Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international partners to help support Israel to tackle terrorist threats from the Gaza Strip.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign Secretary wrote to his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen on 10 May to express the UK's enduring support for Israel's right for self-defence. In his 14 May statement, the Foreign Secretary welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and militant factions in Gaza, brokered by Egypt. The ceasefire must now be honoured to prevent the loss of further civilian life. The UK will support all efforts to promote dialogue and create a pathway towards sustainable peace.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of providing basic training for Ukrainian pilots on the RAF pilot training programme.
Answered by James Heappey
Elementary flying training for Ukrainian pilots is being planned in a manner which will not impact core Sovereign UK pilot training.
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 Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an estimate of the number of (a) task lines the A400M fleet has been able to offer and (b) planned task line availability for each of the last 12 months.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst the Hercules C-130J fleet will continue to drawdown, a number of the aircraft have sufficient remaining flying hours to enable an extended drawdown to 30 June 2023, maximising use of the fleet.
Atlas availability is being actively managed. There has been a steady improvement in aircraft availability and fleet resilience. Following direct intervention and a determined improvement campaign, the daily aircraft availability is approximately 25% greater compared to 18-months ago. A number of Atlas airframes will complete upgrade before the summer, adding to the available fleet.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an estimate of the number of (a) task lines the C130J fleet has been able to offer and (b) planned task line availability for each of the last 12 months.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst the Hercules C-130J fleet will continue to drawdown, a number of the aircraft have sufficient remaining flying hours to enable an extended drawdown to 30 June 2023, maximising use of the fleet.
Atlas availability is being actively managed. There has been a steady improvement in aircraft availability and fleet resilience. Following direct intervention and a determined improvement campaign, the daily aircraft availability is approximately 25% greater compared to 18-months ago. A number of Atlas airframes will complete upgrade before the summer, adding to the available fleet.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the task line availability offered by C130J will be replaced by A400M on a one-for-one basis by 30 June 2023.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Whilst the Hercules C-130J fleet will continue to drawdown, a number of the aircraft have sufficient remaining flying hours to enable an extended drawdown to 30 June 2023, maximising use of the fleet.
Atlas availability is being actively managed. There has been a steady improvement in aircraft availability and fleet resilience. Following direct intervention and a determined improvement campaign, the daily aircraft availability is approximately 25% greater compared to 18-months ago. A number of Atlas airframes will complete upgrade before the summer, adding to the available fleet.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the air mobility fleet has been engaged in the movement of equipment and supplies to Ukraine since 1 December 2022.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We are one of the leading providers of military support for Ukraine and were the first country to donate modern main battle tanks and long-range precision strike missiles. In addition, we have provided millions of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of armoured and protected mobility vehicles and other equipment.
Across hundreds of flights delivering this support in the last year, the entire Air Mobility Force has been engaged in the movement of equipment, supplies and trained Ukrainian recruits.
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.