Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding she plans to allocate to the Animal and Plant Health Agency in each of the next five financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) Defra funding for financial year 2023-24 is £185.2 million RDEL (Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) and £15.7 million CDEL (Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit). Indicative funding for 2024-25 has been set but is not yet confirmed and is expected to be agreed by January 2024. Future year funding beyond this is subject to the Government-wide spending review process which will determine the overall funding for Defra and APHA.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
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 made of the adequacy of Animal Plant and Health Agency veterinary resources; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
APHA has approximately 430 veterinary posts and at the end of May 2023, 60 of these were vacant. Recruitment is underway and locum vets are being used while vacancies are being filled. Because of the nature of APHA work, veterinary resource needs can change rapidly. This was seen during last winter and the large avian influenza outbreak that required a prioritising resource allocation and the temporary expansion of the Agency’s workforce.
APHA has contracts in place to enable it to bring in more veterinary resource from private veterinary practices at times of peak demand and this was heavily used during the outbreak.
APHA also was also able to draw on veterinary resource from core Defra. There are other potential changes to APHA’s responsibilities which will require more veterinary resource. These changes are individually impact assessed to identify resource requirements. One such example is the new Border Operating Model where APHA is likely to need significant extra veterinary resource to check imported live animals. Defra provides APHA with additional funding to expand veterinary resource where needed.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to take steps to (a) review and (b) update the notifiable avian disease control strategy, published on 30 August 2018.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Current avian influenza disease control policy considers the latest scientific and ornithological evidence and veterinary advice, reflects our experience of responding to past outbreaks of exotic animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control. Defra’s approach to avian influenza is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain, published in September 2019. This document is currently under review and is being updated to reflect the recent legislative and policy changes that have already been implemented and an updated version will be published on gov.uk prior to the 2023/2024 high risk season. The Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain is supported by the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales, an updated version of which was published in March 2023.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to take steps to suspend the import of (a) animals and (b) animal products from France after the commencement of its avian flu vaccination programme in autumn 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is important to note that, according to Great Britain's Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy, avian flu vaccination, barring those in licensed English zoos, is currently not permitted for poultry and captive birds. These steps represent our commitment to maintaining animal and public health.
In response to France's commitments on its autumn 2023 avian flu vaccination programme, my department has formed a task force to explore broader vaccination use as a preventive measure against avian influenza.
This group, consisting of Government and industry experts, will formulate potential domestic strategies, with considerations for trade impact and necessary mitigations to prevent trade barriers, potentially including suspension of import of animals and animal products from France. All proposed changes will be backed by robust risk assessments.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on developing an avian influenza vaccination trade strategy.
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: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has undertaken planning exercises in the last 10 years to test the UK's preparedness for managing a farm animal disease outbreak.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There have been four UK-wide exercises involving Defra, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency including their operational partners and stakeholder organisations:
We have also completed numerous operational, field and laboratory-based exercises to test and refine contingency plans on a yearly cycle, and our response capability has been tested by real-world outbreaks such as the ongoing outbreak of avian influenza.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
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 potential merits of using powers under Section 20 and 21 of the Agriculture Act 2020 to make a declaration of exceptional market conditions for the poultry and eggs sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise that the agriculture industry, including the poultry and eggs sectors, has faced a number of challenges over the last year, particularly in relation to the increase of input costs as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, our assessment is that the conditions for intervention under Section 20 or Section 21 of the Agriculture Act are not currently met, not least because input costs are now falling.
We continue to closely monitor the situation in each sector through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group and via regular, on-going sector stakeholder engagement.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farm businesses have accessed at least one of the schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan in the financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Outside the bureaucratic Common Agricultural Policy, we are freeing farmers to enhance the natural environment alongside food production, supporting our drive to reach net-zero by 2050. We will deliver this by pressing ahead with our Environmental Land Management schemes and phase out direct payments.
As we set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan, we are providing a package of ongoing funding and one-off grants to support farmers with environmental actions, food production and productivity. We’ve already opened two new environmental land management schemes – the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Landscape Recovery - and already have thousands of farmers applying. That’s alongside Countryside Stewardship, which continues to offer payment for environmental actions, and will be enhanced to deliver our high environmental ambition. In parallel to the schemes, we have launched a number of grants for one-off funding to support productivity, such as money for new equipment and technology, slurry storage and water management. We urge all farmers to look at our schemes and grants and to decide what works for their farm business.
In 2021/22 there were at least 39,000 instances of businesses accessing at least one of the schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan. And so far in 2022/23, the number of businesses is at least 48,000 businesses. Of these 32,000 businesses (2021/22), and 36,000 businesses (2022/23) accessed at least one of the environmental land management schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding was released from the Basic Payment Scheme following the reduction of direct payments to farmers in England in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Applying reductions to Direct Payments frees up money to be spent on financial assistance under our other schemes for farmers and land managers. As set out in our Future Farming and Countryside Programme annual report, published in October 2022, we spent £1.654 billion on Direct Payments in financial year 2021 to 2022. That was part of a total spend of £2.294 billion on existing farming schemes and our new financial assistance schemes, as set out in that report.
Information about spend on Direct Payments and financial assistance under our other schemes for financial year 2022 to 2023 will be included in an annual report to be published later this year.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department provided to farmers under each scheme within the Agricultural Transition Plan in England in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2021-22, we spent £2.294 billion on our schemes within the Agricultural Transition Plan. We’ve laid before Parliament the spend at scheme level for 21-22 and we will continue to provide annual financial reports. The annual report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022/future-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022-html-version.