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  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what national resources are available to track and apprehend gangs selling illegally imported puppies to buyers across the UK.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    We are aware that some unscrupulous individuals are illegally importing pet animals with the intention of selling them on arrival in the UK. The Government takes the issue seriously and we are committed to working with relevant agencies and other non-government organisations to tackle this illegal trade. National resources engaged in this work include the transport companies (or their agents) who ensure compliance with the pet travel scheme, staff at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) who monitor and regulate the import of animals, and Local Authorities who enforce legislation where illegally imported pets are discovered. The APHA actively shares intelligence it gathers relating to abuse of the pet travel rules with Local Authorities and other EU Member States. This enables further investigation and follow up action to take place. Defra and the APHA have also provided practical support to multi-agency collaborative enforcement action. For example, in April last year, we assisted with the ageing of young puppies during ‘Operation Bloodhound’, which resulted in several penalty notices and cautions being issued.

    The illegal trade is ultimately driven by demand for cheap, pedigree puppies. The Government has published guidance to outline steps that prospective pet owners should take to avoid buying an illegally imported pet. The Government is currently consulting on a number of proposals to update the laws on the breeding and selling of dogs. The proposals include requiring anyone who breeds more than two litters of puppies a year to be licensed. An exemption from local authority licencing is proposed where a business is regulated by a body accredited by the UK Accreditation Service to certify, at a minimum, the legally-required welfare licence conditions. The consultation ends on 12 March.

    Defra recognises the problems that can arise from the on-line advertising of pets for sale. In recent years, the Department has been working closely with and supporting the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) – which is a grouping of animal welfare charities, veterinary experts, animal keeping interests and the pet industry. Working with PAAG, we have been able to encourage six of the main on-line pet advertising sites to adopt minimum standards for adverts and to remove those that do not meet the standards. With PAAG’s help and the cooperation of six key on-line sites, over 130,000 inappropriate adverts for animals were removed over a 12-month period in 2014/15. We continue to work with PAAG to encourage more on-line sites to sign up to the minimum standards.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to extend the post-vaccination wait period for puppies entering the UK from three weeks to six months.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The requirement for vaccination against rabies prior to movement into the UK from other European Union Member States and certain other low risk countries is set out in of Regulation (EU) No 576/2013, the Pet Travel Regulation. The Regulation requires effective rabies vaccination prior to movement. This means that dogs must be a minimum of 12 weeks of age before being vaccinated against rabies as there is a risk that vaccination at a younger age may provide ineffective protection. The requirement for 21 days to elapse between vaccination and movement is to allow rabies immunity to develop. These rules were amended on 29 December 2014 and included an increase in the minimum age at which a dog could be vaccinated. We are not aware of any plans by the Commission to bring forward proposals to further amend the rules and we have no plans to seek an amendment.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 2 February (HL5437), when an announcement will be made about the funding of the National Wildlife Crime Unit from April 2016 onwards.

    Lord Bates

    A decision on funding the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016 will be made shortly.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research is taking place on the impact on milk quality of housing cows in large-scale indoor dairy sheds.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    There is no evidence to suggest that increasing the size of herds has any impact on milk quality. Other factors are more relevant such as nutrition and genetics.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many Daesh fighters have moved from Iraq and Syria to Libya; and what implications this has had on UK defence and security policies.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware that Daesh has called for Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF) to travel to Libya and that there is a significant FTF contingent among the Daesh forces there, including individuals from Syria and Iraq.

    We are monitoring the situation closely and working closely with international partners to develop a comprehensive approach to defeat Daesh in Libya. This will be a priority for our discussions with the new Libyan government.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish their strategy for the UK’s relationship with the Gulf States.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is clear that its relationships with Gulf States matter to our mutual security and prosperity as laid down in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. We continue to work in collaboration with Gulf partners to deepen relations. We will set out in due course our vision of our future relationships with partners in the region in our new Gulf Strategy.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the cost of their support for the Syrian moderate opposition in each year since 2011.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has delivered over £100m in non-humanitarian support to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon since the start of the crisis from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund and its predecessor, the Conflict Pool. This has focussed on strengthening the moderate opposition, including the High Negotiations Committee of the Syrian Opposition, the Syrian National Coalition, civil society, civil defenders, local councils, human rights and media activists. We have also provided some non-lethal support to elements of the Syrian armed opposition

    The UK’s support is building resilience against extremists, fostering civil society in besieged areas, providing search and rescue training, medical support, promoting human rights, delivering basic governance and laying the foundations for a more peaceful and inclusive future for Syria.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last raised the issue of human rights with the governments of (1) Saudi Arabia, and (2) Iran.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We regularly raise our concerns over human rights in Saudi Arabia with the Saudi Arabian government, and did so most recently on 22 February. We repeatedly call on the Iranian government to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians and will continue to do so. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised the issue with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif when he visited the UK on 5 February.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they plan to publish their strategy to tackle obesity in the UK.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Childhood Obesity Strategy will be a key step forward in helping our children live healthier lives. There is still work across Government to be done to get it right, so the strategy will be published in the summer.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference, how much of the $5.8 billion pledged for 2016 has been received, and when they expect all pledges to be received.

    Baroness Verma

    On 4 February, the Prime Minister co-hosted the “Supporting Syria & the Region London 2016”, which brought together over 60 countries, international organisations, business, civil society, Syrians and people affected by the conflict to agree a comprehensive new approach on how we respond to this protracted crisis. Donors announced over $11 billion in funding for the Syria crisis response, of which almost $5.9 billion is for 2016. A further $5.4 billion has been committed for 2017-2020 to enable partners to plan ahead. Never has the international community raised so much for a single humanitarian crisis in a single day. The United Nations will track pledges made towards the 2016 UN-coordinated inter-agency appeals for Syria and the region, and we will work alongside the UN to ensure these pledges are disbursed quickly and maintain the momentum on fundraising over the longer-term. This information is being updated on UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ Financial Tracking System.