Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings (a) she and (b) Ministers of her Department have had with (i) arms manufacturers, (ii) tobacco manufacturers and (iii) representatives of the Israeli embassy since the period covered in the Cabinet Office's most recent ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings data release.
Answered by George Eustice
Departments publish details of Ministers meetings' with external organisations routinely on Gov.uk. Details of meetings held during the period October – December 2015 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
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 are employed in her Department's headquarter buildings.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
As at 30 September 2014, approximately 1,500 staff were employed by core Defra based in the London Nobel House complex.
This excludes Natural England employees and a number of staff on temporary contracts, loan or secondment from other bodies or employed through contracted out service agreements who are also based in this office complex.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many desks are in her Department's main building; how many such desks are (a) owned and (b) leased by her Department; and what the cost is per desk of leasing.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Core Defra has 1528 office desks in its main buildings at Nobel House and 9 Millbank, London, all of which are owned by the Department.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when funding decisions for the year beginning January 2015 for the North Pennines Dales LEADER will be announced.
Answered by George Eustice
The application window for LEADER bids closed on 5 September and assessments on the submissions received are being finalised. We hope to notify all applicants of the outcome by the end of November.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of 7 July 2014, Official Report, columns 127-31, on Common Agricultural Policy, where the 10 centres for digital assistance for farmers will be located.
Answered by George Eustice
There will be three trial Digital Support Centres (DSCs) for specific invited applicants to test the service which will be run over the summer. These will be based in Cumbria and in Devon. Further DSCs will become available in the autumn to support farmers across England as more farmers from other areas are invited to register. The RPA is working now to identify the most appropriate locations for the DSCs to support this staged roll out. This analysis will include likely demand alongside information we have on Broadband not-spots and areas where trusted intermediaries are operating. It is anticipated that there will be more than 10 DSCs available as demand grows.
Asked by: Helen Goodman (Labour - Bishop Auckland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he intends to reply to the letter of 3 June 2014 from the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland.
Answered by George Eustice
I replied to the hon. Member on 24 June 2014.