Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff were employed in his Department on (a) 20 December 2018 and (b) 23 June 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
The total number of staff employed by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 31 May 2016, 30 June 2016 and 30 November 2018 are shown below;
Month/Year | Headcount |
31 May 2016 | 1,693 |
30 June 2016 | 1,693 |
30 November 2018 | 4,168 |
Staff in Post Data is only run as at the end of each month in order to provide information for published statutory returns. The data provided is in line with the figures published at Data.gov.uk - https://data.gov.uk/dataset/workforce-management-information-defra.
Along with other public sector employers, the department provides data to the Office of National statistics for the “Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey”. The most recent publication was 11 December showing data as at the end of September 2018 and can be found here - https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2018 .
ONS data for earlier reference dates can be found here – https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/previousReleases
The Staff in Post data has to go through a lengthy resource intensive verification process to eliminate a high proportion of errors. To provide data as at 20 December would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of staff in his Department in receipt of universal credit; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra does not record or collate information on staff in receipt of universal credit.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the preparedness is of the Animal and Plant Health Agency to react to and control a potential future animal health outbreak similar in scale to the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001.
Answered by George Eustice
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), compiles the UK contingency plan for exotic notifiable disease that sits above plans designed by Defra and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Governments.
These are key documents that describe the strategic, tactical and operational responses required to any incursion of exotic notifiable disease, such as foot and mouth disease. These plans are complemented by specific GB disease control strategies and APHA work with the Government Departments in each administration to produce the necessary operational instructions.
To ensure the plans and instructions are fit for purpose, the UK runs a national animal disease exercise roughly every other year on various exotic diseases and we regularly include foot and mouth disease in those exercises.
The next national exercise will be in June 2018 and will be based on a foot and mouth disease scenario.
APHA also create and manage an annual programme of regional or country exercises designed to identify best practice and any gaps in existing plans or procedures. They also run table-top exercises for APHA’s policy customers to identify issues that may arise from new and emerging threats such as African Horse Sickness.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with representatives of (a) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (b) the Confederation of British Industry, (c) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (d) the Adam Smith Institute, (e) the Freedom Association, (f) the Politics and Economic Research Trust and (g) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.
Answered by George Eustice
Details of Ministers' meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-quarterly-transparency-information-january-to-march-2015
Further publications of Ministerial meetings will be published in due course