Tag: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

‘American XL Bully’ dogs will be banned following a series of horrific attacks, the Government has announced today (15 September).

On the back of a number of shocking ‘American XL Bully’ attacks, the Environment Secretary will urgently convene experts to define the ‘American XL bully’ breed type in the next week.

This is a vital first step towards adding it to the list of dogs banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

This group will include police, canine and veterinary experts, and animal welfare stakeholders.

Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said:

Dog attacks are devastating for victims and their families and it is clear that more now needs to be done to stop them and protect the public. That is why we are taking decisive action to ban the American XL Bully.

This is on top of the work the Government has been doing for some time with the police and local authorities to encourage responsible dog ownership and make sure the full force of the law is being applied.

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, a definition of the ‘American XL Bully’ breed type needs to be specified – including clear assessment criteria for enforcement authorities – in order to impose a ban. The Government must then lay a Statutory Instrument to add it to the list of dogs banned under the Act. This will make it an offence to own, breed, gift or sell an XL bully. We will do this by the end of the year.

We need to safely manage the existing population of these dogs, therefore there will be a transition period. Further details on how the transition period will work will be provided in due course. Current XL Bully dog owners do not need to take any action at this stage however, if XL Bully owners do not come forward during the transition period, they will be committing a criminal offence if they are subsequently found to be keeping one of these dogs.

Owners whose dogs are dangerously out of control are already breaking the law, and we already have a full range of powers to apply penalties to them. Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, people can be put in prison for up to 14 years, be disqualified from ownership or their dangerous dogs can be euthanised.

Further detail on next steps for developing a ban and information for owners will be provided in due course.

Recovery of nature in England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) is to be accelerated through a package of measures, including new legislation through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey, announced today (Wednesday 13th September).

National Parks and AONBs (Protected Landscapes) are the country’s most iconic and beautiful places – representing our shared heritage and national identity. These characteristic landscapes contain swathes of ancient woodland, deep peat and grassland, and many of our most threatened species.

Home to a long tradition of farming in tune with the landscape, government has invested £25 million in thriving farming businesses which are crucial to these areas through our successful Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme which has been extended to 2025 with additional funding.

The government intends to introduce amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill at Third Reading, enhancing Protected Landscape management plans and placing a stronger requirement on partners such as local authorities and public bodies to contribute to their delivery.

The measures come as the sector today marks ‘Back British Farming day’ and will ensure that Protected Landscapes organisations and their partners collaborate effectively, creating a national network of beautiful, nature-rich spaces that can be enjoyed by all parts of society.

Thérèse Coffey, Environment Secretary, said:

Our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are home to some of our most iconic and beautiful places and these new measures will help ensure that they play an enhanced role in the recovery of nature in our country.

We anticipate that through these measures, Protected Landscapes will be able to make a major contribution to meeting our international commitment to protect 30% of land for biodiversity by 2030, as well as our Environment Act targets to halt and then reverse the decline in nature.

Neil Heseltine, Chair of National Parks England said:

Today’s announcement by Government that it will come forward with new legislation via the Levelling up and Regeneration Bill to strengthen the requirements on partners to contribute to protected landscape management plans is very welcome news.

As a family of National Parks we have campaigned for these changes, which are critical to driving co-ordinated action across partners in conserving and enhancing the environment and beauty of our National Parks. Government acknowledged the weakness of the current provisions in its response to Julian Glover’s Landscapes Review last year. We look forward to seeing the new Outcomes Framework and working with government to ensure that National Parks play a significant part in meeting our target to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030.

Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England, said:

As the country’s official national advisory body on Protected Landscapes Natural England very much welcomes this important step to more strongly integrate efforts to protect and enhance beautiful places with work to protect and recover Nature.

The new Protected Landscapes Partnership offers more opportunity to give practical effect to this mission and we look forward to working with everyone in driving forward with enhanced ambition and confidence in meeting national environmental targets.

Government is also set to publish its response to the Landscapes Review consultation and a new Outcomes Framework. These measures will set out our plan of action for these special places and define the contribution that our Protected Landscapes should make to national environmental targets. This will be a landmark step forward in achieving our global goal to protect 30% of land for nature by 2030.

A new Protected Landscapes Partnership backed by over £2 million of funding will bring together national organisations representing England’s National Parks, AONBs, National Trails and Natural England to collaborate, share knowledge and tackle common objectives such as nature recovery and improved public access.

Together, this package of measures delivers government commitments following the Landscapes Review, which set out how we can support our landscapes to deliver more for people and nature.

This comes as the government confirms it has extended funding to boost access and support those farming in national parks and AONBs through the Farming in Protected Landscape programme, extending it by a further year until March 2025 with £10 million additional funding each year.

To date it has supported more than 2,500 projects including over 400 to make the landscape more inclusive for visitors and the planting of over 100 miles of hedgerows.

As we approach the 75th Anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which legally safeguarded these precious landscapes this announcement forms part of the government’s wider action to recover and restore nature, delivering on the pledge to protect 30% of the UK’s land by 2030, Environment Act targets to halt and then restore the decline of nature and commitments to achieve net zero by 2050.

Defra Ministers have reappointed Kim Shillinglaw and Peter Unwin and extended the appointments of Rosamund Blomfield-Smith and Kerry ten Kate as Natural England Board Members.

Kim Shillinglaw and Peter Unwin have been reappointed for a second term of three years from 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2026. Rosamund Blomfield-Smith and Kerry ten Kate’s appointments have been extended for nine months from 1 June 2023 to 29 February 2024.

Board members play an important role in providing leadership for the organisation, ensuring the delivery of Natural England’s mission to build partnerships for Nature recovery, in support of the Environmental Improvement Plan. This includes setting strategy and direction, agreeing objectives, overseeing performance and taking important decisions such as designations.

These appointments have all been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments published by the Cabinet Office. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.

Natural England plays a key role in delivering the government’s environmental priorities. Its purpose is to ensure the natural environment is conserved, enhanced and managed for the benefit of present and future generations.

Biographies:

Kate Shillinglaw

• Kim has led the commercial transformation of businesses as Director of Factual at EndemolShine, modernised TV channels as Controller of BBC2 and BBC4, and initiated content from Stargazing Live to Blue Planet II as Head of Science and Natural History Commissioning.
• She chaired the BBC’s Commercial Income and Factual Boards, advised organisations from the Royal Institution to the Science Museum and been a Trustee of NESTA and the Raspberry Pi Foundation. She is co-chair of the National Nature Reserves Steering Group.

Peter Unwin

• Peter Unwin is an ex-civil servant with 10 years Board level experience as Director General at Defra and DCLG and a spell as acting Permanent Secretary at Defra. He worked across a wide range of policy areas, including the natural environment, climate change, agriculture, local government and planning.
• After leaving the Civil Service in 2015 he spent four years as Chief Executive of the Whitehall & Industry Group, an independent charity promoting leadership development and understanding between government, industry and the not-for-profit sector.
• Peter was awarded a CB for services to the environment in 2011 and is a member of the Aldersgate Group.

Rosamund Blomfield-Smith

• Rosamund Blomfield-Smith spent 30 years in the City, latterly as a director of both Rothschilds and ING Barings, but since 2003 has been non-executive.
• She has served on many boards, including Thames Water and Hartpury Agricultural College and was until recently chairman of Museum of London Archaeology and a member of Ofgem’s Challenge Group.
• She is also a Trustee of the Jo Cox Foundation.

Kerry ten Kate

• Kerry ten Kate is an independent consultant, advising governments, companies, banks and civil society organisations on how best to integrate the natural environment into economic decision-making.
• She is a trustee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, where she chairs the Conservation Committee and a non-executive board member at Finance Earth. She is a member of the Aldersgate Group and Conservation Fellow at the Zoological Society of London.
• She is a former member of the Natural Capital Committee.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has made a series of appointments and reappointments to England’s National Park Authorities (NPAs) and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Conservation Boards.

NPA board members have a primary responsibility to ensure that the Authority furthers the statutory purposes of the Park – specifically, to preserve and enhance its natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage, as well as to provide opportunities for the public to understand and enjoy their unique attributes. Eight members have recently been appointed for four-year terms (ending June 2027):

• Broads Authority: Sian Limpenny
• Dartmoor NPA: Mark Owen
• Exmoor NPA: Laura Williams
• North York Moors NPA: Jane Harper, Janet Waggott
• Peak District: Ruth Swetnam, Stephen Thompson
• South Downs NPA: Antonia Cox

Members on AONB Conservation Boards are responsible for ensuring that the Conservation Board advances the statutory purposes set out in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 – specifically, to conserve and improve the natural beauty of their designated area. Gemma Harper and Simon Mortimer were recently appointed for three-year terms (ending June 2026) on the Chilterns AONB Conservation Board.

In addition, the following reappointments have now also been made:

• Broads Authority: Tristram Hilborn and Timothy Jickells for four years.
• Lake District: Tiffany Hunt and Sabine Mosner for four years.
• New Forest NPA: George Meyrick and Stephen Trow for four years.
• Peak District NPA: Janet Haddock-Fraser, Lydia Slack and Yvonne Witter for four years.
• Cotswolds AONB Conservation Board: Brendan McCarthy, Susan Crawford, Benjamin Dent and John Swanton for three years.

The third term of the following member has been extended to 31 March 2024:

• Northumberland NPA: Fiona Gough

The third term of the following member has been extended to 9 June 2024:

• Northumberland NPA: Jean Davidson

Appointments are made in accordance with the Ministerial Governance Code on Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has reappointed Robert Wilson to the board of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW).

Robert’s first term as a board member for the CCW – the independent, statutory body that represents all water and sewerage consumers across England and Wales – ended on 30 June 2022 and was subsequently extended until 30 December 2023. His second term, announced today, will run until 30 December 2026.

The reappointment has been made in accordance with the Ministerial Governance Code on Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.

The Consumer Council for Water provides advice and information on water matters and investigates complaints if customers have tried and failed to resolve issues with their water company or retailer.

Biography:

• Robert Wilson is an experienced businessman, Chairman and Non-Executive Director across the private, public and charity sectors.
• He now invests in innovation and technology-driven SMEs, supporting them as an adviser to aid growth and international trade.
• Robert is a former Member of Parliament for Reading East, as well as a Minister at the Cabinet Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The government has opened up more opportunities for sustainable Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries outside the EU through commercial and recreational fishing which will support the sustainable management of the species whilst also delivering social and economic benefits to coastal communities.

Today’s announcement is another step in the government’s work to deliver thriving, sustainable fisheries outside the EU. It will see economic benefits to industry and coastal communities, both through increased catching opportunities and income from tourism, and ensure that Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are managed in a sustainable manner underpinned by the best available science.

39 tonnes will be used for a new trial commercial fishery which takes advantage of an increased quota share of 65 tonnes for 2023.

The new trial commercial fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna, delivered by Defra and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on behalf of the UK Fisheries Authorities, is the first of its type in the UK for decades. Licence authorisations have been issued to 10 fishermen following an expression of interest process.

Vessels will be permitted only to use low-impact rod and reel fishing gears which use lures, no live bait or chumming will be permitted. The trial fishery will be open until November 2023 and will assist in the evaluation of the sustainability of a small-scale commercial fishery for this species and the social and economic benefits this new fishery could potentially provide to UK fishermen.

After great success in 2021 and 2022, opportunities for recreational anglers to encounter Atlantic bluefin tuna will once again open up in the Catch and Release Tagging programme (CHART), which will be available through 24 charter vessels from fishing ports across South-West and Southern England.

Delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the tuna caught in CHART will be carefully tagged and released back into the ocean by the skippers and their crew. The programme will provide important scientific data to understand and manage Atlantic bluefin tuna whilst also benefiting coastal communities through high-value tourism.

Today’s announcement comes after the government announced a major package of measures to deliver a thriving, sustainable fishing industry and healthy marine environment outside the EU. This included seizing on our new found freedoms outside the EU to introduce a world class system of fisheries management underpinned by Fisheries Management Plans, as well as a consultation on the establishment of a licensed recreational bluefin catch and release tuna fishery.

Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said:

We’re committed to the sustainable management of Atlantic bluefin tuna, and today’s announcement will help deliver this while providing economic and social benefits to communities around our coast.

I look forward to seeing the valuable research that this work will deliver, contributing hugely to developing a plan for how we use our quota in the future.

David Righton, CHART Principal Investigator said:

We are excited to continue our work with recreational fishers in CHART 2023, and to build on the results of CHART in 2021 and 2022.

The 2023 programme will further develop our understanding of the occurrence and demographics of Atlantic bluefin tuna in English waters and is a great demonstration of participatory science that provides valuable data for fisheries management.

In recent years, the number of reported sightings of Atlantic bluefin tuna in UK waters has been increasing. Reasons such as conservation measures and climate change impacts, including abundance of prey and changes to the marine environment are thought to have caused this increase in sightings.

The data collected from this work will contribute not only to improving understanding of Atlantic bluefin tuna in UK waters but will also be supplied to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

• Action to improve the River Deben discussed at roundtable meeting following government’s Plan for Water
• Local community, environment and farming groups join the Secretary of State and Water Minister to discuss solutions
• Meeting part of a series of local discussions on water quality to drive further action at catchment level

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey and Water Minister Rebecca Pow met with local community groups, environmental regulators, farming representatives, water company representatives and local councillors in Suffolk today (Thursday 10 August 2023) to discuss actions to improve the River Deben.

The roundtable, chaired by the Secretary of State and the Water Minister, provided a forum for local partners to raise concerns and explore solutions to improve the health and sustainability of the river and to discuss delivery of the Plan for Water, which will bring increased investment, tougher enforcement and tighter regulation to the water sector.

Key areas of discussions included the designation of bathing sites in the area; pollution resulting from storm overflows, wastewater treatment and agriculture and  water resources. They also covered how these issues may be addressed through river catchment plans, targeting actions where they will deliver the greatest impact for water quality, flood management, and nature recovery. Ongoing work by Defra, the Environment Agency and partners to maintain and improve water quality along the river, and protect nationally significant saltmarsh habitats in the Deben Estuary was also discussed.

Action on the ground includes using farm visits, undertaken through the Catchment Sensitive Farming Initiative led by Natural England, to check compliance with all the relevant farming regulations. Government funding for the programme has increased to £30 million a year so that all farms across the UK can access advice and support. Guidance is also being offered to locals who are not connected to the mains sewer on how to ensure that their systems are functional, legal and maintained properly.

Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said:

As someone who enjoys spending time by the River Deben, I share the passion for protecting and enhancing its waters shown by our partners today.

One of the key parts of our Plan for Water is tailored long-term catchment plans with new funding for catchment groups. For this to succeed collaboration at a local level is vital so we can all work towards improving the water system together.

Water Minister Rebecca Pow said:

It is clear the River Deben is a precious habitat for many in the community but it is under pressure.

River water quality must improve and our new Plan for Water sets out how increased investment, tougher enforcement and tighter regulation is helping tackle every source of river pollution.

“At the Deben, I look forward to seeing greater collaboration from all parties locally as this is also vital if water quality is to improve.”

The meeting is part of a series of local conversations to improve water quality and increase water supply at rivers across England. Roundtable attendees included representatives from local councils, Essex & Suffolk Rivers Trust, the NFU, Natural England, the River Deben Association, and Anglian Water. At the meeting, the Environment Secretary highlighted the importance of addressing individual river catchments in light of their own specific challenges and contexts – while maintaining a holistic approach to improving river health across the country.

It follows the recent announcement that a stretch of the river at Waldringfield has achieved designated bathing water status the meeting also reflected on recent updates to the designated bathing water site guidance. The past decade has seen significant progress in improving bathing water quality at existing sites, thanks to robust regulation and strong investment – 93% of bathing waters in England met the highest standards of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ in 2022, up from just 76% in 2010.

In April, the Government published its Plan for Water, marking a step-change in how our water system is managed. As part of the Plan, government will improve delivery and coordination at a catchment level with tailored long-term catchment plans that cover all water bodies. Catchment plans will set out the key issues and priorities for action, including priorities identified in Local Nature Recovery Strategies. We have also increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network to 91% from 7% in 2010. The actions in the Plan will deliver a safe, reliable, resilient supply of clean and plentiful water for our homes, businesses, for leisure and for wildlife that rely on it.

To hold water companies to account, the Government has set strict new targets for water companies designed to frontload action in particularly important areas, like bathing waters and protected sites. Our Storm Overflows Reduction Plan will also require the largest infrastructure programme in water company history – £56 billion capital investment over 25 years. The Water Minister will continue to engage with Anglian Water after the roundtable to drive further improvements in this area.