Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the licensing fees paid by XL Bully dog owners will cover the cost of preparing the certificate of exemption.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The application fee paid by XL bully owners on registering an XL Bully covers the cost of processing the application and preparing the certificate of exemption.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the economic impact of the use of combined sewer overflows on coastal businesses in England and Wales.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan was published in August 2022, alongside an Impact Assessment which considers costs and benefits of the final targets to businesses, the public, wider society and government spending where applicable.
Water is a devolved area. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan applies to companies wholly or mainly in England.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the economic benefits of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
A general economic assessment of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 is not available.
However, assessments of current policies for increasing access to nature indicate there will be economic benefits. For example, the Coast to Coast National Trail currently generates significant economic benefits as England's most popular long-distance route, attracting approximately 6,000 annual end-to-end walkers who contribute £7 million to the local economy. A baseline study for the King Charles III England Coast Path showed that over 29 million leisure walking trips took place on English coastal paths in 2017. Over £379 million is spent in the national economy as a result of trips to use English coastal paths, of which £350 million is spent within local coastal economies.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government believes that the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 plays a very important part in our overall approach towards tackling dangerous dogs. This is why we are taking urgent action to bring forward a ban on XL Bully dog types under the Act following a concerning rise in attacks and fatalities, which appear to be driven by this type of dog. In the meantime, we have been working hard with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied across all breeds of dog.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
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 oral contribution of the Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries of 6 July 2023, Official Report, column 921, if she will publish all water company storm overflow plans that she has received in full.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In February 2023, the Secretary of State asked water and sewerage companies to produce an action plan for every storm overflow in England. As a result, I have received all the draft water company plans.
Action Plans will be published following a review to ensure there is a standardised level of accuracy and consistency across the plans.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the number of cases of avian flu in the UK; and what information her Department holds on the number of cases in EU countries.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the start of the current epizootic in October 2021, 344 cases of avian influenza (343 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and 1 case of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) H7N3) have been confirmed in poultry and other captive birds in the UK. Although new cases have slowed, there have been 186 cases (185 cases of HPAI H5N1 and 1 case of LPAI H7N3) since 1 October 2022 (the start of year 2 of the epizootic), including 155 HPAI H5N1 cases in England, 21 HPAI H5N1 cases and 1 LPAI H7N3 case in Scotland, 8 HPAI H5N1 cases in Wales and 1 HPAI H5N1 case in Northern Ireland. This compares to a total of 158 cases of HPAI H5N1 in year one of the epizootic (October 2021 to September 2022), including 134 cases in England, 7 cases in Wales, 11 cases in Scotland, 6 cases in Northern Ireland.
Further details on the current situation for HPAI and LPAI in the UK and Europe can be found in the risk and outbreak assessments published on GOV.UK at Avian influenza (bird flu) in Europe, Russia and the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This includes information on outbreaks and events in both domestic poultry, captive birds and wild birds in Europe reported by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the reference laboratory Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe). We continue to monitor the current situation both in Europe and globally, as well as the effectiveness of any disease control measures taken.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made on delivering an avian influenza vaccine.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Vaccination of poultry and captive birds against avian influenza, excluding those in licensed zoos in England, is not currently permitted. However preventative vaccination for avian influenza may be an option for the future but is unlikely to be a viable option for the 2023/24 high risk season. Defra established in February 2023 a cross government and industry task force to explore potential for use of vaccination as a preventive measure for avian influenza.
In parallel to the work of the avian influenza vaccination task force Defra in conjunction with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) will continue to monitor the development and availability of vaccines for their utility in preventing and responding to avian influenza outbreaks as they are put forward for market authorisation by vaccine manufacturers.
Any future decisions on disease control measures, including the use of vaccination, will be based upon the latest scientific and ornithological evidence, and veterinary advice.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
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 the impact of avian influenza on food (a) prices and (b) availability.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain which has coped well in responding to the unprecedented challenges the industry has faced in the past few years.
The UK egg and poultry industries operate in an open market. The value of poultry products and egg commodities is established by those in the supply chain. The impact of avian influenza on the price of food products has been limited with the increases experienced recently by these sectors related to a range of other factors, primarily due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In the UK, there have been 186 cases of Avian Influenza (AI) since 1 October 2022. 155 of these have been in England and all have been of the HPAI H5N1 strain. Since 1 October 2022, 5.3 million birds have died or been culled and disposed of for disease control purposes. With approximately, 20 million birds slaughtered every week for human consumption, the impact on the availability of poultry and eggs due to AI has therefore been limited.
We continue to keep the market situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group and our on-going and regular engagement with sector stakeholders.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
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 the economic impact of avian influenza on the poultry sector and what support her Department provides to (a) poultry farmers and (b) others affected.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are aware that the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has created challenges for poultry and egg producers. To support poultry producers and others affected by this unprecedented outbreak, on the 28 October 2022 Defra announced new support for the poultry industry to assist farmers and producers with the impacts of avian influenza. This includes a change to the existing avian influenza compensation scheme allowing us to provide swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures and give earlier certainty about entitlement to compensation.
We also introduced market support measures to assist businesses impacted by avian influenza. These included allowing seasonal poultry producers to slaughter birds, freeze them and then sell them as defrosted products during the period 28 November to 31 December 2022 and concessions to the labelling of free-range eggs from poultry housed under avian influenza mandatory housing measures for longer than the 16-week period for which an automatic derogation applies.
We continue to monitor the impacts of avian influenza on the poultry and allied sectors.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with food producers on the impact of avian influenza on (a) poultry producers and (b) egg producers.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government continues to work closely with the poultry industry to tackle the unprecedented outbreak of avian influenza which has been affecting the UK. Defra Officials and Ministers in conjunction with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Food Standards Agency and devolved administration representatives have met regularly throughout the outbreak with industry bodies including the British Egg Industry Council, British Poultry Council, British Free Range Egg Producers Association and the Game Farmers Association in addition to individual producers representing the breadth of the poultry sector.
We are continuing to keep the market situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments, and our ongoing engagement with industry stakeholders.