Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
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 extent to which bovine TB is spread by dogs.
Answered by George Eustice
Evidence indicates that dogs play an insignificant role in the persistence and spread of bovine TB in Great Britain, including transmission of the disease to cattle herds.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the return to the UK taxpayer of each £1 invested in UK Farming.
Answered by George Eustice
UK taxpayers support the agricultural sector in variety of ways: through the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), spending on agricultural research and development, including the Agri-tech Strategy, and indirectly through wider programmes such as on skills development. The benefit of each pound spent on the Agri-tech Strategy was estimated to be £9 (BIS Evaluation Plan 2016)[1]. The estimated benefit, on average, for funds spent in England under Pillar 2 of the CAP is over £3 per pound spent according to the Rural Development Plan for England Impact Assessment 2015[2], but less than £1 per pound spent for Pillar 1 according to a report on implementation of CAP in England in 2013[3]. As a result of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union there is a real opportunity to improve returns to taxpayer support for agriculture.
[1] BIS Evaluation Plan 2016
[2] The Rural Development Programme for England, 2014 to 2020: Final Impact Assessment (2015)
[3] Implementation of CAP reform in England 2013
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) dogs, (b) cats and (c) ferrets were imported (i) non-commercially under the Pets Travel Scheme and (ii) commercially under the Trade in Animals and Related Products Regulations 2011 into the UK in 2016.
Answered by George Eustice
The commercial data was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) and the pet data was taken from APHA’s system for recording pets entering the UK, based on information provided by pet checkers.
In some cases imports are recorded on TRACES as “Canis familiaris / Felis catus”, so APHA are unable to distinguish between cat or dog imports. These are included on the table in row “Mixed cats/dogs”.
| Pets | Commercial |
Dogs | 275,876 | 34,017 |
Cats | 24,145 | 2,572 |
Ferrets | 129 | 0 |
Mixed cats/dogs | N/A | 327 |
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Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the details of the public consultation on the 25 Year Natural Environment Plan.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In line with its manifesto commitment, the Government is committed to improving the environment within a generation. We are developing a 25 Year Environment Plan to deliver this.
The first step towards developing the plan will be to publish soon a consultative document open to all to contribute either online or by mail. We will use the feedback from this to help develop the full plan itself next year.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to conduct further research on the value of trees to farm productivity.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra has conducted a review into the evidence base for agroforestry and how the agroforestry measure could operate within the Rural Development Programme. The review is being finalised and will be published shortly.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been grated to farmers in respect of animal welfare commitments made under Article 33 of Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development and previously under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EU) No. 1698/2005 in each of the last four years; what the value was of each grant made under those regulations; and what the animal welfare commitment was in respect of which each such grant was so made.
Answered by George Eustice
For the 2014-20 Rural Development Programme for England the Government decided to support animal health and welfare aims under measures other than the specific animal welfare provision in the EU Rural Development Regulation to which the question refers. Therefore no funding has been granted to farmers in respect of these specific animal welfare measures.
However, a number of projects under the two programmes have supported animal welfare. These include the North West Livestock Programme and the South West TB advisory service under the 2007-13 programme and grants for supporting lameness detection, rumination monitoring & oestrus detectors under the 2014-20 programme.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to conduct further research on the utility of trees in flood prevention.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government continues to fund and support research into the utility of trees in flood prevention through the Defra/Environment Agency ‘Working with Natural Processes’ research programme, and the Forestry Commission’s Science and Innovation Strategy.
Forest Research, the Forestry Commission’s Research Agency, is conducting a number of medium and long-term projects on this topic, often in partnership with water regulators, universities and end users. These cover process, modelling, economic and mapping studies designed to quantify and demonstrate how woodland can contribute to flood risk management. Operational synthesis of existing research is currently being used as the basis for designing and targeting forestry’s contribution to help protect ‘communities at risk’ under the Cumbria Floods Action Plan.
One flagship project led by Forest Research is the ‘Slowing the Flow’ at Pickering study. This is evaluating how the integrated application of a range of land use and management measures can alleviate flooding, including woodland creation and the use of large woody structures.
Other studies are underway in the catchments of the River Parrett in Somerset, River Irthing in Northumberland and River Usk in Wales, to provide evidence of how woodland and woodland management can affect flood risk.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to bring forward legislation to amend the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010 related to the recommendations in the post-implementation review of those regulations.
Answered by George Eustice
As set out in Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010, we are currently considering a number of areas where the Regulations may need amending. Any such amendments can be introduced via secondary legislation made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of greyhound trainers' kennel standards before legislation is to be brought forward to amend the Welfare of Racing Greyhound Regulations 2010.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010 contained an assessment of standards at trainers’ kennels and found that more was needed to be done to safeguard welfare. As a result, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has agreed to work through the British Standards Institution and with other stakeholders, to develop a consensus standard for trainers’ kennels. The GBGB has also agreed to seek to extend its current United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation to cover the enforcement of these new standards at the kennels of GBGB licensed trainers. During the Review process no evidence was submitted to Defra on the numbers of greyhound trainers operating solely at the four remaining independent tracks in England and the conditions at any such kennels. Therefore Defra are giving further consideration as to how best to gather this evidence, this includes a possible joint research project with the Dogs Trust. Any Defra research will be published on the Gov.UK website and any useful information found will be used in an Impact Assessment that would accompany any regulations for trainers’ kennels.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the recommendations of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's report of 25 February 2016, what assessment her Department has made of introducing a two-year probationary period for continued self-regulation of greyhound industry.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra’s Post Implementation Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010 made an assessment of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain’s (GBGB) enforcement of the standards contained in the 2010 Regulations at GBGB affiliated tracks. The Review found that the standards at GBGB affiliated tracks were being maintained in an effective manner by the GBGB. However, the GBGB’s ability to self-regulate track standards is dependent on them maintaining their United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation as a certification body for those standards. Should GBGB lose its UKAS accreditation then, under the 2010 Regulations, it would immediately lose the right to self-regulate standards at GBGB affiliated tracks. Therefore, for regulating conditions at tracks, the Government would not support extending to two years such a probationary period. For other areas of GBGB’s self-regulatory work, prior to EFRA’s Greyhound Welfare report, the GBGB had already agreed with Defra a period of two years, up to 2018, to: develop a consensus standard for trainers’ kennels and to extend its current UKAS accreditation to cover the enforcement of these new standards; and begin publishing annually aggregate figures for dogs injured or euthanized at GBGB affiliated tracks, as well as dogs leaving GBGB racing.