Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 safeguard agricultural jobs after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 prevent domestic animals being harmed and exploited in circuses.
Answered by David Rutley
The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 regulations) came into force on 1 October 2018. The regulations require anyone in England who is in the business of keeping or training animals (regardless of whether they are domestic or wild kept animals) for exhibition, educational or entertainment purposes, including within a circus, to be licensed by the relevant local authority.
The regulations include powers for local authorities to inspect the premises where the animals are kept to ensure minimum welfare standards are being maintained. In addition, all kept animals including those in a circus are protected by the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. If anyone considers that an animal in a circus is suffering or its welfare is being compromised then they should report it to the local authority who have powers under the 2006 Act to investigate, or to the RSPCA who will also investigate such matters.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 prevent people giving away dogs online to tackle the dog fighting industry.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government abhors the mistreatment of animals, including organised dog fighting. It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to be involved in or to promote animal fighting including dog fighting. The Government has announced it will increase the maximum custodial penalty for animal cruelty, including animal fighting, from six months to five years’ imprisonment and legislation will be introduced as soon as possible.
In relation to online advertising of pets and other animals, the Government has worked with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG - a group of animal welfare, veterinary and animal keeping interests) who promote the responsible advertising of pet animals. Five online animal adverting platforms have adopted PAAG’s minimum standards for advertising animals which are endorsed by the Government. The minimum standards include that the websites run automated checks for key words and terms such as banned dog breeds, and filter for misleading or inappropriate adverts which are then removed. The websites must exclude any advert where there is a reasonable concern for the health and welfare of the animal involved and provide a clearly visible function for purchasers to report illegal or inappropriate adverts. The Government will continue to work with PAAG to encourage more online advertising platforms to sign up to PAAG’s minimum standards.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were microchipped in 2018.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government estimates, from figures provided by the relevant microchip databases, that around 8.1 million dogs in the UK were microchipped in 2018. This represents around 90% of all dogs in the UK.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on tariffs for UK meat exports.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Under the deal negotiated between the UK and the EU, there would be no tariffs or quotas on UK exports of meat to the EU, either during the implementation period or in the context of the future economic partnership to be negotiated.
By contrast, we expect that the EU’s most favoured nation (MFN) tariff regime would apply to UK exports in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, and there is no indication that the EU would modify its tariff regime as a result of our departure.
As the Secretary of State said at the NFU conference in January, nobody can be blithe or blasé about the real impact on food producers of leaving without a deal.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with farmers on water pollution from fertilisers.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Policy relating to water pollution from agricultural activity is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
The Secretary of State meets farmers regularly to discuss a variety of important issues, including water pollution caused by agriculture.
Defra has recently run several public consultations relevant to water pollution from agriculture, including from fertiliser use. Farmers have been invited to contribute to the Dame Glenys Stacy review of farm inspections and the Clean Air Strategy. Farmers will also play a crucial part in delivering the next River Basin Management Plans and will be engaged throughout the process.
The Secretary of State will continue to meet farming and agricultural representatives to discuss the future role they can play in protecting the water environment.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 help support the profitability of sheep farming.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government remains committed to a successful and resilient sheep sector and is confident of the sector’s ability to thrive outside of the EU.
We are confident that the measures contained within the Agriculture Bill will enable the sheep industry and other farming sectors to improve their productivity and competitiveness, while also improving our environment.
As any responsible Government would, we are preparing for the possibility of no deal, which is why we have contingency plans in place to minimise disruption for the sheep sector as much as possible in that eventuality.