Tag: Kerry McCarthy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will ensure that the new ship contract agreed for the Pitcairn Islands supply run will include best practice stipulations regarding biosecurity and waste disposal.

James Duddridge

The Pitcairn Island Government is currently in the process of tendering for a new freight and passenger service. We will stress to them the importance of the need for best practice for biosecurity and waste disposal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will consult veterinary and animal welfare experts on the planned update of farm animal welfare codes; and if she will publish in draft those updated codes for consultation.

George Eustice

We have the highest standards of animal welfare in the world, and we will be retaining the framework that upholds them. Defra will continue to work with industry to ensure farmers have the guidance they need to help them comply with legislation, and we will consult as and when updates are needed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on future funding of research by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs of the introduction of anti-lobbying clauses in government grant arrangements.

George Eustice

The Government is committed to supporting our excellent science and research community. The anti-lobbying clause is mandated by the Cabinet Office so the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be implementing the clause. No detailed assessment has yet been made against the future funding of research following the implementation of the new clause, but the initial belief is that it will have minimal impact. We are continuing to engage with the research community and will outline more detail in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the recommendations of the final report of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, published in May 2016, if she will introduce (a) a UK-specific target for the reduction of farm antibiotic use in livestock, (b) restrictions or bans on the use in farming of highly critical antibiotics and (c) improved transparency from food producers on antibiotics used for raising meat.

George Eustice

The UK Government welcomes the report and recommendations from the Independent Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. A full Government response to the recommendations will be published following purdah.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40362, (a) for what reason the Government has concentrated gamma interferon testing outside the high risk areas and (b) what assessment she has made of the effect of the reduced number of gamma interferon tests in high risk areas on the incidence and spread of bovine TB.

George Eustice

Supplementary interferon gamma blood testing improves the detection of infected cattle in TB affected herds in the Low Risk and Edge Areas of England reducing the risk of TB taking hold in parts of the country where the disease is not yet endemic.

Information published by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on gov.uk shows more supplementary interferon gamma tests in the High Risk Area in each of the years 2012 to 2015 than in 2009. We continue to explore options for wider deployment of this test in the High Risk Area.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/532709/ATIC0882.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the prevalence of livestock-associated MRSA in live breeder pigs and meat products imported from (a) Denmark and (b) other European countries; what proportion of such imports are voluntarily tested for livestock-associated MRSA; and what analysis her Department has undertaken of the costs and benefits of making it mandatory to test such imports for MRSA.

George Eustice

Livestock associated meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) is not a notifiable organism. There is no mandatory requirement to test imports of live breeding pigs or pig meat for the presence of LA-MRSA.

The National Pig Association recommends in its Import Protocol that imported pigs be screened for the presence of MRSA. Such testing is done on a voluntary and private basis.

Any controls or testing introduced for an organism must be proportionate to the risk posed by it. Current advice from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Public Health England (PHE) is that LA-MRSA poses a low risk to human health.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s priorities are for the Clean Growth Committee; what role she will have on that committee; and whether that committee will consider her Department’s air quality consultation.

Rory Stewart

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster chairs an inter-Ministerial group on Clean Growth, which considers issues relating to air quality and decarbonisation where these have a cross-Departmental aspect. Its members include Ministers and officials from the relevant Departments, including Defra, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of levels of implementation of the greening requirements of the Basic Payment Scheme and its effectiveness in reducing carbon emissions and delivering improvements for pollinators and other wildlife in the farmed landscape.

George Eustice

We are in the final stages of processing 2015 BPS claims and making payments so it is too early to make an assessment of Greening implementation. However, an ex-ante assessment of the economic and environmental impacts of Greening in England, based on Defra’s Farm Business Survey, was published in the evidence annex to the Explanatory Memorandum which accompanied the Statutory Instrument 2014 No. 3259.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cases of Bovine TB there have been in Somerset in each of the last four years.

George Eustice

The latest National Statistics on the incidence and prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in Cattle in Great Britain were published on 10 February 2016. These include detailed statistics at county level as at the end of November 2015 and can be found on GOV.UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s Single departmental plan: 2015 to 2020, published in February 2016, what changes are expected in exposure to (a) nitrogen dioxide and (b) PM2.5 by 2017.

Rory Stewart

In December last year Defra published new plans setting out how the UK Government intends to improve air quality and meet the requirements of the ambient air quality Directive for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the shortest possible time. Our ambition, as set out in the plans, is for the UK to have some of the very best air quality in the world. Improving air quality in our towns and cities will reduce exposure for a large number of people and have a positive impact in reducing adverse health effects.

For all UK zones we assess compliance annually for a range of pollutants covered by European air quality directives, including PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide. All limit values, other than those for NO2, are currently met. The results are published in the annual Air Pollution in the UK compliance reports, which are made available on the UK-Air website: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/

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