Author: admin

  • Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to evaluate the effectiveness of the Soil Protection Review form in reducing soil erosion.

    George Eustice

    Defra commissioned research, published in 2012, to evaluate the implementation of the Soil Protection Review (SPR). The research took the form of a telephone survey of 800 claimants, with 30 in-depth interviews across a sample of farms by region, farm type and size.

    Following recommendations by the Farming Regulation Task force, a review of the SPR was conducted. In January 2015, new national standards for agricultural soils under cross compliance were introduced. These rules require farmers in receipt of payments under CAP to prevent soil erosion, to maintain soil cover and to protect the level of organic matter in their soils.

    The Government will continue to monitor the implementation of the new rules.

  • Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Angela Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department provides for farmers on reducing soil erosion on their land.

    George Eustice

    The Government published Cross Compliance in England: soil protection standards 2015 in January 2015. The guidance provides advice on how to identify soil erosion and on how to minimise erosion from cropping practices, livestock and vehicles.

    Farmers can access advice from the Farming Advice Service (FAS). The FAS is a service funded by Defra to help farmers understand and meet the requirements of Cross Compliance and other regimes, including the European Directives on water protection.

    Farmers can also seek advice under the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) project, which is run by Natural England in partnership with the Environment Agency and Defra. CSF raises awareness of diffuse water pollution from agriculture by giving free training and advice to farmers in priority catchments.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Oliver Colvile – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on research on the production of diverse forage mixtures to optimise animal production.

    George Eustice

    Innovate UK, Defra and BBSRC are co-funding the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform (SAFIP), worth £90 million over five years with match funding by industry. There are a number of projects funded under SAFIP on the development of alternative and diverse forages to optimise the sustainability of animal production in the UK.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the PCR test for tuberculosis; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Defra recently funded a comparative study of several potential tests, including the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, for detecting Mycobacterium bovis in badger faeces. None of the tests met the minimum levels of sensitivity and specificity. Defra is considering if there are any situations where the current tests can be used informatively on a large scale. PCR is also used to enhance detection of M.bovis in bacterial culture and the EU Reference Laboratory for bovine tuberculosis has also assessed the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. (https://www.visavet.es/bovinetuberculosis/ring-trials.php).

    Defra continues to review evidence of effectiveness of the potential diagnostic application of PCR in other situations.

    “

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the incidence of bovine TB on farms situated in trial badger cull areas.

    George Eustice

    On 28 August 2015, the Animal and Plant Health Agency published a report of the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in 2013-14 in the areas of Somerset and Gloucestershire exposed to the first year of industry-led badger culling. The report is annexed to the Bovine TB Surveillance Report for England 2014, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/bovine-tb-surveillance-in-great-britain-2014.

    “

  • Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Rosie Cooper – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the difference between the water and sewerage charge per pupil in Lancashire and Kent; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Water and sewerage charges are set by water companies in line with the overall cap set by Ofwat on the amount that each water company may recover from their customers.

    Water company charges vary across regions to reflect the cost of collecting or abstracting water and treating it to meet water quality standards; building and maintaining pipes to deliver water, remove sewerage and surface water; and treating sewerage to meet environmental standards. Due to the variations in demography and geography these processes and costs vary greatly by region.

    Water charges include a surface water charge to cover the costs of removing and treating rainwater that drains away to public sewers. Some water companies share these costs equally across all their customers; four companies charge their non-household customers according to property size. Charging by this method better reflects the amount of rainwater draining into the public sewer.

    The Government recognised that charging in this way can have a particular impact on community groups with property covering a large site-area and, in 2010, issued guidance to Ofwat and water companies on developing concessionary schemes for these groups. Our recent consultation on draft charging guidance to Ofwat recognised that concerns have subsequently been raised about the impact of site area charging on other groups, including schools. It recognised the importance of organisations taking a more sustainable approach to drainage, but said that area based charging should result in a recognisable benefit to customers as a whole and should not have an unduly negative impact on organisations that provide a wider benefit to society. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation, and whether we should review the guidance on concessionary schemes.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of crowded airspace on British military assets operating in Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    UK air assets are operating in Iraq as part of the coalition to counter ISIL. The traffic within this airspace is jointly managed by the coalition and the Government of Iraq to ensure that both military and civilian aircraft continue to operate safely.

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to monitor the use of weapons (a) manufactured in the UK or (b) sold by UK companies to the government of Saudi Arabia to ensure that such sales are compliant with international obligations.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Government remains confident that the UK operates one of the most thorough and robust export control and licensing systems in the world. All applications for strategic export control licences for military and dual-use goods are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Government’s Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, in a manner consistent with the UK’s international obligations

    The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria. The Government of Saudi Arabia has provided repeated assurances to us that they are complying with international humanitarian law and we continue to engage with them on those assurances.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Rushanara Ali – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the government of Burma on the possible postponement of elections in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    None. Burma’s Union Election Commission consulted the main political parties on 13 October over the possibility of a postponement to the 8 November general election because of flooding, but decided against such a postponement shortly thereafter.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Rushanara Ali – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2015-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support economic growth in the Palestinian Territories.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    DFID is promoting private sector development which contributes to state and peacebuilding in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by supporting fiscal sustainability, and reducing unemployment and poverty. DFID’s focus is on increasing growth and employment in key sectors, such as manufacturing, tourism, IT, and agriculture. Our support is channelled through the Palestinian Market Development Programme which seeks to improve the competitiveness of the Palestinian private sector, and through our support to the Office of the Quartet which attempts to make it easier to trade by removing movement and access restrictions.