Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether companies with a record of criminal activity will be eligible to receive compensation under a future funding package for the fishing industry.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Details of eligibility criteria for the fisheries support scheme will be announced in the coming weeks. Defra will ensure that necessary checks and procedures are in place to minimise the risk of fraud. Seafood firms and individuals convicted of fraud in the context of fisheries funding schemes have previously been ineligible to access other financial support made available to the sector.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many prosecutions there have been of dog owners for sheep worrying in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
My Department takes the issue of livestock worrying very seriously, recognising both the distress this can cause farmers and animals, as well as the financial implications.
According to the National Sheep Association’s annual survey 94.85% of respondents had experienced sheep worrying by dogs on their farm, and SheepWatch UK estimate that 15,000 sheep are killed each year in dog worrying incidents.
Data on prosecutions relating to the offence of livestock worrying (which includes sheep worrying) are consolidated in the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly (England and Wales) under the broader category ‘other offences related to dogs’. We do not hold separate data on this.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of compost contaminated by the weed killer aminopyralid on the safety of fruit and vegetables for consumption; and whether his Department has issued guidance on the effects of that weed killer.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Products containing aminopyralid are used to control weeds in cereals, oilseed rape and grassland. Before these products were authorised, risks to consumers were fully assessed by the UK regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE concluded that there were no concerns for consumers.
Aminopyralid does not break down rapidly in compost produced from treated plants or manure from animals that have grazed treated grassland. There is thus potential for residues to affect susceptible plants and so requirements are in place to ensure that contaminated materials do not go for use by gardeners and others. These arrangements are kept under review to ensure that they remain effective.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timeframe is for a decision to be made on the Sussex Near Shore Trawling Byelaw proposal approved by the Sussex IFCA to restrict trawling close to the Sussex shore.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The Secretary of State has not yet received this byelaw, given that all non-emergency IFCA byelaws are subject to a quality assurance process, undertaken by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on behalf of Defra, prior to being sent to the Secretary of State for confirmation. The MMO aims to return comments to IFCAs within 45 working days of submission. In respect of the Sussex IFCA Nearshore Trawling Byelaw, the MMO deadline for quality assurance is 17 June to respond to Sussex IFCA. The Secretary of State will consider the Sussex Nearshore Trawling Byelaw when the MMO’s quality assurance process is completed.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
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 attacks on livestock by dogs have been reported to police in each of the last five years; and how many of those cases have resulted in prosecutions.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Attacks on livestock by dogs are unacceptable and Defra works with the relevant stakeholders to find ways to prevent them. This includes advice to owners to keep their dogs under effective control. In 2018 we wrote to all police forces and local authorities to explain the powers and initiatives available to help tackle irresponsible dog ownership, including attacks on livestock.
Details on the number of cases of dogs attacking livestock that have been reported to the police would be held by each separate police force and are not collated centrally. No data are collected centrally on the number of livestock lost. The attached table provides the numbers of prosecutions and convictions in each of the last five years for England and Wales for which figures are available.
Numbers of people prosecuted/convicted for allowing a dog to worry livestock under s1 of Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953
Values | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Prosecuted | 47 | 47 | 37 | 25 | 23 |
Convicted | 40 | 35 | 28 | 20 | 21 |
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
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 number of livestock lost to dog attacks in each of the last five years; and what measures he is considering to tackle that matter.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Attacks on livestock by dogs are unacceptable and Defra works with the relevant stakeholders to find ways to prevent them. This includes advice to owners to keep their dogs under effective control. In 2018 we wrote to all police forces and local authorities to explain the powers and initiatives available to help tackle irresponsible dog ownership, including attacks on livestock.
Details on the number of cases of dogs attacking livestock that have been reported to the police would be held by each separate police force and are not collated centrally. No data are collected centrally on the number of livestock lost. The attached table provides the numbers of prosecutions and convictions in each of the last five years for England and Wales for which figures are available.
Numbers of people prosecuted/convicted for allowing a dog to worry livestock under s1 of Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953
Values | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Prosecuted | 47 | 47 | 37 | 25 | 23 |
Convicted | 40 | 35 | 28 | 20 | 21 |
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the cost of requiring VI-1 import forms on all EU wines imported into the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
As inspections for imported wine are undertaken on a risk-based percentage, regardless of origin or import certification, no specific assessment has been made regarding additional costs of controls, although it is expected to be nil or negligible.
In 2019, the UK was the second-largest global wine importer by value and volume. Leaving the EU provides the opportunity for the UK to establish an independent wine regime tailored to its growing and vibrant domestic production while building further on the UK’s current position as a global hub for the international trading of wine.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend Schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to remove the Greenland White Fronted goose as a shootable species.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Government intends to prohibit the hunting of Greenland white-fronted goose by removing the species from schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The legislation will be laid by the spring.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
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 15 April 2019 to Questions 242653 and 242654, for what reason his Department has not removed the White-Fronted Goose from schedule 2 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 given that that goose is endangered on a similar level to the Greenland White-Fronted Goose.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The European white fronted goose is not of global conservation concern so we do not intend to add any protections for it.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
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 Answer of 15 April 2019 to Questions 242653 and 242654, what criteria his Department uses to distinguish between the (a) Greenland and (b) European White-Fronted Goose to avoid accidental killings of the Greenland sub-species.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
It is the responsibility of the person engaged in shooting activity to make sure that they are complying with the law, including ensuring that they are able to identify the species they are shooting.