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1717481

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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	Members: Correspondence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2024 to Question 20947 on Members: Correspondence, when he plans to respond to that correspondence.
tabling member constituency	Weston-super-Mare
tabling member printed	John Penrose
uin	25818
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>A response will be issued very shortly. I apologise again for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 20/05/2024 12:16:25 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1584 label Biography information for John Penrose

1717488

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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	BSE
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	25781
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>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.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 17/05/2024 12:44:47 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1717517

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew: Red Snapper Group
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when the Royal Botanic Gardens is expected to terminate its contract with Red Snapper Ltd., procurement reference BIP829617988; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of that contract.
tabling member constituency	Islington South and Finsbury
tabling member printed	Emily Thornberry
uin	25810
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2024 answer text <p>The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is an operationally independent arm’s length body (ALB). Civil Service EDI expenditure guidance does not extend to organisations outside the Civil Service or ALBs not employing Civil Servants.</p><p><br> The contract with Red Snapper Ltd is due to expire on 21 February 2025.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 24/05/2024 13:37:39 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1536 label Biography information for Emily Thornberry

1717523

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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	Agriculture
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the NFU's report entitled Farming for Britain's Future, published in December 2023, what steps his Department has taken to increase confidence within the agricultural industry.
tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
uin	25817
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2024 answer text <p>In 2020 we published the Agricultural Transition Plan (ATP), setting out our plan for farmers, allowing them to make business planning decisions with confidence. Since then, we have launched our reforms, aiming to give farmers more choice and ensuring there are offers available for all farm types and locations. This includes the rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and our Innovation and Productivity schemes such as the Farming Investment Fund (FIF).</p><p> </p><p>We also continue to expand and improve our offers in response to farmers’ feedback. Recently, the Government has confirmed farmers will benefit from the improved SFI from July this year, following the announcement by the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay in January. The improved offer includes a 10% increase in the average value of agreements in SFI and Countryside Stewardship (CS); a streamlined single application process for farmers to apply for the SFI and CS Mid-Tier; and around 50 new actions that farmers can get paid for.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, to aid the transition, and to give farmers confidence in their choices and the best chance of benefiting from our reforms we are also providing support via the Future Farming Resilience Fund. This fund is designed to provide free business support to farmers and land managers in England during the early years of the agricultural transition.</p><p> </p><p>Lastly, on 14 May 2024 we published our Blueprint for Growing the UK Fruit and Vegetable Sector, which aims to boost production of fresh produce and reduce reliance on imports. This is backed by our new Horticulture Resilience and Growth Offer, where Defra will look to double to £80m the amount of funding given to horticulture businesses when compared to the EU legacy Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme, which will be replaced from 2026 onwards. We are also unlocking the opportunities of gene editing with £15m investment into Genetic Improvement Networks, helping to boost access to more resilient crop varieties, that require fewer inputs and cut farmer costs.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 15/05/2024 15:53:57 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1717568

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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	Plastics: Recycling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish a circular economy strategy for plastics which sets (a) targets and (b) measures for the (i) elimination and (ii) recycling of single-use plastics.
tabling member constituency	Rochdale
tabling member printed	George Galloway
uin	25780
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>The Resources and Waste Strategy sets out how we want to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042 and move towards a circular economy. In 2023 we published the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) which set out our progress in this area and future plans.</p><p> </p><p>Where the evidence supports the case, we will not hesitate to introduce bans and other measures to limit its use. We have brought in multiple bans and restrictions, including most recently in October 2023, on the supply of many unnecessary single-use plastic items. To tackle the use of virgin plastic and incentivise the use of recycled plastic, the Government brought in the Plastic Packaging Tax in April 2022.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile, our Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging reforms will incentivise businesses to use packaging that is more easily recyclable and where possible, eliminate single-use plastic.</p><p> </p><p>We do not currently intend to publish any further strategies as we continue to work on our plans laid out in the EIP.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 20/05/2024 13:39:43 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	609 label Biography information for George Galloway

1717579

registered interest
date	13/05/2024
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	Public Lavatories: Incontinence
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of male incontinence bins in public toilets.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	25853
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>I fully recognise the importance of ensuring that all men have access to the facilities they need so that they can dispose of their sanitary waste in a safe and dignified way. The Government encourages local authorities to consider such provision in public toilets to support those who may need them. Officials are discussing the provision of sanitary bins in public toilets with other relevant departments to ensure we are doing all we can to support this to happen.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 20/05/2024 13:56:35 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1717075

registered interest
date	10/05/2024
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	Furs: Overseas Trade
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 volume of (a) imported and (b) exported animal (i) fur and (ii) fur products in the last 10 years.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
uin	25710
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>i) We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade.  We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee into the issue of what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.</p><p>ii) HMRC statistics for the import and export of fur and fur products over the 10-year period 2014-23 are available online and can be accessed at <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uktradeinfo.com%2Ftrade-data%2Fots-custom-table%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Cbb32ac8c707044759a8c08dc7594b7f7%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638514528801907679%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=e2J9Klf1dDbRlXeluzBGfXwbfMKXzNa70Qb1xOlWAf8%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Overseas trade data table - UK Trade Info</a> using the relevant HS4 codes (4301, 4302 and 4303).</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 20/05/2024 14:47:57 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1717136

registered interest
date	10/05/2024
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	Swimming
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to announce his decision on bathing water designation; and for what reason this announcement has been delayed.
tabling member constituency	Cambridge
tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
uin	25649
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>The summary of responses and government response to the consultation on 27 proposed bathing water sites was published on GOV.UK on 13 May: <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fconsultations%2Fbathing-waters-proposed-designation-of-27-new-bathing-waters-in-england&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C404196442f8d414e022208dc740b11cf%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638512838087285306%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Vr%2FBR3pGmcHwTJxF3EbcL7QGsmdU38l%2BbDKSYePi3yQ%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Bathing waters: proposed designation of 27 new bathing waters in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>. The newly designated sites will be added to the <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fbathing-waters-list-of-designated-waters-in-england&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C404196442f8d414e022208dc740b11cf%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638512838087297379%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=F3lf7s%2FxwmaS%2FRNag6rLO44Ca0DsOqSWdKPeR50PKSU%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">list of bathing waters</a> with effect from the 2024 bathing season. Defra received 10,962 responses to the consultation on designating these sites, and ensured the confirmation of designations was made before the start of the bathing season, which begins on 15 May.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 20/05/2024 10:11:39 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1716799

registered interest
date	09/05/2024
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	Natural England: Dorset Wildlife Trust
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much Natural England paid the Dorset Wildlife Trust for land in the last three years.
tabling member constituency	West Dorset
tabling member printed	Chris Loder
uin	25583
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>Natural England has not paid Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) for any land in the last three years.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England’s Nutrient Mitigation Scheme (NMS) has recently purchased the rights to nutrient mitigation credits being created by DWT at Lyscombe Farm in Dorset. This £5m investment is securing mitigation for an estimated 3,700 homes, with costs to be fully recovered through the sale of these credits by the NMS to housing developers.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 20/05/2024 09:58:31 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4751 label Biography information for Chris Loder

1716800

registered interest
date	09/05/2024
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	Animal Experiments
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 end the use of LD50 testing on animals.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	25499
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2024 answer text <p>The UK supports work to develop New Approach Methodologies which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment without the use of animals.</p><p>The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicines. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available. The VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes. This commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.</p><p> </p><p>For veterinary medicines significant progress in non-animal testing has been made in recent years, including the possibility of replacing animals by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines. Many Marketing Authorisation Holders for these specific medicines have already, and more recently, introduced these changes to their authorised medicines, which will reduce the number of animals used. Implementation of new tests for existing products can be a complicated process, requiring extensive validation and it is not always possible to replace all of the existing animal tests with in vitro non-animal replacements for each existing authorised product. The relevant UK Competent Authority for regulation of these medicines will continue to monitor the use of animals in these tests and to recommend use of non-animal tests where possible.</p><p><em> </em></p><p>The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.</p><p>LD50 testing is not required for preclinical development of novel medicines. Quality control testing of some authorised medicines relies on LD50 testing to ensure each batch meets expected quality standards<em>.</em> UK regulators follow the principles of the 3Rs. Significant progress has been made on validating alternative methods which do not use animals, including the possibility of replacing mice by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 16/05/2024 17:05:17 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady