Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times zoos have been closed by local authorities in the last 20 years; and for what reasons those zoos were closed.
Answered by George Eustice
This information, on closures, would be held by local authorities and not collected centrally. Under the Zoo Licensing Act 1981, there is no requirement for local authorities to report the closure of a zoo of any size to the Department.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - 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 recent representations her Department has received from local authorities on the effectiveness and scope of current zoo regulations.
Answered by George Eustice
The Zoos Expert Committee (ZEC) provides independent, technical advice to the UK Governments on zoo matters. The ZEC keeps the operation and implementation of the zoo licensing system in the UK under review and advises Defra and devolved governments of any legislative or administrative changes that may be required. Membership of the ZEC includes representatives of local authorities who provide ongoing advice on the operation of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. The ZEC will also, if necessary, seek and receive representations from any local authority with knowledge of enforcing the zoo licensing system. Defra commissioned a study in 2010 to review the effectiveness of local authorities’ implementation of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. The report was published in 2011 and found no strong evidence of a need for legislative change.
Following the recent case in Cumbria, Lord Gardiner will be discussing, with ZEC, whether any further steps need to be taken to ensure animal welfare.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department last conducted a review of the framework for the statutory regulation of zoos.
Answered by George Eustice
The Zoos Expert Committee (ZEC) provides independent, technical advice to the UK Governments on zoo matters. The ZEC keeps the operation and implementation of the zoo licensing system in the UK under review and advises Defra and devolved governments of any legislative or administrative changes that may be required. Membership of the ZEC includes representatives of local authorities who provide ongoing advice on the operation of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. The ZEC will also, if necessary, seek and receive representations from any local authority with knowledge of enforcing the zoo licensing system. Defra commissioned a study in 2010 to review the effectiveness of local authorities’ implementation of the Zoo Licensing Act 1981. The report was published in 2011 and found no strong evidence of a need for legislative change.
Following the recent case in Cumbria, Lord Gardiner will be discussing, with ZEC, whether any further steps need to be taken to ensure animal welfare.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions her Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided today by my Rt. Hon. friend the Member for Horsham to PQs UIN 213043 and 213053.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on how many occasions her Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The core department has made 219 appointments by exception to the Civil Service Recruitment Principles for the period 1 April 2010- 31 March 2014.
This covers 66 temporary appointments, 18 secondments, 25 transfers of staff from other public bodies, 103 transferred as a consequence of TUPE and 7 conversions to permanency.
The cost of identifying each individual appointed would be disproportionate and names cannot be provided as to do so would not be fair processing of personal data.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to her Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Department does not have or operate an Instant Rewards policy.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
iPhones are not approved devices for use in Core Defra. The Department has therefore incurred no spend.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Department does not hold the information requested. Legal expenditure is not broken down in this way.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
This information is included in Freedom of Information statistics published on the Internet:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics#2014
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department spent on legal fees in cases relating to the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Department does not hold the information requested.