Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what laboratory capacity his Department and it's Agencies have provided to NHS Test and Trace.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra’s agencies have significant laboratory capacity and expertise that have been repurposed and provided to NHS Test and Trace.
Defra’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) temporarily supplied staff and equipment to the Lighthouse laboratories and has a contract with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to test up to 2000 samples per day. APHA also has a contractually based involvement in a research project called Safe & Certain (DHSC-funded project), coordinated by University of Southampton, which involves direct testing on saliva samples. APHA participated in Phase 1 of the project (July/August 2020) and is now embarking on Phase 2 involving testing of up to 60,000 samples over the next month.
The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Science (Cefas) provided four key pieces of Polymerase Chain Reaction testing equipment to the UK’s mass diagnostics facility in Northern Ireland, and personal protective equipment to NHS facilities in the Dorset region. Cefas has registered details of its remaining capacity through DHSC’s online portal.
The Environment Agency has been working with core Defra and the Joint Biosecurity Centre to trial the use of waste water testing for Covid-19 RNA, to help identify increases in Covid-19 prevalence at population level and help target testing capacity.
Fera Science Ltd provided critical testing equipment to the Lighthouse laboratory in Glasgow.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the value was of imported chicken to the UK in 2019; and what the top five countries were for imported chicken to this country in that year.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
According to the latest HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics, UK imports of chicken in 2019 were worth £1.1 billion.
The top five countries importing chicken into the UK in 2019 were as follows:
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of level of risk of a hose-pipe ban in summer 2020; and what his policy is on new reservoir provision.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Government has a range of policies in place to mitigate the impacts of drought:
The Government is committed to a ‘twin track approach’ of managing water demand, including leakage reduction, and increasing supply, including the development of reservoirs.
Water companies have the statutory duty to develop and maintain efficient and economical systems of water service provision which will provide security of supply for customers. Statutory water resources management plans show how companies will meet this duty and manage water supply and demand for at least the next 25 years.
The National Framework for water resources brings together industry, regulators and Government to improve water company planning of water supplies. This includes investigating and developing new supplies such as reservoirs, supported by a £469 million fund for the development of strategic supplies.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is his Department is taking with its international counterparts to prevent over-fishing in the world's oceans by distant water fishing fleets.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
The UK is taking firm action on this issue alongside our international counterparts across a wide range of fronts. These include, but are not limited to, playing a leading role in the global fight to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and engaging proactively in the work of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations to ensure more sustainable management of high seas fisheries. We are also advocating for the elimination of incentives and subsidies for fisheries that are detrimental to the conservation of marine biodiversity in the current negotiations at the World Trade Organisation and in the context of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's Food is GREAT campaign, what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues on ensuring that (a) Government departments and (b) other public bodies prioritise British produce in their purchases.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra is having conversations across Government with regard to food procurement policy, and how we can highlight the importance of buying domestic food. We will build on this engagement and review how the public sector, including hospitals, schools and prisons, can benefit from sourcing British produce. At the end of the Transition Period, there will be further scope to prioritise British produce in the public sector.
The UK's growing reputation for quality food and drink, with high standards of food safety, animal welfare and sustainability is an excellent platform to increase demand for our products still further. Defra's Food is GREAT campaign leverages this growing reputation and helps businesses to succeed in overseas markets by ensuring global recognition of UK excellence in food and drink, whilst encouraging our food and drink companies to export more.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the English Tree Strategy consultation, what discussions officials in his Department have had with officials from the Department of Transport on trees along railway lines.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra has been working closely with other departments, including the Department for Transport (DfT), to develop the England Tree Strategy consultation.
The consultation will consider the role that all trees and woodland can play in delivering the 25 Year Environment Plan. In this way it echoes and aligns with DfT’s work to establish a clear position with Network Rail on the role of rail infrastructure in supporting the delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan. Network Rail is responsible for 20,000km of track and around 6.3 million trees with the potential to support biodiversity around the country. DfT has therefore asked Network Rail to achieve no net loss in biodiversity on its existing lineside estate by 2024 and to achieve biodiversity net gain on each route by 2040.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, what steps his Department is taking to enable the early resumption of angling.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Every citizen must stay alert to protect the NHS and save lives. From Wednesday 13 May, angling can resume in England, as long as participants are with their household or on their own and follow social distancing guidance.