Written questions by Mayer.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to use the Government's tree planting programme to help tackle (a) flooding and (b) upper catchment management of rivers.

Defra recognises the role tree planting has to support the management of England’s rivers. Defra works with the Forestry Commission, Natural England and the Environment Agency to ensure tree planting is appropriately targeted. Defra supports a number of projects and grants in this area. These include: - The England Woodland Creation Offer supports riparian tree planting, flood management and improved water quality;- The Woodlands for Water project works with the Riverscapes Partnership to facilitate the creation of riparian woodland corridors in six river catchment areas;- The Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund supports the planting of thousands of riparian trees across England;- The introduction of a Sustainable Farming Incentive action for the management of habitat strips next to watercourses to support the planting of trees and scrub for biodiversity, flooding and water quality benefits.

What recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of land for burials.

The Government is aware of increasing localised pressure on burial spaces in certain parts of the country and we welcome information from burial providers and local communities about the situation in their areas, as this is helpful in enabling us to build an up-to-date national picture. However, we do not have day-to-day operational responsibility for burial grounds which are managed locally. It is a matter for each authority to allocate local resources in line with local priorities.The Law Commission is currently consulting on its proposals for reforms to burial law. The consultation includes consideration of the availability of burial space in England and Wales. The Government looks forward to the Law Commission’s final recommendations in due course.The consultation can be found at: https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/burial-and-cremation/.

What progress his Department has made on the implementation of the Declarations between the UK and North Seas countries at the North Sea Summit in April 2023.

The Ostend Declarations commit signatories to delivering cross-border projects in the North Seas, and set out a shared target of 300GW of offshore wind in the North Seas by 2050. We are committed to radically increasing the deployment of offshore wind, essential to meet our net zero goals. The UK is a world leader in offshore wind, with 14.8 GW of generation capacity, the highest deployment in Europe. We have been working closely with the North Seas partners to unlock the renewable potential of the North Seas, including offshore wind and offshore hybrid assets. Minister McCarthy will attend the North Seas Energy Cooperation Ministerial Meeting in Denmark on 24 October to advance these goals, and we are preparing for the North Sea Summit in Hamburg next June.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to end the sale of live decapod crustaceans.

The Government is committed to an evidence-based approach to improve welfare standards for decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs. My department is continuing to engage with stakeholders and seeking to address evidence gaps to inform future policy decisions in this area. Animal welfare legislation protects all animals from being transported in a way likely to cause injury or suffering. Live decapod crustaceans are protected from injury or unnecessary suffering during transportation by a general duty of care provision in Article 4 of The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 (WATEO) and equivalent national legislation in Wales. There are no plans to publish best practice guidance for the transport of live decapod crustaceans.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish best practice guidance for the transport of live decapod crustaceans.

The Government is committed to an evidence-based approach to improve welfare standards for decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs. My department is continuing to engage with stakeholders and seeking to address evidence gaps to inform future policy decisions in this area. Animal welfare legislation protects all animals from being transported in a way likely to cause injury or suffering. Live decapod crustaceans are protected from injury or unnecessary suffering during transportation by a general duty of care provision in Article 4 of The Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 (WATEO) and equivalent national legislation in Wales. There are no plans to publish best practice guidance for the transport of live decapod crustaceans.

What steps his Department is taking to limit the number of dangerous toys sold by third-party sellers on online marketplaces.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards leads a national programme of regulatory action to tackle risks from unsafe and non-compliant goods from online marketplaces. This includes test purchasing products, including toys, to assess compliance and remove non-compliant products; requiring action from marketplaces to ensure they are taking the steps to meet their responsibilities under the law; and taking enforcement action where necessary. The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, currently before the House of Lords, will enable requirements for online marketplaces to be modernised to improve the safety of products sold on their platforms to UK consumers.

What recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of sovereign cold chain partners on the safe (a) storage and (b) delivery of vaccines in healthcare emergencies.

The UK Health Security Agency has appointed, through a Commercial and Quality Technical Agreement, a third party to provide storage and distribution of vaccines in the event of healthcare emergencies. The United Kingdom-based provider must adhere to the relevant regulatory compliance to ensure this service is safe and ready to be utilised.

If his Department will establish a definition for (a) lower emission and (b) net zero steel.

Building demand for low carbon products is essential for achieving net zero. Public procurement is a key lever for driving demand. At COP28 the UK declared its intention to meet international green procurement pledges for low emission steel and concrete in public construction by 2030 (link here). Ministers are considering their options to grow demand for low carbon steel, cement and concrete, the first step of which is resolving questions such as how to measure embodied emissions in products and defining what a low carbon product is. The Government will consult on options for answering these questions in due course.

Whether she plans to publish the results of the consultation on Street works: fines and lane rental surplus funds.

The Department for Transport consulted earlier in 2024 on reforms to street works fines and the use of surplus lane rental funds. Publication of this response was delayed due to the general election. We plan to publish the response to this consultation in due course.

What steps his Department is taking to implement procurement rules to give greater weight to the inclusion of green steel in purchased goods and services.

Building demand for low carbon products is essential for achieving net zero. Public procurement is a key lever for driving demand. At COP28 the UK declared its intention to meet international green procurement pledges for low emission steel and concrete in public construction by 2030 (link here). Ministers are considering their options to grow demand for low carbon steel, cement and concrete, the first step of which is resolving questions such as how to measure embodied emissions in products and defining what a low carbon product is. The Government will consult on options for answering these questions in due course.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the zero emission vehicle mandate to include (a) trucks and (b) buses.

To meet net zero, both the HGV and bus sectors will need to decarbonise. The Government has not made a detailed assessment of the merits or feasibility of extending the zero emission vehicle mandate.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the damage caused by the eight-toothed spruce bark beetle to trees in (a) Central Bedfordshire and (b) the UK.

The eight-toothed spruce bark beetle is a quarantine pest of spruce tree species and is not native to the UK. The Forestry Commission have a nationwide surveillance programme in place to monitor for incursions of this pest, which spreads naturally from Europe. A demarcated area is in place over south-east England which implements robust measures to detect and eradicate outbreaks and prevent potential spread. The demarcated area does extend to a small part of Bedfordshire, but there have been no outbreaks in this region. All outbreaks to date have been detected on stressed, dying and dead spruce trees, which are more vulnerable to the pest. There is an estimated 725,000 hectares of spruce in Great Britain, but less than 1% of this is within the demarcated area.

What steps her Department is taking to encourage more women to take up careers in the bus industry.

The government is committed to delivering better bus services for passengers and it is essential that we ensure the sector better represents the people that it serves. Whilst it is the responsibility of individual bus operators to ensure they can recruit and retain staff, the government would encourage operators to support more women to take up careers in the bus industry. The government supports initiatives such as Women in Bus and Coach to ensure the bus sector is uplifting female role models in engineering, driving and management, and challenging industry policies that do not meet women’s needs.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Faroe Islands on (a) dolphin and (b) whale hunting.

The UK strongly opposes the hunting of all cetaceans other than some limited activities by indigenous people for clearly defined subsistence needs. We reaffirmed our strong support for the global moratorium on commercial whaling at the September International Whaling Commission meeting with Danish government in attendance, where we co-sponsored a resolution on International Legal Obligations in Commercial Whaling. Ministers and senior officials will continue to raise the issue with the Faroese at every appropriate opportunity.

What the cost to the public purse is of each sub-national transport body.

In Financial Year 23/24, the grant provided to each Sub-national Transport Body from the Department for Transport was as follows:Summary of Payments to Sub National Transport Bodies for FY23/24Transport for the North£7,210,000Midlands Connect£5,000,000Transport for the South East£1,725,000England's Economic Heartland£1,350,000Transport East£762,000Western Gateway£605,000Peninsula Transport£585,000TOTAL£17,237,000

What discussions she has had with National Highways on the effectiveness of using balancing ponds and drains to help prevent flooding on highways.

National Highways have not made an assessment on the effectiveness of using balancing ponds and drains in the prevention of highway flooding. Balancing ponds are used on the network to manage the risk of downstream flooding and drainage is designed to remove surface water from roads as quickly as possible and to minimise flood risk for receiving environments.

Innovation and Technology, if he will take steps with UK Research and Innovation to increase the proportion of biomedical research funding available for research projects that use non-animal new approach methodologies.

In accordance with UK legislation UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) only fund animal research where there is no suitable non-animal alternative available. Around 70% of research funded by their Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Medical Research Council does not involve animals. UKRI supports the development, validation and uptake of non-animal alternatives, largely through their investment in NC3Rs. UKRI are committed to conducting a strategic review of NC3Rs in 2024/25 to determine the appropriate level of future investment. The UKRI policy on Research and Innovation Involving Animals further commits UKRI to encouraging applications with potential to advance the 3Rs.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with university vice-chancellors on reducing the use of animals in experiments.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science. The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal.We recognise that any work to phase out animal testing must be science-led and in lock step with partners, and are engaging in discussions on how to take this commitment forward, which may include with university vice chancellors. We have already held roundtables with stakeholders from businesses, regulators and across Government.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Faroese Minister for Fisheries on cetacean hunts.

The UK strongly opposes the hunting of all cetaceans other than some limited activities by indigenous people for clearly defined subsistence needs. The UK reaffirmed its strong support for the global moratorium on commercial whaling at the September International Whaling Commission meeting with Danish Government in attendance, where we co-sponsored a resolution on International Legal Obligations in Commercial Whaling. We also raised the UK opposition to cetacean hunting at official level in September as part of the UK-Faroe Islands fisheries intersessional. Ministers and senior officials will continue to raise the issue with the Faroese at every appropriate opportunity.

Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with providers on implementing revised Call Line Identification Guidance to extend blocking to international calls which display a UK number as a Presentation Number.

The Government works closely with Ofcom who are responsible for the Call Line Identification (CLI) Guidance. Telecoms providers must comply with Ofcom’s General Conditions, part of which outlines operator’s obligations related to CLI.In July 2024, Ofcom announced plans to update the CLI guidance, which sets out the actions operators must take to be comply with the General Condition, to extend requirements on blocking of international calls displaying a UK landline number as a Presentation Number. The updated guidance will come into effect from January 2025. Ofcom also published a Call for Input in July to explore the spoofing of UK mobile numbers from international numbers.