Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has allocated as a contingency in the event that no deal is reached in negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Like all departments, Defra is planning for a number of EU Exit scenarios to make sure we are ready on Day 1. Over £250m of additional funding has been approved across a number of departments in 2017/18 to prepare for Brexit. Defra has received additional funding this year, and has reprioritised to meet new pressures arising from Brexit preparations. Additional funding received from the reserve for 2017/8 will be set out at Supplementary Estimates. Decisions on funding in future years will be confirmed at a later date.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department plans to spend on preparations for no deal being reached in negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra is amongst those government departments whose work is most closely linked to and affected by EU activity, legal frameworks and funding. |Some 80% of Defra’s work is framed by EU legislation and a quarter of EU laws apply to Defra’s sectors. As a result, Defra has an extensive programme of work focused on delivering a smooth exit from the EU, and like all government departments, we are working on preparations for a range of scenarios. The government has committed over £250 million of new money in this financial year for EU exit preparations in departments across Whitehall.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford 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 her Department has made of the value of fish exports to the EU from the Falkland Islands in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
The information requested is in the below table. The figures were sourced from the UN Comtrade Website
Falklands fish exports (GBP) To the EU (28) | |
2011 | £95,505,052 |
2012 | £106,320,512 |
2013 | £89,833,453 |
2014 | £90,405,793 |
2015 | £92,916,305 |
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations she has received on closing the UK domestic ivory trade.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
A number of representations have been made to the Department in recent months on the issue of UK domestic ivory trade. These primarily consist of correspondence to Ministers from individuals and interested organisations calling for the Government to act in this area.
On 21 September the Secretary of State announced plans for a ban on sales of items containing ivory dated between 1947 and the present day, putting UK rules on ivory sales among the world’s toughest. We will consult on plans for the ban early next year.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to help protect the bee population; and whether she plans to allow the use of pesticides known to be harmful to bees.
Answered by George Eustice
In November 2014, Defra published the National Pollinator Strategy which forms a framework for collective action to help manage and raise awareness of the pressures facing bees and other pollinators. The Strategy seeks to address key gaps in our understanding about the status of pollinators, identifies specific policy and evidence actions for government and others, and also identifies actions that everyone can take to help expand food, shelter and nest sites. To raise public awareness, a ‘Call to Action’, ‘Bees’ Needs: Food and a Home’ was launched in July 2014. This is a simple message to all land managers on the essential needs of pollinators and how to fulfil them. Defra will publish a ‘one year on’ progress report on the Strategy in autumn 2015.
As set out in the Strategy, our work over the next five years to develop the evidence base will allow us to identify pollinator trends with greater certainty, so that we can assess progress with our outcomes and identify where further action should be taken. This evidence base will include consideration of the impact of pesticides.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford 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 she has made of the amount of food wasted by supermarkets; and if she will take further steps to reduce that amount.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimates that 0.23 million tonnes of food waste came from the grocery retail industry in 2013. Through WRAP, the Government is working with food manufacturers and retailers, including all the major UK supermarkets, to meet targets to reduce food waste from households and the grocery supply chain under the Courtauld Commitment.
All signatories reported a reduction of 7.4% in food supply chain waste between 2010 and 2012 (there were also targets on household food waste and packaging waste). The third phase targets a further 1.1 million tonnes of food and packaging waste reduction by the end of 2015.