Asked by: Lord Mann (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 policies his Department has put in place (a) for the capture and relocation of feral cats, (b) to tackle the overpopulation of feral cats and (c) to reduce the spread of diseases by feral cats.
Answered by George Eustice
Significant animal welfare concerns have not been raised with the Government in relation to feral cats although other concerns may apply. The Government considers that local authorities are best placed to consider local issues relating to the capture and relocation of feral cats. The Government strongly advises all cat owners to microchip their cats so that if their cats become lost or displaced there will be a much better chance that they will be re-united and not join the feral population.
The Government recommends that owners should neuter their cats if they do not intend to breed from them, and ensure that they have appropriate inoculations as advised by a vet. These actions will help to reduce the chances of cats becoming stray and adding to the feral population, and should help reduce the spread of disease. In addition, some animal welfare charities run neutering schemes for feral cats to prevent their numbers increasing and spreading disease.
Asked by: Lord Mann (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 (a) names of and (b) amounts paid to the 200 highest-receiving recipients of Common Agricultural Policy basic payments were in 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
CAP payment data held for the 2016 European Commission financial year (16 October 2015 – 15 October 2016) is published on the UK CAP payments website.
The link is http://cap-payments.defra.gov.uk/Search.aspx.
Asked by: Lord Mann (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, how many foreign workers were brought into the UK to work on farms through Government-approved labour schemes in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017 to date.
Answered by George Eustice
The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) was established to bring foreign workers into the UK to work on farms. SAWS was closed in 2013 when transitional restrictions on nationals of Bulgaria and Romania were lifted, enabling free movement of all EU workers. There were no Government-approved labour schemes in the UK for farm workers in 2016 or in 2017.
Asked by: Lord Mann (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 the level of potential risk posed by granulated refrigerator foam on abandoned waste sites in the UK; and how many sites are affected by such potential risks.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Environment Agency recognises that polyurethane foam could cause a risk to health if it catches fire. That is why, in the Bassetlaw constituency, the Environment Agency, county and district councils have set funds aside and are making plans to remove this foam as soon as possible.
The Environment Agency is aware of two further sites where this material has been abandoned.