Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 her Department taking to inform domestic owners of bird flocks of compliance with any new Housing Orders to stop the spread of Avian Flu.
Answered by Mark Spencer
To assist all bird keepers in instigating and maintaining good biosecurity including compliance with the mandatory Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) housing measures currently in force in England Defra have published biosecurity guidance available at Bird flu (avian influenza): how to prevent it and stop it spreading - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Bird flu (avian influenza): housing your birds safely - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Defra and its delivery agency for disease control the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) utilise a range of communication channels to reach and inform domestic owners of bird flocks of this guidance and the latest situation and disease control measures, including, the use of social media, posters, radio adverts, podcasts, and video content. In addition to text and emails email alerts for those on the poultry register and those who have signed up to APHA disease alert subscription service.
Defra also issue national, local and trade press releases to make sure the latest information is communicated through the media. In addition to this we keen a rolling gov.uk news story with live updates as new advice and cases emerge. During the avian influenza outbreak the UK Chief Veterinary Officer has regularly been interviewed about the avian influenza situation and advice by journalists from multiple national news outlets. Defra spokespeople have also undertaken interviews with regional television and radio broadcasters from a range of channels across the country to raise awareness of the disease control measures that are in force.
Defra regularly meets with representatives of the Local Authority National Animal Health and Welfare Panel to review and refine the approach to guidance and the enforcement of disease prevention and controls. Government is also working closely with key stakeholders including commercial, small scale, pet and specialist bird keepers, together with ornithological, veterinary, wildlife rehabilitation sector representatives, to communicate developments and reiterate the importance of biosecurity.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to monitor compliance of any new Housing Orders for bird flocks belonging to domestic owners to stop the spread of Avian Flu.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Avian influenza disease prevention and controls, including the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone mandatory housing measures, are enforced by local authorities. They take a proportionate approach to non-compliance. We are in regular contact with local authorities and details of compliance and enforcement are shared with Defra by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Regulatory Affairs and Intelligence team. APHA chairs regular outbreak enforcement meetings which are attended by representatives from local authority Trading Standards teams from across Great Britain together with policy representatives from Defra, the Welsh Government and the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of her Department’s long-term financial support for the Great North Bog Project.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMS) already pay for actions related to upland peat and moorlands, and we plan to extend the current offer including for new actions for restoring degraded peatland and maintaining restored peatland. The Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme – of which the Great North Bog is a recipient – has provided useful learning to inform ELMS, including for Landscape Recovery, which supports landscape-scale projects such as this.
As ELMS will provide the main delivery mechanism for peatland restoration from 2025, we are working with our peatland restoration delivery partners to enable a smooth transition for these partners whose work is invaluable in meeting our ambitious peatland restoration targets.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of effectiveness of the regulation of water companies.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government and regulators continue to work together to hold water companies to account and we plan to strengthen regulations further, including consulting on making it easier for the Environment Agency to issue fines.
Since 2015, the Environment Agency has brought 56 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of almost £141 million.
In November Defra and HM Treasury announced that future fines handed out to water companies will be channelled into work to improve water quality.
The Government believes in effective economic and environmental regulation of water companies. Privatisation has unlocked around £170 billion of investment to improve water services and the environment.
But where companies fail to meet their obligations, regulators have not hesitated to take action, including criminal prosecutions.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the potential cost of soil degradation to the economy.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government is not currently considering conducting any such estimate. An academic paper in 2015 using data from 2010 estimated the quantifiable costs for soil degradation in England and Wales to be between £0.9 bn and £1.4 bn per year (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915003171).
This Government recognises that healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable farming and underpin a range of environmental benefits, as well as production.
To that end, we are focusing on soil in two of the first standards that have been rolled out under the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme in 2022 – the Improved Grassland Soils and Arable and Horticultural Soils standards.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of progress towards all soil in England being managed sustainably by 2030, as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
'Healthy soil' is included as one of the 66 indicators in the Outcome Indicator Framework of the 25 Year Environment Plan. These indicators are used to track environmental change that relates to the 10 goals. A Healthy Soil Indicator (E7) is currently being developed and a progress report for the 25 Year Environment Plan was published in July 2022 here.
We are developing a range of soil health monitoring measures to create a robust baseline from which we can monitor improvements in soil health considering the physical, chemical, and biological aspects of soil. This is aided by substantial new government investment in the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Programme, which will yield valuable new data to aid improved understanding of national soil condition.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with (a) ministerial colleagues in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, (b) the Cabinet Office, and (c) leaders in local government on improving flood risk awareness.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of subjects, including flood risk. Discussions among Cabinet colleagues are considered confidential.
The Environment Agency (EA) launched its annual Flood Action Campaign on 7 November, to encourage people to prepare in advance for flooding. This campaign promoted awareness of flood risk this winter, the actions people can take to prepare and government investment in flood resilience. In excess of 100 partners supported the week which generated over 130 pieces of coverage in print, online and broadcast across national and regional media. EA and Defra social media posts received 1.8m impressions and 5.2k engagements. Year on year, page views of the ‘how to plan ahead for flooding’ page during Flood Action Week increased by 33%.
This autumn the EA also held winter readiness briefings and workshops with rural stakeholders, supported by the Met Office and the Flood Forecasting Centre, to communicate the range of services available to help prepare for possible flooding in rural locations this winter.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of progress towards all soil in England being managed sustainably by 2030, as set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
'Healthy soil' is included as one of the 66 indicators in the Outcome Indicator Framework of the 25 Year Environment Plan. These indicators are used to track environmental change that relates to the 10 goals. A Healthy Soil Indicator (E7) is currently being developed and a progress report for the 25 Year Environment Plan was published in July 2022 [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan-progress-reports].
We are developing a range of soil health monitoring measures to create a robust baseline from which we can monitor improvements in soil health considering the physical, chemical and biological aspects of soil. This is aided by substantial new government investment in the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Programme, which will yield valuable new data to aid improved understanding of national soil condition.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the rate of Basic Payments to upland farmers on those farmers' businesses.
Answered by Mark Spencer
In October 2021, the Government published the Agriculture in the UK Evidence Pack. This publication included static analysis showing the profitability of farms in the absence of Direct Payments for the years immediately prior to the start of the agricultural transition. In 2019 the Government published the farming evidence compendium. This publication provided an in-depth assessment of the impacts of removing Direct Payments with analysis by sector, location in England and type of land tenure. This publication also provided analysis on how farm businesses, across all sectors, can offset the impact of Direct Payments.
We are helping farmers, including those in the uplands, to navigate the agricultural transition. For example, we are now paying Direct Payments in two instalments each year for the remainder of the agricultural transition period, to help farmers with their cashflow, giving farm businesses an advance injection of cash. It will not affect farm profitability, but we are hoping it will help farmers to make business decisions with more confidence.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the value of upland farming to (a) sustainability goals and (b) the economy.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The uplands contain some of the most beautiful and diverse wildlife in the England and upland farmers play a vital role as stewards of the countryside, providing many environmental benefits and ecosystem services, including clean air and water, carbon sequestration, water quality and flood risk management – whilst helping to maintain our most iconic landscapes.