Tag: Kerry McCarthy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20502, if she will make it her policy to update the Veterinary Medicine Regulations and the Summary of Product Characteristics of antibiotic products in order to end the preventative administration of antibiotics where no disease has been diagnosed in any of the animals in the group being to treated.

George Eustice

The Government will consider the need to revise the Veterinary Medicines regulation after the conclusion of the current review of the EU legislative framework on veterinary medicines and medicated feedingstuffs.

In the meantime the Government has reissued guidance on the responsible use of animal medicines on the farm to emphasise that we do not support the routine preventative use of antibiotics, or the use of antibiotics to compensate for poor animal husbandry.

In the UK, antibiotic veterinary medicines are only available through a prescription from a veterinary surgeon, who in turn can only prescribe to animals under their care following a clinical assessment. Using antibiotics responsibly is a requirement of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Code of Professional Conduct for Vets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will introduce post-mortem TB testing of badgers culled as part of the Government’s bovine TB strategy.

George Eustice

Badgers culled under licence have not been routinely tested for tuberculosis (TB), since previous testing between 1998 and 2005 via the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) 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 Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her (a) ministerial colleagues and (b) the European Commission on the potential effects of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on (i) animal welfare standards, (ii) environmental protection and (iii) food standards.

George Eustice

The Secretary of State has regular discussions on a range of trade matters with Ministerial colleagues.

BIS Ministers lead UK engagement on TTIP supported by Defra on issues including animal welfare standards, environmental protection and food standards. The Food Standards Agency considers issues around food safety. These subjects were considered during Cabinet agreement of the UK’s priorities for TTIP. I have held discussions about TTIP with the European Commission and other Member States at Council meetings.

Ministerial colleagues and I addressed environmental protection issues in detail in the Government’s written evidence to the recent House of Common’s Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into TTIP.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on (a) the National Adaptation Programme and (b) businesses and organisations’ climate change resilience of the withdrawal of the Climate Ready Support Service.

Rory Stewart

The first National Adaptation Programme sets out more than 370 actions to help the UK better prepare for climate change – we continue to deliver on these actions and make sure adaptation is integrated across government policy making. We will carefully review how we work with business and industry as part of the preparations for the next National Adaptation Programme report which is due around 2018.

The Environment Agency continues to play an important role in helping businesses adapt to climate change, in particular as part of its core role on flooding, coastal risks, water management, freshwater habitats, and as a statutory adviser in the land-use planning system. In addition, the Environment Agency will continue to provide advice to businesses and other organisations on using the UK climate projections and it will continue to contribute to a range of stakeholder groups. Over 70 online tools developed by the Climate Ready Support Service are still available for use by businesses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate of real world diesel emissions for Euro 6 vehicles, relative to the laboratory test limit, was used in the evidential basis supporting her Department’s conclusion that eight air quality zones would not comply with Nitrogen Dioxide limits by 2020 if no action is taken.

Rory Stewart

The modelling used for the air quality plan was based on the best available data and uses the latest COPERT (Computer Programme to Calculate Emissions from Road Transport) (4v11) factors to calculate emissions from diesel cars.

These COPERT factors reflect that there is a difference between laboratory testing of vehicle emissions and real world emissions. They assume Euro 6 diesel cars are, on average, emitting 2.8 times the level of emissions allowed for the Euro 6 standard.

In May, the Government will present the results of its vehicle testing programme (www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-emissions-testing-programme-conclusions) to European Research for Mobile Emission Sources (ERMES), the body responsible for collating vehicle emission data, to inform its updated emissions factors later this year. This will ensure that EU-wide emission factors continue to focus on the latest data updated on the basis of real world testing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-06-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the provision of mental health services.

Alistair Burt

The Department accepted the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendations to transform mental health services and will set out later this year how it is implementing them.

The Department announced additional investment of £1 billion for mental health on top of the £1.4 billion for children and young people’s mental health.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department or the Animal and Plant Health Agency will collect data on (a) the number of and (b) the reasons for on-farm prosecutions.

George Eustice

Data on (a) the number of and (b) the reasons for on-farm prosecutions is already collected by Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and a statutory return is required to be made and laid before Parliament in accordance with Section 80 of the Animal Health Act 1981.

The report covers prosecutions taken under the Animal Health Act 1981 and other animal health and welfare legislation. It also includes data on the incidences of disease in animals.

A report is compiled by Defra for data relating to England and Wales. Scotland compiles a separate report. These reports are published and available to the public on www.Gov.UK and www.Gov.Scot.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-80-report-for-2015-under-the-animal-health-act-1981

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/animal-welfare/Diseases/Enforcement

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been paid in subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy for land which is used for driven bird shooting in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

We do not routinely collect this information with regard to payments. Potentially, driven bird shooting could take place on all farmland and moorland. However, some land is not suitable because there are no game birds, or because the terrain is inappropriate for shooting, or because of the risks to others. There are also circumstances where individuals decide not to implement their right to shoot on their land and other occasions when these rights are reserved by the landlord and not used.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost was of maintaining her Department’s properties in (a) London and (b) nationally in 2014-15.

George Eustice

Defra is the controlling holder of 133 properties on behalf of the civil estate. These include offices, laboratories, farms, foot and mouth burial site and contaminated land.

Increasingly space in these properties is shared with Executive Agencies and NDPBs within the Defra network, as well as other government departments, their Executive Agencies and NDPBs, and commercial tenants.

Information regarding the Department’s Expenditure in relation to Estates Management can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449323/defra-annual-report-2014-2015-web.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2016 to Question 21765, on birds: census, when she plans to publish her Department’s internal allocations.

Rory Stewart

Defra’s Business Planning process is still underway. At this time it would not be appropriate to comment on how this translates into internal allocations for both the core Department and its Network Bodies.