Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that support payments are paid by the Rural Payments Agency in a timely manner, in light of the dry weather in summer 2018.
Answered by George Eustice
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is fully focused on getting Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) 2018 payments issued promptly. Given the prescriptive EU requirements in making advance payments, the RPA will concentrate on making payments from the opening of the payment window in December. In addition we are reviewing options, such as bringing forward bridging payments, for those BPS claimants who will not have received their BPS 2018 payments in December.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations he has received from industry organisations and farmers requesting flexibility in the application of CAP schemes or agri-environment schemes, in light of the dry weather in summer 2018.
Answered by George Eustice
Farmers in the UK, Ireland and across northern Europe, have experienced a difficult time this year with the hot, dry weather. The impacts are likely to be most severely felt by grazing livestock due to the shortage of grass, but the full effect may not be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.
Particular measures the Government has taken to help farmers are:
I will monitor whether the fodder import scheme that has been introduced in Ireland has an appreciable effect on supplies of fodder and bedding within the UK. We have also made the point to the European Commission that whilst the UK is committed to working to identify appropriate responses to this year’s weather impacts, these should not interfere with the normal functioning of the market or obscure the focus of farmers in mitigating weather impacts.
Opportunities such as the ones described above were discussed with a wide range of stakeholders at the National Farmers’ Union “Dry Weather Summit” on 1 August 2018 and we have received some further representations in writing from farming industry organisations. Further discussions took place at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) Industry Partnership Group meeting in Reading on 20 August 2018. Additionally, a small number of individual farmers have made representations through the RPA’s Helpline. All representations received have been considered in the round and informed the approach we are taking to offering all available support to alleviate the impacts of the recent extreme weather conditions for farmers.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 plans to employ additional staff in response to demands placed on his Department by the EU exit process.
Answered by George Eustice
Over 80% of Defra’s agenda is affected by the UK’s departure from the European Union. As a result, many roles across the Defra group are supporting EU exit-related work, either directly or indirectly. As the Cabinet Secretary set out in July, we have recruited over 400 additional staff to support our comprehensive programme focused on EU exit and we continue to keep our plans under review.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of intensive indoor dairy farms operating in the UK.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government does not collect information on the number of intensive indoor dairy farms operating in the UK.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 press release by Natural England of 29 July 2016 to issue a licence permitting the control of up to 10 buzzards, if her Department will take steps to ensure that the granting of such licences does not endanger the buzzard population.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Buzzards are now widespread in England, with over 60,000 pairs in the UK (British Trust for Ornithology). The removal of a small number of birds will have no impact on the national population. Moreover, Natural England would not license any activity that would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
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 press release by Natural England of 29 July 2016 to issue a licence for buzzard control, whether she plans to issue further such licences during the current Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Responsibility for issuing licences for buzzard control is a matter for Natural England. All wild birds, including buzzards, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it illegal to take, injure, or kill a wild bird, or to disturb them while nesting and protects their nests and eggs except under the authority of a licence.
Section 16 of the Act gives provision for Natural England to grant a licence to manage wildlife for a number of reasons including preventing serious damage to livestock. Natural England considers each application on its merits but would not license any activity which would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that manufacturers of disposable wipes follow water industry guidelines and use the do not flush logo.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Government is encouraging the water industry to act collectively, through initiatives such as 21st century drainage. This continues its work with the manufacturers of flushable products to agree appropriate labelling and campaigns to inform the public what should, and should not, be flushed down the toilet.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the flushability tests used by manufacturers of disposable wipes.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Sewer blockages can be a serious problem, and sewer flooding can cause great distress to householders.
We support the work that the industry is taking forward to reduce the number of blockages. Water UK, the representative body for the UK water and sewerage industry, has led on development of a voluntary test that sanitary manufacturers can use to establish whether or not their product is truly flushable.
Asked by: Peter Kyle (Labour - Hove and Portslade)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 19 November 2015 to Question 16305 and 26 November 2015 to Question 18647, if her Department will provide a date by which a decision will be made on funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit beyond March 2016.
Answered by Rory Stewart
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy, on 7 December 2015, PQ18534.