Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the improvement of flood defences.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In March 2020, the Government doubled its investment in new flood defences to a record £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion.
Additionally, over £200 million per year is invested in maintenance, ensuring flood defences are kept in good working order.
In Gedling, final environmental work is underway on the Nottingham Trent Left Bank flood defence scheme, which has better protected 15,000 properties since 2012.
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of introducing a ban on the overuse of antibiotics on healthy farm animals on levels of antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra is a co-signatory with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of the UK's Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) 5 year National Action Plan (2019-2024) and the UK's 20 year Vision to Contain and Control AMR by 2040. These plans both take a One Health, whole of government approach. Defra and DHSC work closely together at all levels, together with other government departments, to deliver this plan. The UK Government is committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals, while safeguarding animal welfare. Since 2014, the UK has reduced sales of veterinary antibiotics by 55%, and over this same period the UK has seen an overall trend of decreasing antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals.
Changes to the law on veterinary medicines represent one tool that can be used to help effect reductions in antibiotic prescribing in animals. The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 are currently under review, and the feedback from the recently closed public consultation will be analysed and considered. The publicly available consultation documents for the revision of the Veterinary Medicines Legislation set out the rationale for the government’s proposed approach to the use of antibiotics to prevent disease in animals (prophylaxis). In summary, the proposed new legal restrictions on antibiotic prophylaxis prohibit this type [MG1] of use in all but exceptional circumstances to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, protect animal welfare, and allow changes to prescribing practices to be made sustainably.
Officials from DHSC, Defra and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) meet regularly to consider appropriate actions to address AMR across the human and animal health sectors. This has included discussion of the proposed changes to the Veterinary Medicines Regulations.
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) carry out and (b) take into account additional wildlife surveillance when making his decision on whether to extend the badger culling programme.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
On 7 September Natural England published licences for areas that will undertake badger control operations in England this autumn. This includes the reauthorisation of licences for 33 existing areas alongside licences for 11 additional areas. All applications received were carefully assessed by Natural England to ensure that each cull company has suitable arrangements and plans in place to carry out an operation that is safe, effective and humane.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bovine-tb-authorisation-for-badger-control-in-2020
This operational publication is a continuation of the long-term strategy to tackle the animal disease Bovine TB which was published in April 2014.
Prior surveillance for TB infection in badgers is not required to grant licences for the removal of badgers to control the spread of TB in the High Risk and Edge Areas of England.