The Government does not have any current plans to restrict the days when fireworks can be used, or make all fireworks silent, or reduce the maximum noise level of fireworks to 90 decibels. Ministers support the considerate use of fireworks, as well as any action taken to reduce the risks and disturbances to individuals, animals and property.

There is a noise level limit of 120 decibels on fireworks for home use, which helps to reduce disturbance to both animals and people. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to animals through the misuse of fireworks. Fireworks should not be set off near livestock or close to buildings that house livestock, or near to horses in fields. Anyone planning a firework display in rural areas should warn neighbouring farmers.

Further, retailers are restricted to only selling consumer fireworks during a limited period around specific seasonal celebrations, and retailers may only supply fireworks outside these periods if they obtain a licence from their local licensing authority. Fireworks used for professionally organised displays are only available for sale to people who have undertaken an accredited course of training in pyrotechnics. Enforcement powers exist for local authorities to take action when fireworks are unsafe, sold illegally or misused. Local authorities and the police also have powers to tackle anti-social behaviour caused by the misuse of fireworks.

Finally, the Government published a statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs, which advises dog owners to avoid exercising with dogs during times when fireworks could be let off. The Government has worked with animal welfare groups in previous fireworks seasons to promote the safe and considerate use of fireworks.

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The Government has a legally binding target to halt the decline of nature by 2030, which requires action in our protected sites as vital wildlife havens. In its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), the Government restated the commitment to restore 75 per cent of protected sites to a favourable condition by 2042, while also setting an interim target to put us on the right path to achieving this goal by 31 January 2028.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) worked closely with Natural England in setting the interim targets in the EIP and consulted widely on the legally binding targets set out in 2022. Defra continues to work closely with Natural England to achieve both of these commitments.

Further, through the Sustainable Farming Incentive, farmers are paid for actions that support food production and improve farm productivity and resilience, while also protecting and improving the environment. This includes actions relating to soil health, hedgerow management, providing food and habitats for wildlife, and managing pests and nutrients.

When adopted at scale by farmers, these actions will make a significant contribution to the Government’s environment and climate targets, and support objectives to maintain food production and improve farm productivity. This includes the aim published in the EIP of between 65 and 80 per cent of landowners and farmers adopting nature-friendly farming on at least 10 to 15 per cent of their land by 2030.

Regarding green jobs, the UK has attracted around £120 billion investment in renewables since 2010 and is expected to attract a further £100 billion investment in net zero by 2030, supporting up to 480,000 jobs. The Government is providing investors with long-term certainty over policy and regulatory frameworks to unlock investment and create jobs in green industries such as hydrogen, carbon capture, offshore wind and nuclear.

Additionally, any decision to modify our tax regime is a matter for the Treasury and careful consideration will be given to any proposed amendments.

Finally, access to open spaces and nature is important for the health and wellbeing of our communities, and Ministers have set a new ambition that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space. Through the £14.5m ‘Access for All’ programme, the Government has targeted measures to improve access to our protected landscapes and countryside. Defra is also working to complete the England Coast Path, which will be the longest waymarked and maintained coast walking route in the world. Ministers are also creating large-scale, publicly accessible woodlands near towns and cities.

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The Government wants to make it easier for the consumer to purchase food that aligns with their values, by improving transparency and providing the industry with a level playing field to promote such products. The majority of consumers value high standards of animal welfare but this is not always fully reflected in what they purchase.

The Government ran a call for evidence in 2021 to gather data on the impacts of different types of labelling reforms for animal welfare. Over 1,600 responses were received and the evidence suggested that there is public appetite for improved welfare labelling. However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) does not consider the time is right to consult on proposals to reform labelling for animal welfare.

Ministers intend to continue working with industry to explore how we can harness the market to improve food information for consumers and raise animal welfare standards. As part of this, Defra will continue to gather evidence on the impacts of wide range of market interventions, as well as how they would align with wider labelling proposals such as eco-labelling.

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Holiday lets contribute to the economy, create jobs, and support tourism.  The Government backs small businesses, including responsible short-term holiday letting, which brings significant investment to local communities. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge the impact that large numbers of holiday lets concentrated in an area can have on local communities.

The Government’s proposed planning changes would see the introduction of a new national use class and, simultaneously, the introduction of a new permitted development right. The new permitted development right would provide flexibility where short-term lets are not a local issue and allow for this flexibility to be removed where there is a local concern. Any Article 4 direction to remove the permitted development right must be evidence based and should apply to the smallest geographical area possible, and could therefore be focused on those areas or streets that see the highest numbers of short-term lets, or individual properties.

As set out in the consultation document, when the use class comes into effect existing properties would fall into the short-term let use class where they met the definition or remain as C3 dwellinghouse. Any re-classification is not considered development and so property owners should not need to apply for planning permission where they meet the definition of short-term let. They would be classified as such and would not require planning permission.

As you may know, the Government has also consulted on plans for a short-term lets registration scheme. A registration scheme is important. Crucially, it will provide information to help local authorities enforce health and safety regulations and apply and enforce the planning changes.

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Through the Renters (Reform) Bill, the Government will abolish Section 21 evictions which will give tenants greater security without the threat of a ‘no fault’ eviction. There is also a firm commitment to delivering more social and genuinely affordable homes, underpinned by the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme (2021-26) which will deliver tens of thousands of new homes. The Government has proposed amending national planning guidance to make clear that local planning authorities should place greater importance on social rent.  

The Government is investing £2 billion between 2022 and 2025 to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, targeted to areas where it is needed most. This will work alongside the ‘Ending Rough Sleeping for Good’ strategy which puts prevention at the heart of the Government’s plans to end rough sleeping once and for all. The strategy set an ambition for no one to leave a public institution – whether that’s a prison, hospital or care – to the streets. The Government is committed to reducing the need for temporary accommodation by preventing homelessness before it occurs. Since 2018, over 640,000 households have been prevented from becoming homeless or supported into settled accommodation through the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Rightly, Government funding for accommodation for people facing homelessness reflects the fact that there is no one size fits all approach. There is, for example, a £10 million Night Shelter Transformation Fund to increase the availability of quality single-room provision within the night shelter sector. Meanwhile, investment in longer-term housing solutions includes a new £200 million Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme which will deliver up to 2,400 homes and wrap-around support. 

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The Government is fully committed to reaching net zero by 2050. Ministers are taking a pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach to meeting net zero. The UK is committed to meeting our obligations under the agreements made in Paris and Glasgow to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. The UK is going far beyond other countries in terms of our 2030 decarbonisation target and the transition to clean energy, delivering tangible progress while bringing down energy bills.

Further, the Government is going further for both households and investors by embracing new green industries. This includes bringing forward new reforms to energy infrastructure which will give the industry certainty, speed up planning for the most nationally significant projects to ensure that strategically important projects, or those ready first, will connect first. Ministers have also committed to a target to deliver up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030, ensuring that the industry has confidence that the UK remains the best place to invest in offshore wind. In addition, the Government has announced new Future Fellowships, which will support our leading scientists and engineers to develop real and practical green technologies and is supported by up to £150 million of new funding.

Regarding nature, the Government has legally-binding targets to halt nature’s decline, clean up our air and rivers and support a circular economy. The UK played an instrumental role in a new global agreement for nature at the UN nature summit COP15 in December 2022. The Environmental Improvement Plan sets out how the Government will achieve its ambitious environmental targets and also includes a new commitment that everyone should be able to access green space or water within a 15-minute walk from their home, such as woodlands, wetlands, parks, and rivers.

The Government recognises that we cannot tackle climate change without protecting nature. The Prime Minister will set out the next stage in our ambitious environmental agenda ahead of COP28.

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Regarding energy, the Government remains firmly committed to its net zero target. However, oil and gas will be required in the transition to net zero; simply turning off the taps would mean we would have to import oil and gas, leaving us susceptible to global circumstances. Supporting the production of domestic oil and gas in the nearer term will be coupled with the accelerated deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen energy.

When it comes to food, the UK is largely self-sufficient in many products. Overall, we produce 61 per cent of all the food we need and 74 per cent of that which we are able to grow in the UK. This has been broadly stable for the past 20 years, and the Government’s Food Strategy commits to keeping it at broadly that level in future, with the potential to increase it in areas such as seafood and horticulture.

Further, significant investments are being made across the food system. This includes more than £120 million in the seafood fund; £270 million across the farming innovation programme; and £11 million to support new research to drive improvements in understanding the relationship between food and health. The Food Strategy will set the UK on a path to boosted food production, ensuring that everyone has access to healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food. The Environment Act 2021 is a robust piece of legislation through which Ministers have set targets to tackle some of the biggest pressures facing our environment. They will ensure progress on clean air, clean and plentiful water, less waste and more sustainable use of our resources, a step change in tree planting, a better marine environment, and a more diverse, resilient and healthy natural environment. In addition, the Act includes a new, historic legally binding target to halt the decline in species by 2030, as a core part of the Government’s commitment to leave the environment in a better state than we found it. The final targets were published and then approved by Parliament earlier this year.

Finally, the transport decarbonisation plan sets out how the UK plans to decarbonise public transport by 2050. The Government is accelerating the rollout of zero-emission buses and trains in order to deliver this; twelve hundred miles of railway have been electrified in England and Wales since 2010, and 4000 zero-emission buses have been funded across the UK.

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As you may be aware, owners who allow their dogs to terrorise people or other animals are already breaking the law, and there is already a full range of powers to apply penalties to owners who do not control their pets.

However, very sadly, fatal and serious dog attacks have risen sharply this year.  The American XL Bully-  seemingly prized as status symbols by some for their aggressive temperaments-  has been disproportionately involved in this rise. It is therefore only right that the Government takes decisive action to prevent these dogs from causing further harm.

Banning these dogs has been under consideration for some time, but this has been complicated by the fact that the XL Bully is not formally recognised as a breed in the UK. For this reason, the Environment Secretary and the Home Secretary will now urgently convene experts to define the American XL Bully breed type, including police, canine and veterinary experts, and animal welfare stakeholders. The Government will then legislate to add the XL Bully to the list of breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. These changes are expected to be in place by the end of this year.

Of course, the existing population of XL Bullies will need to be safely managed, so an amnesty period will be introduced. It may reassure you to know that owners who come forward to register their XL Bully during the amnesty period will be able to keep their dog until the end of its life, provided they meet conditions such as neutering the dog and keeping it on a lead and muzzle in public. Any XL Bully owner who does not come forward to register during the amnesty period will be committing a criminal offence if they are subsequently found to be keeping an unregistered dog.

In the meantime, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will continue to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent future attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership and to make sure the full force of the law is applied.

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