Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has provided financial assistance to farmers to repair flood damage.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming Recovery Fund has been opened to provide farmers support to recover from uninsurable damage with grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was before exceptional flooding of Storm Henk. The fund was initially opened in nine English local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has already been activated to help farms which have experienced the highest levels of flooding, and the eligibility for the Fund remains under review.
This forms part of a package of support available to farmers through the Flood Recovery Framework, including a grant of up to £2,500 through the Business Recovery Grant Scheme.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of levels of bovine tuberculosis.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bovine TB is a devolved policy matter.
The latest bovine TB statistics published on GOV.UK, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb, continue to show a gradually improving picture in most headline indicators for England overall and particularly in the High Risk Area and the Edge Area. In 2023 the lowest annual incidence of TB in cattle herds in England was recorded since 2007. In the Low Risk Area, the incidence and prevalence of TB in cattle herds remain very low and stable.
During the 2023 calendar year, just over 20,000 cattle were slaughtered for TB-related reasons in England, having peaked at 34,500 in 2018.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterpart in Northern Ireland on the number of skilled workers employed in the Northern Irish fisheries industry.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government believes that every role in the fishing industry in Northern Ireland requires a wide variety of skills. The most recent statistics from the Marine Management Organisation’s Sea Fisheries Statistics 2022 show that the fishing industry in Northern Ireland employed 799 people, all of whom are skilled.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cases of avian flu have been detected in the UK in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of 21st February 2024, there have been 41 cases of avian influenza confirmed in the UK within the last 12 months (22/02/23-21/02/24). The latest case figures and information on the disease and location of the cases, are available online: Bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the bumble bee population in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are 24 bumblebee species in the UK. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust runs the Great Britain (GB) BeeWalk survey, which involves volunteers walking the same fixed route at least once a month between March and October (inclusive). The abundance of each bumblebee species seen is recorded in a 4m x 4m x 2m recording box to standardise between habitats and observers. The data for 2010-2019 shows that for the 20 species with enough observation data to assess trends, 8 species had positive population trends and 12 had declining trends in GB.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 he has made of the adequacy of flood defences at Windsor Park; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allocating funding to strengthen those defences.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency manages a defence known as Spitalfield Reservoir on the Bourne Ditch within Windsor Great Park, on Crown Estate land. Funding is allocated for the ongoing maintenance of the reservoir. The Environment Agency maintains the embankments and penstocks within the concrete structure to manage impoundment of water and the downstream flow.
Under Section 12 of the Reservoir Act 1975, an annual inspection is required to be undertaken by a qualified Supervising Engineer. The last inspection of the Spitalfield Reservoir, in September 2023, identified a number of minor maintenance actions that will be carried out by the Environment Agency over the coming months. The Supervising Engineer did not identify issues that would reduce the standard of protection the reservoir offers to protect properties downstream.
If Measures in the Interest of Safety were found during any inspection, where the resilience of the reservoir was below its current design standard of protection, funding would be sought for works required.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on food security of trends in the level of inflation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) contains an analysis of statistical data relating to food security.
Defra will publish the next version later this year, as required by the 2020 Agriculture Act.
It will include analysis of the trends of price inflation, international commodity prices, energy and fertiliser prices in the context of UK food security.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential impact of increasing the minimum earnings thresholds for skilled foreign workers on the fisheries sector in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with (a) Ofwat and (b) Thames Water on Thames Water's (i) financial and (ii) operational performance.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State and ministerial team regularly meets representatives from all water companies, including Thames Water, regarding financial and operational performance. As part of their introductory series of meetings, the Defra Secretary of State and ministerial team will meet with all water companies on a range of issues in the coming weeks and months.
Furthermore, Minister Pow, as Minister responsible for water, met with Thames Water’s interim CEOs Alastair Cochran and Cathryn Ross and Chair Sir Adrian Montague on Tuesday 14th November to discuss both their financial and operational performance across a range of issues. Minister Moore will shortly be following up with Thames Water regarding operational performance following publication of the Thames Water Service Commitment Plan to understand how the company can accelerate action to improve performance across the business.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made on the number of beekeepers.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our annual Hive Count exercise indicates that as of October 2022 there were 48,130 beekeepers in England and Wales registered on BeeBase – the National Bee Unit’s website.