Tag: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the badgers culled in the pilots undertaken in 2013 and 2014 had tuberculosis.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Badgers culled under licence in Somerset and Gloucestershire in 2013 and 2014 were not routinely tested for tuberculosis (TB), since this research had already been carried out under the Random Badger Cull Trial (RBCT). However, testing of badgers between 1998 and 2005 via the Randomised Badger Culling Trial and Road Traffic Accident surveys provided evidence of the typical prevalence of TB in badgers in areas of high incidence of TB in cattle. TB was found in around one third of all badgers in these areas.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training is provided to staff in the UK Border Agency to help them deal with abuses of the Pet Travel Scheme by those involved in illegal puppy smuggling for commercial purposes.

Lord Bates

Core skills training provided to Border Force officers includes awareness training on controls on the movement of live animals into the UK. Specific guidance is also available to officers on the application of the Pet Travel Scheme. Border Force is also developing its targeting capability across all border related risks, including bio-security risks.

Border Force is working closely with the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), the lead government department with responsibility for imports of live animals, to ensure the effective enforcement of legislation governing the import of animals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their decision to withdraw the Draft Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock: Meat Chickens and Breeding Chickens (Revocation) (England) Order 2016, what alternative proposals they are drawing up to update existing welfare codes.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government intends to retain all existing statutory animal welfare codes and is working with interested parties to ensure our guidance continues to help farmers comply with our high welfare standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Food Crime Unit’s budget and enforcement powers are being reviewed in the light of Professor Chris Elliott’s recent comments that it does not have enough authority.

Lord Prior of Brampton

In response to Professor Elliott’s 2014 review of the integrity and assurance of food supply networks, the Government established a National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) to give a focus to enforcement efforts against fraud and criminality in the food chain. The Government, in its response to the Elliott review, agreed there should be a review of progress and likely future need after two years. A copy of the Elliot review and the Government’s response is attached.

The NFCU reaches the two year milestone at the end of December 2016 with the review scheduled to be completed by that time. Work has already begun on the review, which is being carried out within the Food Standards Agency’s resources under the oversight of an independent steering group, made up of three external experts representing law enforcement, consumers and industry. Among other issues the review is considering the resources and enforcement powers available to the NFCU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to release the value-for-money assessment on the badger cull pilots undertaken in 2013 and 2014.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The expected benefits of the policy remain in line with those in the ‘Measures to address bovine tuberculosis in badgers’ impact assessment published in 2011. It will be some years before actual benefits can be quantified.

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to repeal any existing statutory animal welfare codes.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government intends to retain all existing statutory animal welfare codes and is working with interested parties to ensure our guidance continues to help farmers comply with our high welfare standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will pay the outstanding payments to farmers affected by storms Eva and Desmond last December.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

More than 1,000 applications for funding under the Farming Recovery Fund have been approved by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).

Farmers have until the end of December 2016 to carry out the restoration work and then submit a claim for payment to us. RPA aims to process and made payments within a month of receiving a fully completed claim.

To date the RPA has received 358 claims for payment and 268 of these have been paid.

RPA is waiting for the remaining 750 claims to be submitted, the majority of which are expected in October and November.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to make it cheaper and easier for food businesses to donate surplus food to charities rather than dispose of it via anaerobic digestion.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

We have taken action to ensure that more surplus food is redistributed to people before being put to any other use through our voluntary agreements with the grocery and hospitality sectors. If surplus food cannot be prevented, the next best option is to ensure it is redistributed for human consumption. Signatories to the Courtauld Commitment, which includes UK retailers and food manufacturers, have reported a 74% increase in food redistribution between 2012 and the end of 2014 and we expect it to increase further.

In January this year the Secretary of State for Defra and the Minister for Civil Society brought together key players from retail, food manufacturing and redistribution organisations to agree new actions to further increase levels of food redistributed. A working group is driving this forward to waste less and redistribute more. The Group is developing a partnership model to provide a consistent framework for providers and recipients of surplus food to reach agreement on working together. Research has also been commissioned from the Waste and Resources Action Programme, which will identify where and why waste and surpluses occur in the food chain to identify what action can be taken to increase waste prevention and redistribution.

There will always be some unavoidable food waste. The Government’s Anaerobic Digestion Strategy is in place to reduce the amount of organic material going to landfill and drive the waste that is produced into energy recovery or recycling.

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.