Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, what consideration they have given to the possibility of that legislation causing further welfare problems through the abandonment of cats caused by people being either (1) unwilling, or (2) unable, (a) to microchip, or (b) to pay fines.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The introduction of compulsory cat microchipping in England is intended to increase the likelihood that lost or stolen pet cats can be reunited with their keeper, benefitting cat welfare.
The cost of microchipping is around £25. Cat keepers will have until 10 June 2024 to comply with the requirements before they come into force.
If a keeper is served with a notice, they will have 21 days to microchip their cat and register their details with a compliant database to avoid any fines.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, what assessment they have made of the necessity of considering cats and dogs together for the purposes of that legislation given the lack of danger to the public caused by cats.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The introduction of compulsory cat microchipping in England is intended to increase the likelihood that lost or stolen pet cats can be reunited with their keeper, benefitting cat welfare.
The extension of compulsory microchipping to pet cats was supported by 99% of respondents to the public consultation exercise.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, what consideration they have given to the possibility of that legislation causing further welfare problems through the stress to cats caused by (1) trapping, (2) confinement, and (3) euthanasia.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Under the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, only owned cats are required to be microchipped. The Regulations will not apply to free living cats that live with little or no human interaction or dependency, such as farm, feral or community cats.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, what consideration they have given to providing exemptions for (1) older cats, (2) cats with long-term health issues, and (3) cats fitted with collar trackers.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023 permit an exemption from the requirement to be microchipped where a veterinary surgeon certifies that the procedure should not be carried out for animal health reasons.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, what consideration they have given to the issues surrounding the data privacy of cat owners in relation to that legislation.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The draft Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023 will require cat keepers to register their details with a database operator which holds itself out as compliant with these Regulations. These operators are all commercial enterprises independent of Government and they have a duty to comply with data protection requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the changes made to their second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy on 10 March, whether it is still their aim that half of all journeys in towns and cities will be cycled or walked by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Yes. The changes simply corrected a data error in a funding table and in no way affect the Government’s aim.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to work with international partners to establish a UN investigation into the mass poisoning of school children in Iran.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We continue to monitor closely reports of mass poisonings of school girls across Iran. On 3 March 2023 I, as Minister for the Middle East, called on the Iranian authorities to investigate these incidents urgently. I underlined it is essential that all girls can exercise their human right to education without fear. The authorities have announced a number of arrests in connection the incidents; we expect Iran to now be transparent about what has happened and show it is holding those genuinely responsible to account. The UK will continue working alongside our international partners to ensure the facts are established.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the National Trust applied for, and when National Highways agreed to provide, £3 million from the environment and wellbeing designated funds to support a grassland reversion project in the Stonehenge landscape; what the terms of the grant are; and whether the grant has already been distributed in its entirety.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The application to National Highways Designated Funds Investment Decision Committee regarding a grassland reversion project in the Stonehenge landscape was submitted and approved by the Committee on 6 June 2020. The grant agreement was signed by both parties on the 3 February 2021.
National Trust will effect change in the management of the relevant project land and will carry out the grassland reversion works to deliver at least:
The grant has not been fully paid. The payment schedule of the grant extends from March 2021 to March 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the report by the Animal and Plant Health Agency Year End Descriptive Epidemiology Report: Bovine TV in the Edge Area of England 2021, County: Hampshire, published on 7 October 2022 and updated on 28 November 2022, and (2) the implications for their policy on the timing of the badger cull in Hampshire; and what steps they will take to end the badger cull in that county as a result of the findings in that report that "badgers only accounted for 11 per cent of weighted risk pathways".
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
We are committed to achieving official freedom from Bovine TB for England by 2038 and intensive badger culling in areas where badgers are an important factor in spreading disease to cattle has been an important part of this. The badger cull has led to a significant reduction of bTB in cattle herds, with research showing a 66% and 37% reduction of new herd breakdowns in the first two cull areas.
Defra has published analysis by APHA on where in Edge Area counties, such as Hampshire, there is considered to be a local reservoir of infection. This analysis includes data from previous badger found dead surveys alongside information on cattle breakdowns and other sources: Bovine TB: local reservoirs of Mycobacterium bovis infection in the Edge Area of England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Badger culls are licensed by the licensing authority Natural England (NE) who take local reservoirs into account. NE licensed the final intensive cull areas last year, and Government is gradually building government-supported badger vaccination and surveillance. Badger culling would remain an option where epidemiological assessment indicates that it is needed.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will report on the outcome of the Government Oversight Group review of the stewardship regime for professional use of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides in the UK after five years of operation; and what steps they are taking to end the use of previously banned substances still being deployed in the countryside to poison wildlife.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The detailed work of the review of the stewardship scheme for anticoagulant rodenticides is ongoing.
The Government Oversight Group for Rodenticides, chaired by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the industry’s representative body, the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use met in December 2022 to discuss the existing stewardship regime and agree areas of focus for its review. Discussions also included establishing a timetable for the work required to take the review forward during 2023.
With respect to the issue of wildlife poisoning, there are robust, multi-agency arrangements in place for enforcing the illegal supply and use of chemicals; with the illegal poisoning of protected species investigated by a dedicated Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme.