Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the assessment of lead ammunition restrictions by the Health and Safety Executive between March 2021 and 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
For the period 1 March 2021 to 31 March 2024 the Health and Safety Executive full economic cost estimate is £500,000 which includes the costs of both HSE and independent scientific experts engaged in this work but excludes work undertaken by the Environment Agency.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with her counterpart in New Zealand on the potential impact of the proposed Fast-Track Approvals Bill on that country's obligations under the chapter of the UK-New Zealand free trade agreement on the environment.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On March 13th, the UK and New Zealand highlighted the importance of our environment commitments at the first ever Environment and Climate Change Sub-Committee under the FTA. The Department for Business and Trade will continue discussions with New Zealand on implementing the Environment Chapter and will monitor the proposed Bill as it develops in New Zealand’s Parliament.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions she has had with her New Zealand counterpart on the compatibility of the proposed Fast-Track Approvals Bill with the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On March 13th, the UK and New Zealand highlighted the importance of our environment commitments at the first ever Environment and Climate Change Sub-Committee under the FTA. The Department for Business and Trade will continue discussions with New Zealand on implementing the Environment Chapter and will monitor the proposed Bill as it develops in New Zealand’s Parliament.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
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 help prevent (a) flooding and (b) erosion of former coastal landfill sites; whether funding is available to local authorities to tackle that matter; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using under-spend from the Environment Agency's capital programme for that purpose.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since 2010, the Government has invested around £6 billion to better protect over 600,000 properties from flooding and coastal erosion.
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. All of the £5.6 billion is expected to have been invested by 2027. 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. The amount to be spent on coastal erosion and sea flooding is forecast to be around £1.3 billion between April 2021 and March 2027.
.Responsibility for managing both coastal change and legacy coastal landfill sites lies with the relevant coastal protection authorities. Local authorities’ waste powers are defined under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Environment Agency has recently worked with local authorities to update Shoreline Management Plans to reflect action required at the coast, including to manage landfill at risk, and is also updating public maps showing projections of future erosion risk.
Local authorities receive revenue funding for local services through the Local Government Settlement. The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available over £64.7 billion, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £4.5 billion or 7.5% in cash terms on 2023-24. The majority of local government funding is un-ringfenced, recognising that local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the major service pressures in their local areas, including on flood and coastal erosion risk management.
The Government recognises that for some historic coastal landfill (HCL) sites, understanding the impacts and therefore remediation priorities may not be clear. We have commissioned a project to complete a national assessment of the situation to provide us with a clear and up to date understanding of the scale of risks posed by HCL sites in England. This will support national and local understanding of the issues, including enabling informed decisions on priority actions needed. The project is due to be completed by spring 2025.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many XL Bullies registered with the exemption scheme have not been neutered.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For a Certificate of Exemption to remain valid, owners must arrange to have their XL Bully dog neutered and to provide evidence of this to Defra by set deadlines. These deadlines are 30 June 2024 if the dog was 12 months or older on 31 January 2024, 31 December 2024 if the dog was at least 7 months old, but less than 12 months old on 31 January 2024, and 30 June 2025 if the dog was younger than 7 months on 31 January 2024.
As these deadlines have not yet passed, we have not received and processed all forms and so we do not hold data on the number of XL Bullies that have not been neutered. We recommend that owners arrange for their dogs to be neutered as soon as possible to meet these deadlines.
Asked by: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Environment Agency on trends in the level of (a) dredging and (b) desilting as a means of flood prevention.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers and Defra officials regularly meet with the Environment Agency to discuss flood and water management issues, including dredging.
The Environment Agency assesses each situation individually and dredge when it is the right solution, and it provides long-term value for money. Understanding where it will, and will not, reduce flood risk is key.
Where there is evidence that dredging will reduce flood risk to local properties or agricultural land without increasing flooding downstream, it meets government criteria, and is cost effective, the Environment Agency will do it.
Dredging can contribute to reducing flooding in some locations, but in others dredging would be an extremely inefficient and ineffective way to manage flood risk, as the natural processes in many rivers can cause the silt to return and accumulate in the same places very quickly. We also know from historic records and modelling that dredging in some locations can increase erosion and flood risk for communities downstream.
In extreme flooding events, the relatively small increases in width and depth achievable by dredging the channel do not provide anywhere near enough capacity to contain the excess flood water, since the channel may already be full of water, and therefore does not prevent flooding.
Any structures encroaching in the river such as bridges, weirs and natural features need to be considered, as these could be damaged or may be pinch points with hard foundations which can make dredging ineffective. Deepening can in some instances also cause destabilising of natural riverbanks leading to soil erosion and damage to riverside flood defences.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of making the use of catapults to harm wildlife illegal.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously, including those involving the use of catapults. There is already sufficient legislation in place which protects wildlife against the use of catapults.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While the Act does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that a person must not use to kill an animal, it is still illegal under this Act to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species. There are a range of offences around deliberate attempts to kill, injure or inflict harm on wildlife under provisions not just in this Act, but also in the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and in the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Significant sanctions are available to judges to hand down to those convicted of crimes against wildlife under these Acts.
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 Dog Legislation Officers there were on 15 September 2023; how many and what proportion of those Dog Legislation Officers have received training in the identification standard for an XL Bully; and how many new Dog Legislation Officers have been trained since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not hold data on the number of Dog Legislation Officers. This information is held by individual police forces.
We have supported the police to deliver additional training to Dog Legislation Officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 22 April 2024 to Question 21236 on Livestock: Exports, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for the change since 2020.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Exports of livestock by sea to continental Europe have not been viable since 2020, due to the lack of Border Control Posts designated to accept this trade in receiving EU Member States.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 23 April 2024 to Question 22091 on Furs: Trade, what his planned timetable is for publication of the report from the expert Animal Welfare Committee on responsible sourcing in the fur industry.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Committee project on the responsible sourcing of fur is expected to conclude in 2025. The report will be published on gov.uk once finalised.