Nature is in need of our help, so HM Government has set a legally binding target to halt its decline by 2030. In March this year, we published the Nature Recovery Green Paper setting out our proposals to reform our system of protections to better support this ambitious work, including the Habitats Regulations. The Green Paper is available here.

Our proposals seek to create a system that better reflects the latest science and impending impacts of climate change, our domestic species and habitats, and helps us to achieve our significant goals to recover nature.

The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed on 11th May and we are now in the process of analysing responses. HM Government will publish a formal response in due course.

Nature is in need of our help, so HM Government has set a legally binding target to halt its decline by 2030. In March this year, we published the Nature Recovery Green Paper setting out our proposals to reform our system of protections to better support this ambitious work, including the Habitats Regulations. The Green Paper is available here.

Our proposals seek to create a system that better reflects the latest science and impending impacts of climate change, our domestic species and habitats, and helps us to achieve our significant goals to recover nature.

The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed on 11th May and we are now in the process of analysing responses. HM Government will publish a formal response in due course.

We are working closely with representatives from the music sector, including the Musicians' Union, the Incorporated Society of Musicians, and the Association of British Orchestras, to understand the potential impact of the proposal submitted to the 19^th Conference of the Parties (CoP19) to CITES to include Pernambuco wood in Appendix I.

While the proposal outlines the threats this species faces, we recognise too that this proposal could create significant burdens for industry and UK CITES Authorities. We will continue to engage with the sector and other Parties to ensure that any additional burdens are proportionate to the conservation benefits of the measures agreed.

Defra’s Action Plan for Animal Welfare, published last year, outlined that we would be examining the confinement of farm animals, including the use of farrowing crates for pigs. As part of this examination, we are considering the many different pig production systems, used both in the United Kingdom and in other countries.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, as amended by Commons Committee and reintroduced to the House of Commons in May, will progress to Report stage as soon as parliamentary time allows. We recognise there is strong support for the Bill from all sides of the House.

The decline of biodiversity is a global issue. Worldwide, we are losing biodiversity faster than ever before. This impacts global growth and security. The United Kingdom will support the adoption of an ambitious global biodiversity framework at COP15 containing goals and targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Building on our G7 and COP26 Presidencies and our co-chairship of key nature alliances, we will continue to support the Chinese Presidency and international community to make sure we make this year the ‘Paris moment’ for nature.

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons monitor the levels of veterinary surgeons registered to practice in the UK on a twice daily basis. The number of veterinary surgeons registered in the UK has gradually risen from 17,260 to 28,643 from March 2010 to October 2022. An annual breakdown can be found on the Royal College’s website (www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/publications/).

The number of veterinary surgeons registered in the UK with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons has risen from 17,260 to 28,643 as of October 2022:

HM Government was elected on a manifesto commitment that ‘in all of our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards.’

The United Kingdom is rightly proud of the high animal welfare standards that underpin our high-quality Great British produce. We are standing firm in trade negotiations to make sure any new trade deals live up to the values of farmers and consumers across the United Kingdom and will maintain our high standards as part of any future free trade agreements.

Our Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand are the first time either country has agreed a standalone chapter on animal welfare. These include commitments not to lower our animal welfare standards and to cooperate on improving standards further. We have agreed to work with both countries internationally, a strong statement recognising animals as sentient beings, and a commitment to share information and expertise on animal welfare. Both agreements also protect the United Kingdom’s sovereign right to set our own animal welfare policies.

These are all matters which Defra discusses regularly with other Departments, at both Ministerial and official level.

We are committed to supporting sustainable production, import, and use of palm oil. Oil palm is a very efficient crop, producing more oil per hectare than other vegetable oil crops. Substitution of other oils (for example, soybean, rapeseed, sunflower), which typically require significantly more land to produce, may lead to greater environmental impacts as more land is converted to agricultural use.

We are working closely with industry, including with supermarkets and manufacturers, to support sustainable production and use of palm oil. For example, in 2012, the Government established the UK Roundtable on Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil, bringing together key British businesses and supporting them to shift to sustainable palm oil supply chains. Latest reports show that 71% of palm oil and palm kernel oil imports into the United Kingdom were certified sustainable in 2020 – up from 16% in 2010. It is not HM Government’s policy to reduce the overall use of palm oil in United Kingdom supply chains.

HM Government is also committed to tackling the use of illegally produced forest risk commodities – agricultural commodities whose production is associated with wide-scale forest loss, which currently include palm oil. We have introduced world-leading due diligence legislation to make it illegal for larger businesses operating in the United Kingdom to use key forest risk commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used. From December 2021 to March 2022, we consulted on which specific commodities we should regulate through initial secondary legislation. This included seeking views on regulating the following shortlist of commodities: cattle, cocoa, coffee, maize, palm oil, rubber, and soy.

As part of the Japan-United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Japan and the United Kingdom agreed to consider the protection of a significant further number of each other’s geographical indications (GIs). Both parties need to satisfactorily complete their own processes before confirming that the products are eligible for registration as GIs within their scheme. These processes are running concurrently. The intention is to protect the first tranche of Japanese GIs in Great Britain and British GIs in Japan on the same date once these processes are complete.

In addition to having examined Japan’s GIs, the United Kingdom has been supporting Japan to process the British GIs as quickly as possible. We look forward to the completion of this process and are prepared to jointly announce the protection of the first tranche of GIs. However, we cannot confirm that the announcement will be made by 24^th October 2022.

Michael Seals CBE has been appointed as the first-ever Chair of the new Animal Sentience Committee. Recruitment for members to the Committee is ongoing.

The Animal Sentience Committee's budget is met from existing Defra funding.

The Committee's remit is to consider whether, or to what extent, HM Government is having, or has had, all due regard to the ways in which the policy might have an adverse effect on the welfare of animals as sentient beings. This includes policy of HM Government of the United Kingdom but does not include policy falling within devolved competence. Committee members are appointed by the Secretary of State. Defra officials work closely with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on animal welfare matters and provide updates on the Committee as appropriate.

Michael Seals CBE has been appointed as the first-ever Chair of the new Animal Sentience Committee. Recruitment for members to the Committee is ongoing.

The Animal Sentience Committee's budget is met from existing Defra funding.

The Committee's remit is to consider whether, or to what extent, HM Government is having, or has had, all due regard to the ways in which the policy might have an adverse effect on the welfare of animals as sentient beings. This includes policy of HM Government of the United Kingdom but does not include policy falling within devolved competence. Committee members are appointed by the Secretary of State. Defra officials work closely with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on animal welfare matters and provide updates on the Committee as appropriate.

Michael Seals CBE has been appointed as the first-ever Chair of the new Animal Sentience Committee. Recruitment for members to the Committee is ongoing.

The Animal Sentience Committee's budget is met from existing Defra funding.

The Committee's remit is to consider whether, or to what extent, HM Government is having, or has had, all due regard to the ways in which the policy might have an adverse effect on the welfare of animals as sentient beings. This includes policy of HM Government of the United Kingdom but does not include policy falling within devolved competence. Committee members are appointed by the Secretary of State. Defra officials work closely with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on animal welfare matters and provide updates on the Committee as appropriate.

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) require that anyone in the business of keeping or training animals for exhibition needs a valid licence from their local authority, including reindeer used at seasonal events. Licencees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences.

The 2018 Regulations are accompanied by statutory guidance notes developed to help local authorities enforce the licensing regime. The guidance notes for keeping or training animals for exhibition can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animal-activities-licensing-guidance-for-local-authorities/keeping-or-training-animals-for-exhibition-licensing-statutory-guidance-for-local-authorities

The keeping of dangerous wild animals is also regulated by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. The Act requires owners of dangerous wild animals, as listed in the Act, to be licensed by their Local Authority. A reindeer (with the exception of a domestic reindeer) is classified by the act as a dangerous wild animal. The aim of the Act is to ensure that where private individuals keep dangerous wild animals, they do so in circumstances that create no risk to the public.

A local authority may only grant a licence if it is satisfied that it would not be contrary to public interest on the grounds of safety or nuisance; that the applicant is a suitable person; and the animal's accommodation is adequate and secure.

If anyone has any concerns about the welfare of a reindeer that is being exhibited, they should report the matter to the relevant local authority who have powers to investigate.

HM Government made a commitment to explore potential action in relation to animal fur, as set out in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. We have since conducted a Call for Evidence on the fur sector along with other forms of engagement with interested parties.

We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector and speak to a range of interested parties, to make sure we fully understand the issues at hand before taking any decisions regarding the import and export of animal fur products.

The Action Plan for Animal Welfare noted that HM Government has made clear that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese which have been force fed raises serious welfare concerns and that the production of foie gras by force feeding is already illegal in the UK.

The Action Plan also noted that now that the United Kingdom has left the EU, we are committed to building a clear evidence base to inform decisions on banning the import or sale of foie gras and other products derived from low-welfare systems.

HM Government is currently continuing to build this evidence base. No specific deadline has been set for this exercise.

When kept privately as pets, pure servals require a licence under Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. While the focus of the 1976 Act is public safety, licensing conditions also provide for animal welfare protections, such as the provision of accommodation that is a suitable size, temperature and cleanliness, as well as providing adequate and suitable food, drink and bedding material. Whether a serval hybrid would require a licence under the 1976 Act would depend on the generation of the cat. When the list of species which require a licence under the 1976 Act was last amended in 2007 it sought to clarify the position for domestic cat x wild cat hybrids generally. The immediate offspring of a pure serval and a domestic cat would require a licence, but subsequent hybrids from this source would not.

Where a serval was kept and exhibited to the public for seven days or more a year (otherwise than in a circus or pet shop), rather than a licence under the 1976 Act, they would need to be licensed and inspected under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. Under the 1981 Act, zoos are required to meet strict obligations in relation to animal welfare, conservation, and education. The animal welfare requirements are set in the Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice. The standards are currently under review following a 16 week consultation that ended on Tuesday 21 ^st June.

The commercial sale of cats, including servals, as pets is regulated under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. The 2018 Regulations set out clear requirements for those who sell cats commercially. Licencees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences.

Further to these specific protections, these animals are also protected under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The 2006 Act requires those in charge of animals to protect them from harm and to ensure their key welfare needs are provided for. Those in charge of animals who fail to protect them from harm, or fail to provide for their welfare needs may be prosecuted and face penalties including a custodial sentence or an unlimited fine, or both.