Tag: George Hollingbery

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what reports she has received on the Irish government’s views on a total ban on commercial fishing for sea bass.

George Eustice

I met the Irish Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda including management of sea bass stocks.

Under longstanding Irish national measures to protect bass stocks their commercial fishing vessels are not permitted to land bass for sale, which means a degree of discarding of bass by-catch from mixed fishing activity will occur. I have not, however, seen the Bass Discards report published by the Irish Bass Group.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions the Environment Agency has (a) issued warnings and (b) brought prosecutions as a result of dredging or channel maintenance activities in each of the last three years; on how many occasions referrals were made to the police following such activities; and which rivers were affected in each such case.

Dan Rogerson

The Environment Agency has a range of enforcement and sanction options that it can employ against those undertaking dredging or channel maintenance works incorrectly.

Environment Agency officers do issue warnings and, where appropriate, make referrals to the police. However, the Environment Agency does not hold statistics on this centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her French counterparts on that country’s policy on management of sea bass stocks.

George Eustice

I met the French Minister in the margins of the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 15-16 December 2014 to discuss key fisheries items on the Council agenda, including policy on management of sea bass stocks. My officials have met recently with counterparts from a number of Member States, including France, and with the European Commission to discuss this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which towns and cities in England and Wales have been most affected by flooding caused by urban surface run-off following heavy rain events in the last five years.

Dan Rogerson

The Environment Agency publishes maps of locations at risk of flooding from surface water. The maps can be interrogated by place name or postcode.

The maps can be found at:

http://watermaps.environment-agency.gov.uk/wiyby/wiyby.aspx?topic=ufmfsw#x=357865&y=355121&scale=1

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219112, how the review of domestic management measures for bass will engage with other government departments, stakeholders and other interested parties from outside her Department.

George Eustice

The current review of the domestic management measures for bass should be completed within the next few weeks. Aligned with work at European level to reverse the steep decline in bass stocks, the high-level review will focus principally on the need for any change to our current domestic management measures, such as the catch limits on commercial fishing for bass, minimum landing size for bass and protection of bass nursery areas. Where it is identified that action is required, this work will be further developed and, where national legislation may be required, will follow the usual legislative process. We will seek the views of key stakeholders on the way forward. Any proposed national legislation will be subject to public consultation involving stakeholders, other government departments and interested parties. The relevant documentation to support the new legislation will be made publically available, where not already published.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in levels of eligibility for social care set by councils between 2005 and 2010.

Norman Lamb

During 2005/06 to 2009/10, the number of councils which set their local eligibility at the “substantial” banding within the existing guidance increased by nearly a third, and the number of councils setting their eligibility at “moderate” decreased by a similar proportion. This indicates councils making restrictions in access and eligibility over this period.

The following table sets out the percentage of councils in each of the bandings between 2005/06 and 2009/10. The bandings were set out in 2003 guidance and updated in 2010 by Prioritising Need in the Context of Putting People First: A whole system approach to eligibility for social care, which retained the same eligibility framework based on four bandings.

	Percentage of LAs at Critical	Percentage of LAs at Substantial	Percentage of LAs at Moderate	Percentage of LAs at Low
2005/06	2.2%	55.0%	36.7%	6.1%
2006/07	1.4%	62.2%	33.2%	3.2%
2007/08	2.1%	69.7%	26.5%	1.7%
2008/09	2.1%	70.5%	25.7%	1.7%
2009/10	2.0%	71.1%	25.0%	2.0%

Source: The Care Quality Commission. This is provided as % as the total number of local authorities (LAs) providing social care changed over this period.

To resolve substantial and longstanding concerns from people with care needs that the existing framework is opaque and not applied consistently across England, the Government is introducing a national minimum eligibility threshold for adult care and support from 1 April 2015. This will provide more clarity on what level of needs are eligible for care and support. LAs will no longer be able to tighten the criteria beyond this threshold, but they will have the flexibility to meet other needs that are not eligible, if they chose to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the process and timetable is for implementation of emergency EU measures to manage sea bass stocks.

George Eustice

At the December Council we secured a statement that underlined the commitment of the European Commission and Member States involved in the bass fishery to take urgent action to reduce fishing pressure, protect spawning aggregations and so prevent a collapse of the stock. The Government followed up this commitment by formally requesting emergency measures to protect bass during the spawning season (January to April). The Commission has responded positively and has now tabled such a measure based on the UK request for consideration by the fisheries management committee. If adopted, the Commission regulation will come into effect on the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219112, when she expects the review of domestic management measures for bass to be completed.

George Eustice

The current review of the domestic management measures for bass should be completed within the next few weeks. Aligned with work at European level to reverse the steep decline in bass stocks, the high-level review will focus principally on the need for any change to our current domestic management measures, such as the catch limits on commercial fishing for bass, minimum landing size for bass and protection of bass nursery areas. Where it is identified that action is required, this work will be further developed and, where national legislation may be required, will follow the usual legislative process. We will seek the views of key stakeholders on the way forward. Any proposed national legislation will be subject to public consultation involving stakeholders, other government departments and interested parties. The relevant documentation to support the new legislation will be made publically available, where not already published.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on the implementation of emergency EU measures to manage sea bass stocks.

George Eustice

At the December Council we secured a statement that underlined the commitment of the European Commission and Member States involved in the bass fishery to take urgent action to reduce fishing pressure, protect spawning aggregations and so prevent a collapse of the stock. The Government followed up this commitment by formally requesting emergency measures to protect bass during the spawning season (January to April). The Commission has responded positively and has now tabled such a measure based on the UK request for consideration by the fisheries management committee. If adopted, the Commission regulation will come into effect on the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Hollingbery on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219112, if she will publish a list of all the documents that the review of domestic management measures for bass will take into account.

George Eustice

The current review of the domestic management measures for bass should be completed within the next few weeks. Aligned with work at European level to reverse the steep decline in bass stocks, the high-level review will focus principally on the need for any change to our current domestic management measures, such as the catch limits on commercial fishing for bass, minimum landing size for bass and protection of bass nursery areas. Where it is identified that action is required, this work will be further developed and, where national legislation may be required, will follow the usual legislative process. We will seek the views of key stakeholders on the way forward. Any proposed national legislation will be subject to public consultation involving stakeholders, other government departments and interested parties. The relevant documentation to support the new legislation will be made publically available, where not already published.