Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on the implementation of the Central Equine Database.
Answered by George Eustice
The Central Equine Database has been successfully tested with users. We will be piloting the database with Passport Issuing Organisations in March and expect it to be fully operational by summer 2017.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the tree-planting rates have been in England in each year since 2006.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Forestry Commission collect and publish National Statistics for England on the area, in hectares, of new woodland planting. It also estimates the number of trees planted, based on the average number of trees planted per hectare in the grant supported planting. In 2015-16 this average was 1,566 trees per hectare.
Table 1 below provides annual planting area published by the Forestry Commission since 2006 and its estimate of the number of trees planted.
In 2015-16 the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) supported 546 hectares of planting and it is estimated that 165 hectares of woodland was created, without RDPE support, bringing the total created during 2015-16 to 711 hectares.
In the period April 2016 to June 2016, a further 422 hectares of woodland was recorded as being planted with RDPE support.
The RDPE figures reflect the slow initial take up of Countryside Stewardship support for woodland planting. Planting is recorded at the time the grant is paid, which means that some planting will have taken place in the previous financial year to that in which it is recorded. Approximately 1,292,000 trees were planted in England with RDPE support since April 2015.
Table 1: New planting of woodland in England since 2005-06
Financial Year to 31st March | a) New planting by land area | b) Estimated number of trees |
| Thousand hectares | Million trees |
2005-06 | 3.7 | 4.1 |
2006-07 | 3.2 | 3.5 |
2007-08 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
2008-09 | 2.5 | 2.8 |
2009-10 | 2.3 | 2.5 |
2010-11 | 2.5 | 2.8 |
2011-12 | 2.7 | 3.0 |
2012-13 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
2013-14 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
2014-15 | 2.4 | 2.6 |
2015-16 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
Source: Forestry Statistics 2016 (Forestry Commission)
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the sustainability of the sea-bass population.
Answered by George Eustice
Bass continue to be a priority for the UK Government as we prepare for negotiations at EU level in December to agree further measures that will apply in 2017. Our approach will include consideration of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea scientific advice on bass for 2017 and will clearly recognise the continuing need to maintain strong action to help this stock recover.
The European Commission’s proposals, expected shortly, will help to inform our negotiating position. This will take into account the current and long term interests of the recreational and commercial fishing sectors in this important fish stock. We will be working with stakeholders, other Member States, and the European Commission in the coming weeks to inform the UK position.
At the domestic scale our review of bass measures is focusing principally on bass nursery areas. Where it is identified that action is required, this work will be further developed and, where national legislation may be required, will follow the usual legislative process. We will seek the views of key stakeholders on the way forward. Any proposed national legislation will be subject to public consultation involving stakeholders, other Government Departments and interested parties.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the likely rate of tree-planting in England in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The Forestry Commission has reported, as an Official Statistic, that 522 hectares of woodland, equivalent to 798,000 trees, was planted through Government-funded incentives to the end of June 2016. All agreements for schemes with planting planned for 2017 are currently being processed and have yet to be signed, meaning that no forecast of tree numbers can yet be provided. However, the Forestry Commission estimates that the likely rate of new woodland planting will increase in the remainder of 2016 and 2017.