Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been grated to farmers in respect of animal welfare commitments made under Article 33 of Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development and previously under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EU) No. 1698/2005 in each of the last four years; what the value was of each grant made under those regulations; and what the animal welfare commitment was in respect of which each such grant was so made.

For the 2014-20 Rural Development Programme for England the Government decided to support animal health and welfare aims under measures other than the specific animal welfare provision in the EU Rural Development Regulation to which the question refers. Therefore no funding has been granted to farmers in respect of these specific animal welfare measures.

However, a number of projects under the two programmes have supported animal welfare. These include the North West Livestock Programme and the South West TB advisory service under the 2007-13 programme and grants for supporting lameness detection, rumination monitoring & oestrus detectors under the 2014-20 programme.