Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they plan to give to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to help it to address any deficit arising as a result of the restrictions put in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra has regular meetings with Kew Gardens about the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak. There are significant impacts on Kew’s operations and finances, mainly as a result of having to close the Kew and Wakehurst Place sites to the public for a period during lockdown, and a staggered return to full operations is anticipated through 2020/21.
Kew has reopened to the public under a carefully planned approach and is now able to generate visitor income as a result, although at a significantly lower level than would normally be anticipated. The operational facilities are being kept under review with a view to maximising visitor access within social distancing guidelines.
Kew has taken financial mitigation measures to offset in part the loss of income, including reducing costs, postponing investment plans and use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Under optimistic scenario planning of steady growth in visitor numbers and associated income and no second lockdown or related restrictions, Kew’s in-year operating deficit would result in a 25% reduction in total income for 2020/21, which will be funded by Kew drawing down its unrestricted reserves.
We continue to work with Kew to monitor the situation and assess any future challenges.
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' budget, if any, originated from the Department for International Development.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
During the current spending review period, £5.159m of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget has been transferred from the Department for International Development.
This budget relates to the current financial year and is part of the Conflict, Stability & Security Fund (CSSF).
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' budget is spent on (1) family planning, (2) sexual and reproductive health and rights, and (3) population issues, in the developing world.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Responsibility for spending on family planning, sexual and reproductive health and rights and population issues in the developing world is outside of Defra’s remit. Defra has no projects that cover these topics and it is highly unlikely that any proportion of the budget is spent on them. Checking every transaction in a financial year would provide a definitive response but this could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisation is responsible for collecting air pollution data generated by monitoring in and around Heathrow airport.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Air quality monitoring data collected in and around Heathrow Airport is presented on the Heathrow AirWatch website which is funded via a joint working partnership consisting of Heathrow Airport Ltd, London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Hounslow, Slough and Spelthorne Borough Councils and British Airways. It is managed by the consultant Ricardo Energy and Environment.
Two local monitoring sites are included in the Government’s national monitoring network (the Automatic Urban and Rural Network). All national air quality monitoring data is available on the Government’s UK-Air website.
The two monitoring sites are London Hillingdon which is located in a suburban residential area approximately 30 metres from the M4 motorway and London Harlington which is located close to a minor road to the east of Harlington village.
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the purposes of the European Union Directive on the nitrogen content of manure used in agriculture.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
European Directive 91/676/EEC seeks to protect water from pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources. Some types of manure contain up to 30kg of nitrogen per tonne of manure. Nitrogen from manure can leach from soil in the form of nitrates and can pollute our water bodies, affecting the quality of our drinking water. Agriculture accounts for 50-60% of nitrate pollution in our waters. We therefore believe that it is important that it is controlled and that the objective of the European Directive in restricting the land application of manure is sound. However, we recognise that such restrictions can affect farm productivity and competitiveness. While the Directive gives a steer to Member States over the types of measure to be adopted, it does allow a certain amount of discretion over the exact nature of the rules. We have therefore adopted rules that take account of agricultural practices in this country and are as cost effective as possible, supporting agriculture as well as protecting the environment. In the longer term, we believe nitrate pollution would be better managed through the more integrated approach to water pollution adopted in the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC).
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that the ritual manner of slaughtering animals for kosher and halal meat is in accordance with European Union regulations on animal welfare; and if not, what action they are taking.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009, on the protection of animals at the time of killing, permits the slaughter of animals in accordance with religious rites. It also contains strict requirements that need to be observed when carrying out such slaughter and allows individual Member States to put in place additional, national rules that provide greater welfare protection. The UK has maintained its long-standing existing national rules on religious slaughter in addition to the European regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place between the relevant government departments concerning the recent cuts in scientific research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
Since April 2014 there have been no reductions in the baseline funding for science at RBG Kew.
RBG Kew has a well-deserved international reputation and is widely respected for its world-leading collections-based science. RBG Kew is developing a new science strategy to enhance its role further and the results of this should be publicly available in early 2015. The Board of Trustees will need to ensure any new approach is affordable within the RBG Kew budget. They will announce their proposals shortly.
The Government is involved in discussions with RBG Kew to ensure that any changes are affordable and RBG Kew’s scientific standing is maintained.