Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to prevent the potential extinction of red squirrels in the UK.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
This is devolved matter and the below information relates to England only.
The Government is committed to protecting and expanding red squirrel populations and tackling the threats that grey squirrels pose to them. The Forestry Commission works with Natural England and other conservation organisations and projects to help protect red squirrel enclaves and to allow the populations to expand.
The Forestry Commission also undertakes a number of actions to protect red squirrels from the impact of grey squirrels as outlined in the grey squirrel action plan for England. These actions include Countryside Stewardship funding for landowners who choose to help protect red squirrels within designated reserves.
Defra, in partnership with the United Kingdom Squirrel Accord, has also provided funding for work by the Animal and Plant Health Agency for the development of a fertility control method for grey squirrels. This research continues to show promise as one potentially effective and humane method to control grey squirrel numbers in the longer term.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
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 prospects of UK farmers as a result of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
As part of our preparations to leave the EU, we have carried out a rigorous programme of analytical work that has assessed the impact of various EU withdrawal scenarios on the UK farming sector.
Part of that programme has included modelling work co-funded between the four UK agricultural departments. In August 2017 FAPRI-UK published this analysis in the report “Impacts of Alternative post-brexit trade agreements on UK agriculture: sector analyses using the FAPRI-UK model”. It considers the impact of different trading scenarios on many farming commodity sectors. The full report is available on Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute website –
In addition, the Evidence and Analysis Paper, which accompanied the publication of the Agriculture Bill, provides analysis of the various ways farmers are likely to be affected by the movement from the area-based payments of the Common Agricultural Policy to being rewarded for the public goods they produce under Environmental Land Management (ELM). Further information can be found here –
This analysis only applies to England, as agricultural policy in the UK is devolved, and it is for each administration to decide its approach and what measures it should adopt according to its evaluation of the situation which pertains to its area. For details relating to the rest of the UK, please contact the relevant devolved administration.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons it was decided (a) to include razorbills and (b) not to include common guillemots as an additional feature of the Cumbria Coast Marine Conservation Zone in the Government's June 2018 consultation on sites proposed for designation in the third tranche of Marine Conservation Zones.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The inclusion in Marine Conservation Zones of highly mobile species, such as seabirds, is considered where it can be demonstrated that it would help meet the conservation objectives for that species. Numbers of razorbill at this site have shown a significant decline in recent years and their inclusion is therefore warranted. Numbers of common guillemot, by contrast, have more than doubled at this site over the same period and it was therefore decided that there was insufficient justification to include them as a feature in this Marine Conservation Zone. We look forward to receiving views on our proposals through the consultation, which will inform our final decisions.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Government has invested in Cumbria to reduce the risk of flooding downstream of reservoirs in each of the last five years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency has strategic oversight of all sources of flooding and coastal erosion, including reservoir flooding. The Environment Agency also has a regulatory role in managing flood risk with reservoirs and works to make sure reservoir owners effectively manage their own flood risk.
Where appropriate, reducing the risk of flooding downstream from reservoirs is integrated within flood risk management schemes. The Environment Agency does not collect separate financial information for measures to reduce this specific flood risk.
The Government is committed to reducing flood risk and has made the following capital investment to flood and coastal erosion risk management in Cumbria in each of the last five years:
2012/13 | £ 4.3 million |
2013/14 | £ 2.4 million |
2014/15 | £ 2.1 million |
2015/16 | £ 3.0 million |
2016/17 | £ 14.3 million |
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure that water companies invest in flood mitigation.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
On 13 September, the Government issued a strategic policy statement to Ofwat. This set out clear priorities for Ofwat to secure the water industry’s long-term resilience to flooding, drought, and other risks, and to protect vulnerable customers. The policy statement makes clear that we expect Ofwat to challenge companies to assess the resilience of their systems and infrastructure against flooding and take proportionate steps to improve resilience where required.
Asked by: Trudy Harrison (Conservative - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to provide adequate funding for flood defences in Keswick.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government has invested £5.7million to deliver a flood risk management scheme for Keswick, which was completed in 2011 and better protects at least 180 residential and commercial properties with a standard of protection of 1.33% chance of flooding occurring in any given year.
Following Storm Desmond in December 2015, the Environment Agency commissioned a £3 million appraisal to construct the necessary business cases to better manage flood risk in a number of communities throughout Cumbria, including Keswick.
The Environment Agency has developed an extensive list of options on how it could manage flood risk at a catchment scale. For the local communities to be more involved in decision-making, the Environment Agency has shared these options with all communities within the Derwent catchment. Shortlisted options are expected in autumn 2017 and will further support future funding applications for flood risk management in Keswick.
A bid for funding for Keswick has been submitted as part of the process to refresh the Government’s six year capital investment programme. The outcome of this bid will be confirmed to the North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFFC) in October 2017.
The Cumbria Flood Action Plan also sets out what the Environment Agency and partners are doing to reduce flood risks across Cumbria, based around river catchments, and incorporates actions from a range of partners in Keswick. As part of the plan, Cumbria County Council is to undertake works on a surface water scheme on Penrith Road by March 2020 and United Utilities are investigating how they can make changes to the way they operate the Thirlmere reservoir. The Environment Agency is facilitating discussions between United Utilities and Keswick Flood Action Group.