Tag: Kerry McCarthy

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, what steps her Department plans to take to improve biosecurity on farms.

George Eustice

A joint government and industry bovine TB biosecurity campaign was launched in November 2015 and will run for 12 months. It aims to increase the number of farmers implementing TB biosecurity measures on their farms and whilst trading cattle. The biosecurity campaign already includes a TB Hub bringing together information, advice, guidance and research material on how to prevent TB through biosecurity and risk based trading, an information bTB website allowing farmers to view information on TB breakdowns in their area on an interactive map and a Five Point Plan setting out good practice for TB biosecurity. Several further steps in the biosecurity campaign are being launched throughout 2016.

More generally, on-farm biosecurity is part of a wider landscape of measures to provide effective protection from animal and plant disease. Defra’s wider activities on biosecurity contribute to improving the resilience of the system as a whole.

The Rural Development Programme animal health projects have a focus on tackling exemplar diseases in cattle, sheep and pigs sectors through improved farm disease risk management practices. It is intended that this will have a wider benefit in improving farm biosecurity practices.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions her Department has held with the cosmetics industry on the voluntary phasing out of micro-plastics in personal care and cosmetic products.

George Eustice

Defra has been working with other countries in the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) to secure the voluntary phasing out of micro-plastics in personal care and cosmetic products. As part of this, discussions have been held with the British Cosmetics Association, the European trade association Cosmetics Europe, and the British Plastics Federation. In response to these discussions, Cosmetics Europe has recommended that micro-beads should not be used in cosmetics. In addition, many UK cosmetics brands have publically committed to removing micro-beads from their products. Discussions between OSPAR and the industry to achieve the phase out are ongoing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will launch a consultation on proposals for a deposit return system for single use drinks containers.

Rory Stewart

Defra analysed the costs and benefits of implementing a deposit return system (DRS) for single use drink containers as part of the 2011 Review of Waste Policy in England, and sought views in the 2012 consultation on higher packaging recycling targets.

This work showed that introducing a DRS may increase recycling and reduce litter but might impose additional costs on businesses, consumers and local authorities (which would lose revenue from recycling). However, we lack evidence to quantify these benefits and costs appropriately. The current approach has driven a significant increase in packaging waste recycling rates, from less than 47% in 2003 to nearly 65% in 2013.

Last year, the Scottish Government published a feasibility study and a call for evidence investigating the implementation of a DRS for single use drink containers in Scotland. This valuable work highlighted significant uncertainties regarding the impacts and benefits that a DRS would have, notably regarding costs, environmental quality and littering, and existing waste collection systems. The Scottish Government is doing further work on the topic and we will review any new evidence arising from this in due course. However, in the meantime, we will continue to focus on improving existing waste collection and recycling systems, and developing a new National Litter Strategy for England to help coordinate and maximise the impact of anti-litter activity by local government, industry and others.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding (a) her Department and (b) the Environment Agency provided for the Climate Ready Support Service in 2015-16; and what assessment her Department has made of the performance of that Service in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Rory Stewart

Funding provided for the Climate Ready Support Service in 2015-16 was around £1 million. The Climate Ready Support Service Programme Board had regular overview of the performance of the Service. The majority of National Adaptation Programme actions to which the Service was contributing have now been completed.

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, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of waste exported for recycling which is contaminated and is sent to landfill or incinerated.

Rory Stewart

We are not aware of any waste exported for recycling which has had to be landfilled or incinerated due to contamination.

There is a legitimate export market for quality recyclable material – but the law is clear that it is illegal to export waste from the UK for disposal.

The regulatory framework governing waste shipments provides a mechanism for facilitating the takeback of waste to the country of export in cases where it cannot be processed as intended or in the case of an illegal shipment.

The UK environment agencies have adopted an intelligence-led approach to identify and disrupt the movement of waste intended for illegal export. Defra has been working with the agencies to find ways of strengthening their enforcement activities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has amended its draft of the 25 year plan on food and farming as a result of the outcome of the EU referendum.

George Eustice

Following the result of the EU Referendum, we now have an opportunity to consider our long term vision for food and farming outside of the EU.

It remains essential that the UK has a thriving food and farming industry with high animal welfare and environmental standards, access to international markets and a long term commitment to boosting productivity through innovation and skills. We are now focused on taking forward the actions that support these objectives, in order to develop our long term vision. To do this, we will continue to work with a wide range of interests to develop that vision, and to work together to deliver it.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many breaches of animal welfare regulations (a) in slaughterhouses and (b) during transportation his Department recorded in each of the last six years.

Nicola Blackwood

The new legislation Welfare at Time of Killing implemented in Wales in 2014 and in England in 2015 introduced new welfare reporting requirements. In addition, during 2015/16 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) introduced new animal welfare measures in slaughterhouses which included increased consistency of reporting of transport related breaches. Both these factors are likely to have contributed to the increased instances recorded in the previous two years.

The FSA does not record the numbers of individual animals which died as a result of transportation to slaughterhouses. The FSA records the number of instances that animals were found to be Dead on Arrival (DOA). The number of DOA instances for the last six years are set out in the following table:

2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
144	64	5	16	28	265

The FSA does not record the number of individual animals involved in a welfare breaches in slaughterhouses or during transportation. The FSA records the number of instances of breaches. The number of critical welfare breaches in slaughterhouses and transportation for the last six years are set out in the following tables:

Slaughterhouses

2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
158	132	65	113	217	234

Transportation

2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
394	342	308	535	1,488	2,097

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Government has spent in England on (a) cattle testing for TB, (b) compensation as a result of a test for bovine TB, (c) surveillance activity associated with bovine TB by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency and Animal Plant Health Agency, (d) Tuberculin supply and (e) research connected to bovine TB in each year since 2010-11; and what the total expenditure was on measures to prevent bovine TB in each such year.

George Eustice

The costs of TB testing are included in the overall sum delegated to the Animal and Plant Health Agency for the delivery of bovine TB controls in England which is given in the table below.

TB Expenditure	£/million	£/million	£/million	£/million
	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
APHA expenditure, including field operations and TB testing	64.1	67.1	58.3	67.9
APHA TB surveillance: laboratory and science costs	3.9	3.1	3.0	3.3
TB Cattle compensation (net of salvage receipts)	24.3	23.5	23.9	22.6
Cost of tuberculin purchase	2.2	2.6	2.8	2.5
TB R&D	6.9	7.9	8.0	8.9

Foot note: – This data was extracted from the Defra Oracle Financial system on 11 November 2015 and does not take account of EU receipts.

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 her policy is on proposals for an EU ban on the prophylactic treatment of groups of animals where no disease has been diagnosed in any of the animals as part of the review of the EU Veterinary Medicinal Products legislation.

George Eustice

The current compromise text of the proposal for an EU Regulation on the manufacture, placing on the market and use of medicated feed, states that “Medicated feed containing antibiotics shall not be used to prevent diseases in animals, or to enhance their performance.” However, a similar provision has not been included in the proposal for an EU Regulation on veterinary medicinal products.

The Government’s policy is that the administration of antibiotics in the absence of disease is not a responsible way to use antibiotics. In groups of animals where some are sick and others have not developed clinical signs, the veterinary surgeon has to be free to use their clinical judgement to prescribe antibiotics to ensure animal welfare. This policy is being put forward during the current negotiations.

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, what recent assessment her Department has made of the sensitivity of the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test for Bovine TB; and what steps her Department is taking to improve testing for TB.

George Eustice

The single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin (SICCT) commonly known as the ‘skin test’ is the legal standard approved in the EU legislation for the diagnosis of TB in live cattle in the UK. SICCT has a very high specificity giving on average only one false positive result for every 5,000 or 6,000 uninfected cattle tested, although it is only moderately sensitive (with about one in five to one in four infected cattle potentially missed by the test).

The skin test is a good herd screening test and it is supplemented by post-mortem meat inspection at commercial slaughter of cattle. When one or more infected animals are detected in a cattle herd, we apply a number of strategies to improve the overall sensitivity of TB testing until the infected herd regains officially TB free status. This includes testing the herd every 60 days, lowering the positive cut-off of the skin test (‘severe interpretation’) and supplementing the skin test with the more sensitive interferon-gamma blood test.

We have also increased the number of interferon-gamma blood tests carried out in conjunction with the SICCT to maximise the detection of infected cattle in TB breakdown herds. This number has more than quadrupled since 2009 to reach just over 74,000 blood tests in 2015. The use of this blood test to help remove infected animals from breakdown herds has been compulsory in the Low Risk Area of England since 2006 and in the whole of the Edge Area since January 2014.

My department plans to launch a public consultation that will set out proposals for enhancing the sensitivity of TB testing in TB breakdown herds.