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 information her Department holds on levels of by-catch of sea bass in other fisheries in Irish waters in the last three years.

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 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219112, what management measures will be examined in the review of domestic management measures for bass.

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 recent discussions she has had with her Irish counterparts on the management of sea bass stocks.

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 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea since the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on 15 December 2014; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

At the meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 15-16 December 2014 the UK took fully into account the scientific advice provided beforehand by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

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 policy for the management of sea bass stocks in their territorial waters.

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 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of French recreational sea bass anglers on the management of sea bass stocks.

George Eustice

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has had no recent discussions with representatives of the French recreational sea bass anglers on the management of sea bass stock.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of minor developments which will be built in the next five years; and what assessment he has made of in which towns and cities the greatest numbers of such developments will be built.

Brandon Lewis

We now have a locally-led Planning system. As a result the Department does not hold projections of future planning applications, nor does it publish forecasts of housing completions. However the National Planning Policy Framework requires local planning authorities to identify, update annually and publish a deliverable five year housing land supply. Local planning authorities are expected to report on progress on delivery of new homes through their Authority Monitoring Reports.

In addition, the Department publishes official statistics on planning applications including those on minor sites, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/planning-applications-statistics

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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, whether she has received the report Bass Discards published by the Irish Bass Group; and if she will make a statement.

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, what the (a) time taken and (b) cost of dredging operations undertaken by the Environment Agency was in the (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14 financial years in each operational area; and what the expected benefits of such operations were.

Dan Rogerson

Dredging is not identified as a separate category within the Environment Agency’s budget allocations or work recording systems, as it is often carried out at the same time as other channel activities. It is included within the broader category of ‘conveyance’ on which the Environment Agency spent around £45 million and £32 million in total in 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively. The Environment Agency carries out conveyance work, including dredging, where it cost effectively reduces flood risk to people and property. The Environment Agency estimate that, on average, conveyance work provides about £7 of reduced flood damages for every pound spent. Dredging can provide other benefits, such as land drainage and navigation.

The funding spent on conveyance in each operational Environment Agency area was:

	2012/13	2013/14
Environment Agency Area	Total Allocated (£M)	Total Allocated (£M)
Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire	1.03	0.56
Cumbria and Lancashire	3.77	1.75
Derbyshire Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire	2.31	2.27
Devon and Cornwall	2.77	1.31
Essex Norfolk and Suffolk	3.96	1.07
Greater Manchester Merseyside and Cheshire	4.41	4.47
Hertfordshire and North London	4.48	3.40
Kent and South London	3.95	3.12
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire	3.26	2.86
Northumberland Durham and Tees	1.11	1.73
Shropshire Herefordshire Worcestershire and Gloucestershire	1.07	1.39
Solent and South Downs	2.01	2.10
Staffordshire Warwickshire and West Midlands	1.27	1.42
Wessex	2.01	1.38
West Thames	4.12	1.60
Yorkshire	3.43	1.82
Grand Total	44.95	32.27

We do not hold information on the time it took for each of the dredging operations to be undertaken.

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.