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1650287

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Marine Environment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) protect and (b) restore marine (i) habitats and (ii) wildlife.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	192495
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2023 answer text <ul><li>The recently published EIP sets out our focus on enhancing nature in marine and coastal environments, including the steps we are taking to restore and protect marine habitats and marine wildlife.</li><li>These include delivering the UK Marine Strategy, which sets our ambition for Good Environmental Status (GES) across our seas.</li><li>To help achieve GES we have created a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to protect and restore our marine biodiversity. We are focused on strengthening the protection of this extensive network of 178 sites covering 40% of English waters, which represents the range of species and habitats found in our seas.</li><li>To complement the MPA network, the first three Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in English waters came into force on 5 July 2023. HPMAs will provide the highest levels of protection in our seas, allowing nature to fully recover to a more natural state and helping the ecosystem to thrive.</li><li>A number of estuarine and coastal habitat restoration initiatives are also underway including the Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative which aims to reverse centuries of coastal habitat decline by restoring seagrass meadows, saltmarsh and native oyster reefs to bring benefits to people and nature.</li><li>In addition, the government’s £80m Green Recovery Challenge Fund has supported a range of nature recovery projects across England, some which have included saltmarsh and seagrass restoration.</li><li>We also protect marine wildlife in a number of other ways in our domestic waters. This includes being fully committed to tackling accidental bycatch in fisheries, which is one of the greatest threats faced by sensitive marine species such as cetaceans.</li><li>In 2021, we introduced new rules making it a mandatory requirement under fishing vessel licence conditions for fishers to report any marine mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). The Marine Wildlife Bycatch Mitigation Initiative sets out how the UK will achieve its ambitions to minimise and, where possible, eliminate the bycatch (accidental capture) and entanglement of sensitive marine species in UK fisheries.</li><li>To help reduce disturbance to marine wildlife we published the Marine and Coastal Wildlife Code on 24 May.</li><li>We are also working to reduce the harmful impacts on marine wildlife and habitats arising from plastic pollution. We have taken measures to target some of the most commonly littered plastic items, such as our carrier bag charge and our bans on a range of single-use plastic items. Our restrictions on straws, stirrers and cotton buds have had a big impact – these items used to appear in ‘top 10 littered items’ lists, but this is no longer the case. We have also taken action on microbeads in rinse off cosmetics, plastic pellets and ghost gear.</li><li>Internationally, we are also leading global efforts to protect the ocean and champion the GBF Target 3 to effectively conserve and manage at least 30% of the land and 30% of the ocean globally by 2030 (30by30). This includes through our role as Ocean Co-Chair of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature &amp; People, and our leadership of the Global Ocean Alliance.</li><li>The adoption of the Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement on 19 June will also lead to much greater protection for the two-thirds of the global ocean that lies beyond national jurisdiction, playing a key role in achieving the 30by30 target. The UK will sign the Agreement early and work to ratify as soon as practicable, whilst supporting others to do the same.</li><li>The UK’s Blue Planet Fund, a £500 million programme, supports developing countries to protect the marine environment and reduce poverty, by tackling threats to ocean health such as illegal fishing, pollution and climate change; and at the UN Ocean conference in 2022, we committed up to £100 million of Blue Planet Funding to support the implementation, management and enforcement of Marine Protected Areas.</li></ul> answering member constituency Copeland answering member printed Trudy Harrison question first answered 21/07/2023 12:27:05 answering member 4593 label Biography information for Trudy Harrison
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1483471

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Zoonoses: Disease Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK is effectively prepared to tackle zoonotic diseases.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	25834
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2022 answer text <p>Zoonotic infections threaten both human and animal health. For zoonotic diseases, we have systems in place to detect and manage outbreaks, for both endemic (those that are already found in the UK) and exotic infections, collaborating closely with the public health agencies.</p><p> </p><p>For Salmonella for example, we have well established National Control Programmes in the poultry sector to protect public health. These mandate regular testing for Salmonella followed by appropriate measures to help control the risk where flocks are found to be positive.</p><p> </p><p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) scanning surveillance programme is set up to detect a wide range of animal-related disease threats through diagnostic service and the networks of expertise in its Species Expert Groups.</p><p> </p><p>We also carry out horizon scanning for infections not yet in the UK. This helps us prepare for possible future incursions, through the APHA’s International Disease Monitoring programme and through collaborative work with UK public health bodies in the Human and Animal Infection and Risk Surveillance group. This group assesses new and emerging infections and advises on suitable mitigations and controls that may be necessary to protect public health.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has an England Disease Contingency Plan for exotic notifiable diseases and our disease control plans are exercised regularly. The contingency plan outlines how we would work with other government agencies and departments to control zoonotic diseases as well as those which only affect livestock. This is being put to use at the moment, through our response to avian influenza outbreaks.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 11/07/2022 07:03:59 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

944000

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Horses: Databases
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is his Department's policy to continue to implement and enforce equine identification after the UK leaves the EU.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	165553
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2018 answer text <p>Yes.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 27/07/2018 12:16:51 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1177034

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2020
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Chemicals
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on the development of a national chemicals strategy.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	13970
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Work on the Chemicals Strategy (CS) started in the summer of 2019. A broad programme of stakeholder engagement is underway to help shape the vision and scope of the CS. To date, we have engaged with interested stakeholders from industry representatives to academia to voluntary organisations.</p><p> </p><p>We will publish a Call for Evidence in the spring to seek views on the safe and effective management of chemicals. This will be published on Defra’s website. It will help inform the development of a draft CS for consultation.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:15:43 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

968215

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Potatoes
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the potato crop for England and Wales in 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	170847
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/09/2018 answer text <p>With the cold, wet spring followed by the prolonged dry spell over June and July, some yield and quality issues are expected for the potato crop this year. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) estimate that there is a 3% reduction in the planted area in Great Britain. The harvest is on-going and estimates of yield and production will be published in Agriculture in the UK next spring.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 12/09/2018 15:12:27 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

989532

	registered interest
	date	17/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Hornets
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of risk of an Asian Hornet invasion in autumn 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	180707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2018 answer text <p>With increasing population levels of Asian hornet in Europe, the risk of incursions into the UK has increased. The GB Non-Native Species Risk Assessment published in 2011 reviewed the risk posed by this species and identified multiple pathways by which Asian hornet could arrive in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>Since the arrival of Asian hornet in France in 2004, Defra has been aware of the potential impact of this hornet on our bees and beneficial insects. We have plans in place to detect and tackle it, which we have successfully deployed several times since the first UK incursion in autumn 2016.</p><p> </p><p>We encourage members of the public to become familiar with this insect by, for example, visiting the National Bee Unit’s BeeBase website, and to report suspected sightings to the authorities immediately.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 24/10/2018 13:02:49 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

943058

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2018
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Pet Travel Scheme
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it remains his Department's policy to maintain the conditions of the EU Pet Travel Scheme after the UK has left the EU.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	164987
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2018 answer text <p>Whilst we remain a member of the EU, we continue to be signed up to the requirements of the Pet Travel Scheme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After we leave the EU we want pet owners to continue to be able to travel to and from the EU with the minimum of disruption whilst maintaining high biosecurity and welfare standards. The Government is negotiating our departure from the EU and Defra is working with the Department for Exiting the European Union to look at future arrangements, including those for the pet travel. We are also putting in place contingency arrangements in the event of a no-deal outcome.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 24/07/2018 11:38:23 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1045634

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Animal Welfare
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to enhance animal welfare standards as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	210617
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2019 answer text <p>Whilst the UK already has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, we are considering what more can be done in the context of our future agricultural policy. We will maintain our existing standards and look to raise standards sustainably over time as new research and evidence emerges.</p><p> </p><p>In England, we intend to develop publicly-funded schemes for farmers to deliver animal welfare enhancements beyond regulatory requirements that are not sufficiently rewarded by the market and want to provide greater transparency and certainty for consumers and for farmers. We are also looking to control exports of live animals for slaughter.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to this work related to our departure from the EU, we are planning to increase maximum sentences for animal cruelty to five years. We are also introducing a ban on the ivory trade which is the toughest in Europe.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 29/01/2019 17:32:51 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1287448

	registered interest
	date	19/02/2021
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Biodiversity: Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of local authorities who have drafted and implemented Biodiversity Action Plans.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	155004
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/03/2021 answer text <p>Whilst local Biodiversity Action Plans can be a useful means of coordinating and communicating action on biodiversity, there is no formal requirement on local authorities to produce one and the Government does not keep records of the number they produce.</p><p> </p><p>In 2020, the Government introduced new measures in the Environment Bill to establish Local Nature Recovery Strategies and provide a framework for the Nature Recovery Network. Local Nature Recovery Strategies are a new system of spatial strategies for nature, covering the whole of England. They are designed as tools to drive more coordinated, practical and focused action to help nature. All public authorities will be required to have regard to relevant strategies as part of a stronger duty on public authorities to conserve and enhance biodiversity.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 01/03/2021 16:40:02 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1682963

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Sharks: Animal Products
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the amount of shark meat that entered the commercial food chain in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	10095
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2024 answer text <p>While we monitor landings of shark species into UK ports and abroad by UK vessels, as well as UK trade flows of shark commodities, we do not hold data on the volume of shark meat entering the commercial food chain.</p><p>The UK Government continues to be a leading voice for sustainable fisheries, trade and protection of shark species. The UK places the utmost importance on ensuring that appropriate protection and management is in place for all shark species. While we are not opposed to the capture of sharks in commercial fisheries, we want to ensure those fisheries are sustainable, trade is managed, and that appropriate management measures are in place.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 22/01/2024 17:13:28 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord