Tag: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage builders of new homes to give potential purchasers details of the flood risk affecting those properties at an early stage.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

DEFRA and the Environment Agency provide readily available information on flood risk that any prospective house buyer can access and the Law Society have agreed that flood risk will form part of solicitors’ searches before final purchase. The Law Society have a good practice note (attached) on how this can be carried out, which can be found online at:

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/advice/practice-notes/flood-risk/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what independent research is being carried out on the availability and affordability of flood insurance for small businesses in flood affected areas.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

We have recently published a report, carried out on our behalf by Ipsos MORI that considers the availability of flood insurance for small businesses in areas of high flood risk.

The study found that uptake of insurance in small and medium sized businesses is high, with 95% of businesses having commercial insurance cover and only 2.5% reporting any difficulties in accessing insurance.

The report is available on-line on the science and research section of Defra’s website, under the heading “Affordability and Availability of Flood Insurance – FD2688”.

We continue to keep this important issue under review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in implementing their manifesto commitment to plant 11 million trees, and how such progress will be monitored and reported.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Between the beginning of April and the end of December 2015, around 495,000 trees were planted in newly created woodlands across the country, assisted by funding from the Rural Development Programme in England.

Further planting figures for January to March 2016 are due to be published on 26 April.

The area of woodland planted is published as one of Forestry Commission England’s headline indicators and is updated four times a year. Tree numbers are monitored through Countryside Stewardship administrative records and made available to the Programme Monitoring Committee of the Rural Development Programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 4 April (HL7139), whether they have published their vision and business case for improved recycling, and if so, what action they are now taking to follow it up with a plan to deliver simplified and consistent recycling collection systems.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The framework for greater consistency in household recycling in England, devised by Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and an Advisory Group was published on 13 September. The framework, along with the supporting evidence and case studies, is available on WRAP’s website.

There are various work streams continuing under the framework WRAP is also working with a number of councils that would like to explore the business case and introduce service changes in line with the consistency framework.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the badgers culled in the pilots undertaken in 2013 and 2014 had tuberculosis.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Badgers culled under licence in Somerset and Gloucestershire in 2013 and 2014 were not routinely tested for tuberculosis (TB), since this research had already been carried out under the Random Badger Cull Trial (RBCT). However, testing of badgers between 1998 and 2005 via the Randomised Badger Culling Trial and Road Traffic Accident surveys provided evidence of the typical prevalence of TB in badgers in areas of high incidence of TB in cattle. TB was found in around one third of all badgers in these areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what training is provided to staff in the UK Border Agency to help them deal with abuses of the Pet Travel Scheme by those involved in illegal puppy smuggling for commercial purposes.

Lord Bates

Core skills training provided to Border Force officers includes awareness training on controls on the movement of live animals into the UK. Specific guidance is also available to officers on the application of the Pet Travel Scheme. Border Force is also developing its targeting capability across all border related risks, including bio-security risks.

Border Force is working closely with the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), the lead government department with responsibility for imports of live animals, to ensure the effective enforcement of legislation governing the import of animals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their decision to withdraw the Draft Code of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock: Meat Chickens and Breeding Chickens (Revocation) (England) Order 2016, what alternative proposals they are drawing up to update existing welfare codes.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government intends to retain all existing statutory animal welfare codes and is working with interested parties to ensure our guidance continues to help farmers comply with our high welfare standards.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Food Crime Unit’s budget and enforcement powers are being reviewed in the light of Professor Chris Elliott’s recent comments that it does not have enough authority.

Lord Prior of Brampton

In response to Professor Elliott’s 2014 review of the integrity and assurance of food supply networks, the Government established a National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) to give a focus to enforcement efforts against fraud and criminality in the food chain. The Government, in its response to the Elliott review, agreed there should be a review of progress and likely future need after two years. A copy of the Elliot review and the Government’s response is attached.

The NFCU reaches the two year milestone at the end of December 2016 with the review scheduled to be completed by that time. Work has already begun on the review, which is being carried out within the Food Standards Agency’s resources under the oversight of an independent steering group, made up of three external experts representing law enforcement, consumers and industry. Among other issues the review is considering the resources and enforcement powers available to the NFCU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to release the value-for-money assessment on the badger cull pilots undertaken in 2013 and 2014.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The expected benefits of the policy remain in line with those in the ‘Measures to address bovine tuberculosis in badgers’ impact assessment published in 2011. It will be some years before actual benefits can be quantified.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what national resources are available to track and apprehend gangs selling illegally imported puppies to buyers across the UK.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

We are aware that some unscrupulous individuals are illegally importing pet animals with the intention of selling them on arrival in the UK. The Government takes the issue seriously and we are committed to working with relevant agencies and other non-government organisations to tackle this illegal trade. National resources engaged in this work include the transport companies (or their agents) who ensure compliance with the pet travel scheme, staff at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) who monitor and regulate the import of animals, and Local Authorities who enforce legislation where illegally imported pets are discovered. The APHA actively shares intelligence it gathers relating to abuse of the pet travel rules with Local Authorities and other EU Member States. This enables further investigation and follow up action to take place. Defra and the APHA have also provided practical support to multi-agency collaborative enforcement action. For example, in April last year, we assisted with the ageing of young puppies during ‘Operation Bloodhound’, which resulted in several penalty notices and cautions being issued.

The illegal trade is ultimately driven by demand for cheap, pedigree puppies. The Government has published guidance to outline steps that prospective pet owners should take to avoid buying an illegally imported pet. The Government is currently consulting on a number of proposals to update the laws on the breeding and selling of dogs. The proposals include requiring anyone who breeds more than two litters of puppies a year to be licensed. An exemption from local authority licencing is proposed where a business is regulated by a body accredited by the UK Accreditation Service to certify, at a minimum, the legally-required welfare licence conditions. The consultation ends on 12 March.

Defra recognises the problems that can arise from the on-line advertising of pets for sale. In recent years, the Department has been working closely with and supporting the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) – which is a grouping of animal welfare charities, veterinary experts, animal keeping interests and the pet industry. Working with PAAG, we have been able to encourage six of the main on-line pet advertising sites to adopt minimum standards for adverts and to remove those that do not meet the standards. With PAAG’s help and the cooperation of six key on-line sites, over 130,000 inappropriate adverts for animals were removed over a 12-month period in 2014/15. We continue to work with PAAG to encourage more on-line sites to sign up to the minimum standards.