife-rich habitats, of which several are coastal, for example, littoral sand and muddy sand, coastal vegetated shingle and coastal sand dunes.
Natural flood management is a key part of our solution to tackling flood and coastal erosion risks. We will double the number of government funded projects which include nature-based solutions to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk. Actions such as dune restoration not only help to reduce flood risk, but also provide other environmental benefits to wider areas. In February we awarded £25 million of funding to 40 schemes around England for improving flood resilience through a new natural flood management programme.
The Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative is working to restore our estuarine and coastal habitats, including saltmarsh, to benefit people and nature. The initiative involves Defra arms-length bodies, and a partnership network of environmental non-governmental organisations. It has a mission to restore 15% of the current extent of our key estuarine and coastal habitats (such as saltmarsh, seagrass, native oyster reefs) by 2043.
Natural England is also undertaking climate change risk and vulnerability assessments across the SSSI network and developing site adaptive plans to identify climate vulnerable habitats, including sand dunes, and guide management to improve their resilience.