Tag: Sue Hayman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to set out a timetable for the review of the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

Anna Soubry

The Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013 requires the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to review the performance of the GCA every three years. The first review will cover the period up to 31 March 2016 and we will shortly be launching a public consultation as part of this.

The full details of the review, including the terms of reference and timings, are still under consideration. We will announce all of this shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to allow local authorities to retain business rates generated by new-build nuclear power stations.

Mr Marcus Jones

Local authorities in England already retain 50% of the busines rates generated by nuclear power stations. In October, we announced that by the end of this Parliament, local govenrment would be allowed to keep 100% of their local business rates. We will be developing the details of the new scheme over the coming months in discussion with local government and other interested parties.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect on farmers of late payments under the Basic Payment Scheme by the Rural Payments Agency.

George Eustice

We understand the importance of the Basic Payment Scheme payments to farmers. As of 21 April the Rural Payments Agency had completed the processing of 77,840 claims for 2015. Although the payment window runs from 1 December 2015 to the 30 June 2016, the Agency has announced that those customers who won’t receive a claim payment in April 2016 will be provided a bridging payment. Bridging payments will be made by the end of April.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of mineral rights on mortgage lending.

Harriett Baldwin

The Government has made no assessment of the effect of mineral rights on mortgage lending.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his oral evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Secondary Legislation Scrutiny on 19 January 2016, Question 7, under what circumstances government departments are permitted not to publish equality analyses which are referred to in government consultation documents.

Mr Oliver Letwin

The Public Sector Equality Duty requires Departments to pay due regard to equality aspects of decisions. It is up to each Department to decide whether to publish their analysis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much funding the Government has allocated to the continued assessment of options for plutonium management in the financial years (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19.

Andrea Leadsom

In Spending Review 2015, the Government committed £11bn net funding to NDA over five years (in addition to its forecast commercial income). Government is satisfied with the provision made in the NDA’s budget to continue to make meaningful progress on the plutonium disposition programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Rural Payments Agency learns the lessons of the introduction of the Basic Payment Scheme.

George Eustice

The Rural Payments Agency has learnt a number of lessons following the introduction of the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015, in particular, allowing farmers and their agents the opportunity to apply online and on paper for 2016. In addition the online application process has been simplified for 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department plans to begin a procurement process for a technology to reuse plutonium stored at Sellafield before 2020.

Andrea Leadsom

Safely and securely managing plutonium remains a government priority. My Department is working across government, with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and industry to develop a solution.

NDA submitted advice to support DECC in its considerations on the policy options for separated plutonium held in the UK, in December 2015. The report gives a view on the balance of attractiveness and risk of each reuse option (reuse as MOX and assessment of the credible alternatives PRISM and Candu); as well as immobilisation and continued storage. This, together with other sources of information and evidence, is informing DECC’s consideration of the options for the way forward.

Only when Government is confident that an option could be implemented safely and securely, in way that is affordable, deliverable, and offers value for money, will it be in a position to proceed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Rural Payments Agency will maintain the current level of resources until the 2016 applications are logged and the issues with the 2015 applications are resolved; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice

We understand the importance of Basic Payment Scheme payments to farmers and Defra has ensured that the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has all the resources it needs to complete claims processing for 2015 and to help farmers and agents to submit their 2016 applications as promptly as possible.

For 2016, applications are coming in with nearly 40,000 received either online or by paper. RPA has 14 support centres and a helpline to provide assistance to help farmers to claim.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dairy farmers have gone out of business in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

The table below shows the net change in the number of dairy farms. Data is only available on the total number of dairy farms in June and December of each year, so the table only shows the net change, rather than the number entering and the number leaving dairy farming. The latest data available on the number of dairy farms in England is for June 2015. This is shown below with data for the previous 5 years. The change in the number of farms includes new holdings which have been registered with dairy cattle, holdings that have ceased to have cattle and holdings that have merged.

The number of dairy cows on these dairy farms is also shown below. This shows that despite a 16% decrease in the overall number of dairy farms between June 2010 and June 2015, the number of dairy cows has remained almost unchanged, suggesting consolidation within the industry.

Date	Number of dairy farms(a)	Number of cows in the dairy herd(b)
Jun-2010	9 461	1 142 497
Dec-2010	9 287	1 147 450
Jun-2011	9 041	1 112 459
Dec-2011	8 823	1 105 290
Jun-2012	8 663	1 104 676
Dec-2012	8 503	1 107 045
Jun-2013	8 342	1 098 610
Dec-2013	8 197	1 124 368
Jun-2014	8 092	1 128 548
Dec-2014	8 051	1 150 007
Jun-2015	7 982	1 148 089
% change Jun15/Jun10	-16%	0.5%

(a) Sourced from Cattle Tracing System. Dairy farms are defined as the number of holdings with more than 10 cows in the dairy herd.

(b) Cows in the dairy herd are defined as female dairy cows over 2 years old in the milking herd (i.e. with offspring).

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