Author: admin

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many breaches of animal welfare regulations (a) in slaughterhouses and (b) during transportation his Department recorded in each of the last six years.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The new legislation Welfare at Time of Killing implemented in Wales in 2014 and in England in 2015 introduced new welfare reporting requirements. In addition, during 2015/16 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) introduced new animal welfare measures in slaughterhouses which included increased consistency of reporting of transport related breaches. Both these factors are likely to have contributed to the increased instances recorded in the previous two years.

    The FSA does not record the numbers of individual animals which died as a result of transportation to slaughterhouses. The FSA records the number of instances that animals were found to be Dead on Arrival (DOA). The number of DOA instances for the last six years are set out in the following table:

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    144

    64

    5

    16

    28

    265

    The FSA does not record the number of individual animals involved in a welfare breaches in slaughterhouses or during transportation. The FSA records the number of instances of breaches. The number of critical welfare breaches in slaughterhouses and transportation for the last six years are set out in the following tables:

    Slaughterhouses

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    158

    132

    65

    113

    217

    234

    Transportation

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    2015/16

    394

    342

    308

    535

    1,488

    2,097

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish (a) the revised list of the membership of the Department’s Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment and (b) a revised register of interests of the Committee’s members.

    George Eustice

    The current membership of the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) is:

    Professor Rosemary Hails MBE (chair), Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

    Dr Kathy Bamford, Imperial College

    Professor Michael Bonsall, University of Oxford

    Dr Rosemary Collier, University of Warwick

    Professor Ian Crute CBE, self-employed consultant

    Dr Matthew Heard, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

    Professor David Hopkins, The Royal Agricultural University

    Simon Kerr, National Institute of Agricultural Botany

    Dr Peter Lund, University of Birmingham

    Dr Ben Raymond, University of Exeter

    Dr Andrew Wilcox, Harper Adams University

    An updated register of the interests of the Committee members will be published as soon as possible on the ACRE pages of the GOV..UK website. (at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-releases-to-the-environment).

    “

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, on what basis she will make recommendations to HM Treasury on allocation of remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Proposals to improve flood defences are made by Defra and its agencies on the basis of the economic benefits, which are assessed in terms of the potential flood damages avoided, the current level of risk and the number homes that would be better protected by the scheme.

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, how she will assess local needs and value for money to inform decisions on allocating the remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    Local needs are assessed according to the probability of flooding in the area and the damages that could occur as a result of a flood. Investment options are assessed through an appraisal of the benefits and the costs of potential ways of reducing that risk.

  • Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tom Tugendhat – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Tugendhat on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45646, when her Department plans to complete the assessment of local needs and value for money to inform decisions on how to allocate remaining funding from the £700 million uplift to flood defence and resilience measures.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The assessment of local needs is an ongoing process. The Environment Agency and other risk management authorities are responsible for maintaining up to date assessments of local flood risk. This information, together with an assessment of options to reduce risk in each area, provides an ongoing pipeline of potential works.

  • Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Heidi Allen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Allen on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the European Commission on the timing of the publication of the updated controllers of trade in endangered species regulations on wildlife trade; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure sentencing guidelines for wildlife trade offences are put in place.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The updated and consolidated Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations (COTES) that the Department is taking forward concern the domestic implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species controls. As such we have not discussed the timing of their publication with the European Commission.

    As part of the review of COTES legislation Defra has held discussions on guidelines for prosecutors with the Crown Prosecution Service, and sentencing guidelines with the Sentencing Council.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) humaneness and (b) effectiveness of badger culls since 2013.

    George Eustice

    The approach Defra takes to monitoring the effectiveness and humaneness of the badger control policy, including the Chief Veterinary Officer’s advice, can be found on GOV.UK.

  • Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jonathan Lord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Lord on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to improve flood defences in (a) Woking constituency, (b) Surrey and (c) the South East since 2010.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    In the Woking constituency, the Hoe Valley Flood Alleviation Scheme opened in spring 2012 resulting in better protection to almost 200 properties.

    In Surrey, the Environment Agency together with the Lead Local Flood Authorities, are developing a range of flood schemes under the Government’s 6 Year Investment Programme.

    The River Thames Scheme for example, will seek to reduce the risk of flooding to 15,000 properties in Surrey and Berkshire. Schemes are also being developed in Guildford, Godalming, Leatherhead and Byfleet.

    In the South East the Environment Agency has better protected 42,000 homes between 2010 – 2015 and forecast to better protect nearly 80,000 more homes by 2021.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 3 March 2016 to Question 29007, what recent estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the badger culls in 2016.

    George Eustice

    Defra published an updated badger control policy value for money assessment on GOV.UK in August 2016, including estimated costs to government per licensed area.

  • Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Zac Goldsmith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s policy is on seeking a ban on ivory sales.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government is deeply concerned by the continued poaching of elephants for their ivory, which is why we are committed to maintaining the current global ban on any international trade in new ivory. The UK has made no formal assessment of the impact of other countries’ additional measures to restrict trade in ivory. However, as a further step in delivering the Government’s manifesto commitment to press for a total ban on ivory sales, on 21 September the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest. We will consult on plans for the ban early next year. This will complement the existing UK approach not to permit the trade of raw ivory tusks.

    The Government also successfully lobbied for the EU-wide adoption of the existing UK ban on sales of raw ivory tusks, which was advocated through the EU Council Conclusions on an EU Action Plan on Wildlife Trafficking and adopted in June. This urged EU Member States not to issue export or re-export documents under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for raw, pre-Convention ivory (pre-1990) and to consider further measures to put a halt to commercial trade in ivory from elephants.

    At the CITES Conference that took place from 24 September to 5 October the UK was involved in negotiations that successfully secured a strong agreement calling for the closure of domestic ivory markets where they contribute to poaching or illegal trade. This was agreed by all 183 Parties to CITES.