Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Northern Ireland counterparts on assistance for dairy farmers in Northern Ireland; and what assistance her Department is giving such farmers.

George Eustice

The Secretary of State is writing to the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland to outline the steps we are taking to help our hard-pressed dairy farmers. These include: securing a £26.2 million aid package from the European Commission, introducing a new system of extended tax averaging, and working with the Treasury to assess whether improved access to risk management tools can contribute to the resilience of the dairy industry.

I regularly meet representatives of the dairy industry from across the UK, including from Northern Ireland, to discuss issues of mutual interest and Defra officials maintain regular contact with their counterparts in the devolved administrations on a range of dairy issues.