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 Baroness 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 Baroness 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 Baroness 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.