Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of demand for additional support for the zoo and aquarium sector during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
From 12 April zoos have been able to welcome back visitors, reopening their outdoor areas as part of step two in the roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions. Our assessment was that zoos would need further support, which is why we extended the Zoo Animals Fund. We have extended the application deadline from 26 February 2021 to 28 May 2021 to give zoos more time to apply and have extended the support provided from the end of March 2021 to the end of June 2021. The fund has been a lifeline for many zoos and small, medium and large zoos have been able to secure funding to help them through this difficult time. Fund recipients have reached out to express how funding has supported their animals and what a difference it has made to them to receive this help.
Under both zoo support schemes we have so far awarded over £10 million to 56 zoos, wildlife parks and aquariums to care for their animals and we are currently processing further applications. This money has provided for animal care costs and essential maintenance costs for those zoos experiencing severe financial difficulties due to covid-19. Under the Zoo Animals Fund only two applications have been rejected on the basis that the businesses in question were ineligible as they did not have the necessary licence or exemption. We encourage zoos in need to apply to the Fund and we will continue to work closely with the sector on reopening guidance to ensure that zoos and aquariums are able to welcome visitors safely.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to (a) encourage supermarkets to prioritise shielding customers and (b) discourage increases in costs of at-home deliveries.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
(a) Defra is continuing to work closely with supermarkets to provide clinically extremely vulnerable individuals in England with priority access to supermarket delivery slots. When the tiered system was in operation, any clinically extremely vulnerable person living in a Tier Three or Tier Four local area who did not already have priority access to delivery slots was still able to register for this support through the GOV.UK website: www.gov.uk/coronavirus-shielding-support.
During the third lockdown, all clinically extremely vulnerable people are able to register for priority access to delivery slots with seven supermarkets: Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose. All clinically extremely vulnerable individuals who have registered through GOV.UK will retain their priority access to delivery slots until at least March 2021.
(b) Defra is continuing to hold regular conversations with each of the seven supermarkets participating in the priority access to online deliveries offer: Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. The department uses these meetings as an opportunity to convey any concerns raised by charities or local authorities around topics such as delivery charges. Although Defra cannot legally dictate the delivery costs charged by supermarkets, our regular conversations ensure that supermarkets understand the impact that delivery charges can have in preventing a clinically extremely vulnerable person from being able to access food.
Alongside encouraging supermarkets to consider the impact delivery charges can have on vulnerable people, the department also monitors delivery charges and circulates this information to local authorities to allow them to advise their residents accordingly.