Every parliamentary written question tabled by Sarah Champion this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 41–48 of 48 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the use of electronic shock collars in dog training.
The Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation and will bring forward plans in due course. Ministers will be considering available evidence around the use of hand-controlled e-collars and their effects on the welfare of animals.
Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6253 on Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the decision to allow bottom trawl fishing in parts of the Farnes East marine protected area on (a) the ecological integrity of the site and (b) meeting its conservation objectives.
The Marine Protected Areas Bottom Towed Fishing Gear Byelaw 2023, which came into force on 22 March 2024, prohibited the use of bottom-towed gear over the rock and reef habitats of Farnes East Marine Protected Area. The Marine Management Organisation has been making further assessments of the impact of fishing activities on other designated habitats throughout the site and, if needed, will consult on further fishing restrictions. As mentioned in my answer to PQ 4529, the Department is considering next steps for this and other sites.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential (a) impact of inflation on thresholds for qualification as a large business under Extended Producer Responsibility and (b) merits of staggered thresholds.
The thresholds for qualification under Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility remain in line with those set out in the Packaging Waste Regulations 2007 which sets the threshold for businesses handling at least 50 tonnes of packaging materials and with a turnover of £2 million a year. This decision was made following extensive consultation, which also considered reduction or removal of the threshold, to encourage all producers to use less packaging and ensure the packaging they do use is easy to recycle. To support this aim, the Government is also introducing a new distributor approach which places a new obligation on large packaging manufacturers and importers that sell unfilled packaging to small, unobligated producers, ensuring all packaging is subject to extended producer responsibility. Once the scheme is fully operational, we will review these thresholds to ensure they continue to meet the aims of the scheme. This will include the impact of inflation, and the effectiveness of the new distributor obligations, to ensure that we are obligating as much packaging as possible whilst still protecting the smallest businesses from the burden of complying with the regulations.
Food and Rural Affairs, how many culled badger carcasses have tested positive for TB since 2013; what plans his Department has for the number of badgers to be culled up to January 2026; and of those how many and what proportion will be tested for TB.
On 30 August, the Government announced the start of work on a comprehensive new strategy for England, to drive down bovine TB rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this parliament. This will be undertaken in co-design with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, ensuring the new strategy marks a significant step-change in approach to tackling this devastating disease. The published policy guidance as introduced by the previous Government does not require routine post-mortem examinations on badgers removed under culling licences issued in the High Risk and Edge Areas of England. There are no plans to change this guidance, with existing cull processes agreed by the previous Government being honoured to ensure clarity for farmers, while new measures can be rolled out through the work on a new bovine TB eradication strategy. Information on the number of culled badgers that have been previously tested under licences in the High Risk and Edge Area can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-surveillance-in-wildlife-in-england. Information on the number of culled badgers that have been tested (including the proportion positive for Mycobacterium bovis) in the Low Risk Area is published annually on GOV.UK:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-hotspots-in-the-low-risk-area-of-england.
Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 17 September 2024 to Question 4722 on Fisheries, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) adopting and (b) implementing the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency.
The UK Government welcomes the broad principles set out in the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency and sees considerable merit in its objective of improving transparency and accountability in global fisheries governance and management. The UK already implements many of the policies set out in the Charter. These include: requiring the use of identification numbers on fishing vessels; publishing beneficial ownership data within the People with Significant Control register; not permitting transshipment of fish at sea; and ratifying key international agreements such as the Agreement on Port State Measures, International Labour Organization (ILO) Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the Work in Fishing Convention (C188). We will continue to keep under active review the steps we can take to combat illegal fishing and will continue to welcome engagement with the organisations who have produced the Charter.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the forthcoming Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on the (a) glass, (b) aluminium and (c) plastic packaging sectors.
Under the previous Government, the 2022 Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) impact assessment made an assessment of the impact of introducing the scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment covered glass, aluminium, plastic and other materials, but did not split the assessment by sector.The new Government has now published two sets of pEPR illustrative base fees and is undertaking engagement with all relevant industries to ensure that they are based on the best evidence to date.As part of this engagement, the potential impact on specific packaging sectors is being discussed. The pEPR scheme administrator will continue to monitor the impact of implementing the pEPR scheme on the packaging market.
Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2024 to Question 4529 on Marine Protected Areas, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of bottom trawl fishing on his nature conservation objectives in marine protected areas.
Fisheries regulators make detailed assessments of the impact of all fishing activities on the protected species and habitats in our Marine Protected Areas and develop byelaws to restrict fishing when it has been assessed as damaging. These site-by-site assessments help to ensure fishing is not unduly restricted. Recent examples of these assessments can be found at Stage_2_MPA_Fisheries_Assessment.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk) and Dogger_Bank_SAC_Fisheries_Assessment.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Food and Rural Affairs, when he last had discussions with the (a) Kennel Club, (b) RSPCA, (c) Dogs Trust and (d) Battersea Cats and Dogs Home on the use of electric shock collars to train pet dogs.
No formal discussions have taken place with the organisations listed.