Tag: Laurence Robertson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of banning raised laying cages for breeding pheasants and partridges; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

Recent Defra funded research into the use of cages for gamebirds showed that enrichment and space allowance, in the forms provided, had little impact on the welfare of caged pheasants. However, egg production and quality and most measures of pheasant welfare were improved in cages compared to floor pens. For the partridges, the behavioural results indicated that enrichment might be positive for welfare and was probably a more valuable modification than increasing the size of an otherwise barren cage. However, the research also concluded that there might be penalties from parasitism and reduced egg production if enrichment is offered at a conventional space allowance. The published research can be found:

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=17541&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=aw1303&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description

We intend to discuss the findings of the research with industry and welfare organisations as part of next year’s review of the “Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes”.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the roll-out of the Liaison and Diversion services schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

Liaison and Diversion (L&D) services operate by referring offenders who are identified as having mental health issues, learning disabilities, substance misuse and other vulnerabilities such as homelessness, into appropriate treatment and support services. L&D services also share appropriate information with justice agencies to assist with justice decisions.

NHS England commissions L&D services and since April 2015 services have been available to over 50% of the English population. The Department of Health commissioned RAND Europe to conduct an independent evaluation of L&D services. This evaluation will form part of the Full Business Case for national roll out of L&D services, to be submitted to HM Treasury in autumn 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the sugar content of carbonated drinks; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

We have accepted the recommendations from experts earlier this year that we should halve our daily intake of sugar and we will put forward our plans for action in this area in our childhood obesity strategy in the coming months.

Measures by industry to reduce calories including sugar are also important components in any approach to reduce obesity. Some parts of industry have already taken a range of actions to reduce sugar in their soft drinks, but the challenge to make further progress remains.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the PCR test for tuberculosis; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

Defra recently funded a comparative study of several potential tests, including the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, for detecting Mycobacterium bovis in badger faeces. None of the tests met the minimum levels of sensitivity and specificity. Defra is considering if there are any situations where the current tests can be used informatively on a large scale. PCR is also used to enhance detection of M.bovis in bacterial culture and the EU Reference Laboratory for bovine tuberculosis has also assessed the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. (https://www.visavet.es/bovinetuberculosis/ring-trials.php).

Defra continues to review evidence of effectiveness of the potential diagnostic application of PCR in other situations.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the incidence of bovine TB on farms situated in trial badger cull areas.

George Eustice

On 28 August 2015, the Animal and Plant Health Agency published a report of the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in 2013-14 in the areas of Somerset and Gloucestershire exposed to the first year of industry-led badger culling. The report is annexed to the Bovine TB Surveillance Report for England 2014, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/bovine-tb-surveillance-in-great-britain-2014.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the announced reductions in feed-in tariff support will apply to existing contracts or new ones; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

Any changes which we make to the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme as a result of the FIT review, which is currently open for consultation until 23^rd October, will only apply to new applicants entering the scheme after the necessary legislation to effect the changes has passed through Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce interim payments in cases in which there are delays in making payments under the Basic Payments Scheme.

George Eustice

The Rural Payments Agency remains on track to meet their public payment commitments. Full payments on the majority of Basic Payment Scheme 2015 claims will be made from December, within the payment window that runs between December and June. As such interim payments are not being considered.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the level of complexity of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme; if she will take steps to simplify that scheme; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

Countryside Stewardship has introduced significant rationalisation with regard to its predecessors; integrating three legacy schemes into one. At the same time the number of environmental management options available has been reduced by 70% and the number of capital items by 20%.

Most of the elements in Countryside Stewardship (higher tier; woodland and water capital grants) remain largely analogous to their predecessor schemes. However, the application process has been inevitably more complex than intended given the need for a paper based application system this year.

The stricter EU control rules have resulted in greater reliance on record keeping and other documentary evidence to demonstrate compliance but we have already published guidance on the controls applicable to the scheme in order to clarify the requirements.

We will evaluate this first year of the scheme and simplify it wherever possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the results of the EU’s recent tests on the likely harmful effects to bees of the use of neonicotinoids; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

The EU itself does not carry out tests on the effects on bees from the use of neonicotinoid insecticides.It makes decisions on the regulation of neonicotinoids and other pesticides on the basis of scientific information provided by companies working to agreed standards and published scientific studies.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published scientific opinions on the risks from uses of these pesticides following mandates from the European Commission. EFSA also recently held a consultation calling for data on this matter as the first step in an EU review of controls on these insecticides.The UK is contributing fully to this review.

EFSA documents are published on its website (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/).

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the level of take-up of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme is; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

The application window for the Mid-Tier closed on 30 September. 2,314 agreement applications were received. 1,025 expressions of interest for the Higher Tier have also been received, together with 257 applications for forestry agreements. The level of interest is in line with our expectation.

Natural England and the Forestry Commission are now working to assess these to offer agreements to those applicants who have submitted high quality plans that will do most to improve our water quality and the farmed environment

Some elements of the scheme have been available earlier in 2015. 1,798 applications were received for 2015 water capital grants, of which 1,458 have been awarded. We also received 743 applications for woodland creation during a fixed application period and for tree health and woodland management plans, which continue to be applied for year round. To date, 288 agreements have been awarded.