Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the total number of (a) farming and (b) growing businesses that have gone out of business in each year since 2010.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 8th February is attached.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
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 launch a consultation on the potential impact of increasing production costs on farmers’ mental health.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government understands the pressures some farmers are facing in light of rising input costs. We are keeping the 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. We also continue our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.
In addition to this, we are providing expert business support to farmers under the Future Farming Resilience Fund. One of the key required outcomes for the Resilience Fund is that farmers’ mental health and wellbeing are supported, where required. Some delivery providers are offering this support from in-house experts and others are signposting support available from external expert services.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
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 money unspent across his Department's budgets in 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has agreed with HM Treasury to budget exchange from 2023/24 to 2024/25 the following: £47.9 million Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) for the Future Farming and Countryside Programme; £24.2 million CDEL for the Science Capability in Animal Health Programme; and £33.21 million CDEL for the Borders Programme. In addition, Defra has reprofiled £116.24 million CDEL primarily to reflect more accurate spend over future years.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on the agreements made at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15).
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK played a leading role at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in securing agreement to a historic package of measures to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Our priority for COP16 and beyond is to drive global delivery of these agreements both at home and abroad, by working closely with our international partners.
Since COP15, we have worked internationally to drive delivery of the Kunming Montreal targets, including by:
Domestically we have:
The four nations of the UK are working together and aim to publish a UK-wide revised NBSAP (National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan) by May 2024, ahead of CBD COP16.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the ban on American XL Bullies on the (a) rescue and (b) veterinary sectors.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra worked closely with stakeholders including rescue and rehoming centres and the veterinary sector to consider the impacts of banning XL Bully dogs. We continue to engage with stakeholders to monitor the impacts of the ban.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
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 cost of damage from flooding in each year since 2010.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency counts properties flooded during all flood events, with final numbers verified by local flood authorities. Additionally, the Environment Agency looks at long term national trends, rates of optimal spend, but only calculates the economic costs of an actual flood in occasional circumstances due to the significant time and cost associated with undertaking the reports. Therefore, data is not collated on an annual basis.
Since 2010, there are costs of flood reports for the major events of winter 2013/14 and winter 2015/16. It is estimated the 2013/14 winter floods caused approximately £1.3 billion of damage and the 2015/16 winter floods caused approximately £1.6 billion of damage.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will publish the National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides in due course.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number (a) police stations, (b) fire stations, (c) hospitals, (d) ambulance stations, (e) residential care homes, (f) children’s homes and (g) social services homes that have a flood risk vulnerability classification of "Highly Vulnerable".
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Uses that are classified as ‘highly vulnerable’ are set out in annex 3 of the National Planning Policy Framework and includes police, fire and ambulance stations. Hospitals and residential institutions are classified as ‘more vulnerable’ in the Framework.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of how many dogs were experimented on in Great Britain in each year since 2010.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain are published annually and are available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-statistics
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
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 potential cost to the public purse of providing coastal armour to protect the cliffs at Pakefield, Lowestoft in the context of the recent tidal surges.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over six years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. East Suffolk Council is the responsible risk management authority for the coast at Pakefield and has been working on erosion management issues in the area. The Environment Agency administers Government Flood Defence Grant in Aid funding to all risk management authorities. To apply for funding the authority needs to submit a business case to the Environment Agency outlining the various technical aspects of the project including economic, environmental and technical feasibility appraisals. To date, no business case has been submitted to the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency is aware that Coastal Partnership East, on behalf of East Suffolk Council, has been working with the community in Pakefield since 2016 to explore the coastal management options, including into the longer term, for the whole frontage.