Tag: Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many soil research projects have been completed for which it has provided funding, and how the findings were translated into practical measures that could be applied at farm level, in each year since 1997.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Since 1997, Defra and its predecessors have funded 445 soil research projects, the findings of which are translated into practical measures that can be applied at farm level in a number of ways, including testing of measures as part of the research, reviews of the evidence base feeding into the development of farmer guidance or direct knowledge transfer as part of the research project.

The table below denotes the number of completed soil research projects funded by Defra and its predecessors in each year since 1997:

1997	40
1998	44
1999	26
2000	28
2001	34
2002	22
2003	26
2004	21
2005	18
2006	29
2007	15
2008	23
2009	24
2010	29
2011	17
2012	18
2013	12
2014	10
2015	9

In addition since 2005-6, the first year for which data is available, Research Councils have funded 614 soil research projects.

The table below denotes the number of soil research projects funded by the Research Councils that have completed, by financial year, going back to 2005-06. Data for before that year is not available as the information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

2005-6	59
2006-7	62
2007-8	92
2008-9	57
2009-10	68
2010-11	82
2011-12	70
2012-13	26
2013-14	45
2014-15	29
2015-16	24

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pregnant women, new mothers, and children under four have applied to the Healthy Start scheme in each year since that scheme started.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The specific information requested is not available as the Healthy Start Issuing Unit records numbers of applications, rather than numbers of individuals claiming, and an individual or family can make more than one claim for Healthy Start within a year.

The following table outlines the number of applications received each year since the scheme was started and is made up of the number of claims/applications per year.

The Healthy Start Scheme initially started in Devon and Cornwall and was rolled out United Kingdom-wide in November 2006.

Financial Year	Number of applications/claims
2005-06	2,445	Healthy Start Scheme introduced initially in Devon and Cornwall
2006-07	104,920	Extended United Kingdom wide in November 2006
2007-08	197,388
2008-09	298,077
2009-10	338,113
2010-11	316,711
2011-12	320,043
2012-13	316,277
2013-14	271,244
2014-15	226,805
2015-16 (Up to 15 November)	132,633

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-03-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what practical examples of agroforestry have been visited by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs staff in England, and what assessment they have made of whether, in the light of the fact that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have recently included agroforestry options into their rural development schemes, doing so would be an effective measure for England.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Officials from Defra and Natural England have recently visited an example of agro-forestry near Peterborough funded in part from organic and agri-environment measures in Environmental Stewardship.

This was a very positive and valuable visit. Officials will be exploring the evidence base for agro-forestry and how this measure might operate in practice within the Rural Development Programme. However, the budget for Pillar 2 is finite and funding agro-forestry may have opportunity costs for other measures.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many undergraduate courses leading to a formal qualification are provided in (1) soil biology, (2) soil chemistry, and (3) combined soil biology and chemistry, and how many students were enrolled in each course at the beginning of the 2015–16 academic year.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Information on enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), and the latest academic year for which data are available is 2014/15.

The Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) is the classification of subjects used by HESA. Soil biology and Soil chemistry are not separate subject classifications in the JACS system; the closest classification is Soil science.

The latest data for 2014/15, suggest there were fewer than 10 full-person equivalent undergraduate students studying Soil science at a single UK Higher Education Institution – the University of Aberdeen.

Soil science has a Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) code of F770. This is a detailed level code and some universities may occasionally allocate students to more general codes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Land Use Policy Group published in June, The role of agroecology in sustainable intensification.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Defra officials have reviewed this report and contributed to its development. The report concluded that agroecological practices have the potential to benefit the sustainability of farming without adversely affecting productivity and profitability. It also found that agroecological approaches can particularly reduce the impact of farming on biodiversity, water quality, soils and greenhouse gas emissions. The report has informed further research, which is being undertaken through the Defra Sustainable Intensification Research Platform.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes they intend to make to evaluation metrics at both farm and regional and landscape levels to take account of natural capital in policy-making decisions.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Government formally launched the development phase of its 25 year environment plan on 14 October 2015. This process will run through 2016 and capture all aspects of natural capital. We will draw on the Natural Capital Committee to help develop it. A key part of it will be to ensure we have the right tools to improve decision-making at all scales so that we can get the most from our resources in order to deliver on our goal of having the best environment possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to promote the Rural Development Programme vocational skills measures in order to enhance the knowledge and skills of food producers.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Vocational skills offers can be delivered under a number of Rural Development Programme schemes. These are either national or have offers tailored to the needs of the local area. Defra publicises its schemes in a variety of ways including through the GOV.UK website. Local organisations such as Local Enterprise Partnerships also promote relevant local offers to their areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what benefits they found resulted from the national Ugly Mugs Scheme piloted by the Home Office; whether it was assessed as good value for money; and if so, what was the result.

Lord Bates

The National Ugly Mugs Scheme is a mechanism for reporting crimes committed against people involved in prostitution. The Home Office provided £108,000 for the pilot scheme that ran from April 2012 to March 2013, coordinated by the UK Network of Sex Worker Projects. The evaluation of the pilot is available on its website.

The previous Government supported the pilot as part of its drive to end violence against women and girls. This Government is pleased that the evaluation of the scheme shows that it was successful in increasing access to justice and protection for those involved in prostitution. Police forces have been encouraged to contribute financially to the scheme, given its crime prevention focus and its role in encouraging reporting and contributing to intelligence. That is a decision for individual forces, and the Home Office does not collect information regarding which forces have contributed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2015-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which police forces contributed to the national Ugly Mugs Scheme during 2014–15.

Lord Bates

The National Ugly Mugs Scheme is a mechanism for reporting crimes committed against people involved in prostitution. The Home Office provided £108,000 for the pilot scheme that ran from April 2012 to March 2013, coordinated by the UK Network of Sex Worker Projects. The evaluation of the pilot is available on its website.

The previous Government supported the pilot as part of its drive to end violence against women and girls. This Government is pleased that the evaluation of the scheme shows that it was successful in increasing access to justice and protection for those involved in prostitution. Police forces have been encouraged to contribute financially to the scheme, given its crime prevention focus and its role in encouraging reporting and contributing to intelligence. That is a decision for individual forces, and the Home Office does not collect information regarding which forces have contributed.