Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
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 26 April 2024 to Question 22727 on Darwin Plus: Finance, if he will list the (a) funding and (b) recipient of the funding for each project per territory.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Pursuant to the Answer of 26 April to Question 22727, Darwin Plus projects awarded funding since 2019 for each Territory can be found in the attached table. The table includes grants from all Darwin Plus schemes: Main, Fellowships (recently rebranded as People & Skills), Covid 19 Rapid Response (A time-limited scheme for 2021), and two new schemes introduced in 2023, Local and Strategic.
Further information about active and completed Darwin Plus projects can be found on the Darwin Plus website, which will soon be updated to include the latest projects awarded in 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of making the use of catapults to harm wildlife illegal.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government takes crimes against wildlife seriously, including those involving the use of catapults. There is already sufficient legislation in place which protects wildlife against the use of catapults.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While the Act does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that a person must not use to kill an animal, it is still illegal under this Act to deliberately attempt to kill, injure, or harm protected species. There are a range of offences around deliberate attempts to kill, injure or inflict harm on wildlife under provisions not just in this Act, but also in the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and in the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Significant sanctions are available to judges to hand down to those convicted of crimes against wildlife under these Acts.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many XL Bullies registered with the exemption scheme have not been neutered.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For a Certificate of Exemption to remain valid, owners must arrange to have their XL Bully dog neutered and to provide evidence of this to Defra by set deadlines. These deadlines are 30 June 2024 if the dog was 12 months or older on 31 January 2024, 31 December 2024 if the dog was at least 7 months old, but less than 12 months old on 31 January 2024, and 30 June 2025 if the dog was younger than 7 months on 31 January 2024.
As these deadlines have not yet passed, we have not received and processed all forms and so we do not hold data on the number of XL Bullies that have not been neutered. We recommend that owners arrange for their dogs to be neutered as soon as possible to meet these deadlines.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Dog Legislation Officers there were on 15 September 2023; how many and what proportion of those Dog Legislation Officers have received training in the identification standard for an XL Bully; and how many new Dog Legislation Officers have been trained since 1 January 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not hold data on the number of Dog Legislation Officers. This information is held by individual police forces.
We have supported the police to deliver additional training to Dog Legislation Officers to make sure the ban is effectively enforced.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
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 22 April 2024 to Question 21634 on Inland Border Facilities: Ashford, whether (a) the designation decision has been taken and (b) Sevington has been designated as a border control post.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The border control post at Sevington has now received its designation and began operation on 30 April.
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 the cost to the public purse was of government procurement card spending by his Department in each year since 2010.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table below sets out total expenditure using government procurement cards for the given financial years. Information relating to 2010 to 2016 is not readily available.
Financial Year | Amount |
2016-17 | £147,167 |
2017-18 | £474,619 |
2018-19 | £1,324,366 |
2019-20 | £1,311,324 |
2020-21 | £698,353 |
2021-22 | £584,345 |
2022-23 | £660,352 |
2023-24 | £646,102 |
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of appointing a Commissioner for the tenant farming sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is currently considering next steps following analysis of a Call for Evidence that it undertook with selected industry organisations and discussions with the Farm Tenancy Forum on the role of a Commissioner. We are committed to supporting the tenanted sector and continue to put their needs and voices at the heart of our decisions.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Q25 of the oral evidence given by the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency to the Committee of Public Accounts on 27 November 2023, HC 71, if he will list the 500 schemes that will no longer go forward in the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management investment programme; and if he will publish details of the modelling system used to make that calculation.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, a £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, £170 million for economic recovery from flooding and over £30 million of funding for flood incident management. Since April 2021, over £2.3 billion has been invested in around 300 flood protection schemes, better protecting over 88,000 properties.
The capital investment programme is annually reviewed and updated to accommodate changes, including the introduction of new schemes or urgent works. This means the programme is dynamic and evolves over time. Projects are not typically cancelled but deferred until funding and resources allow them to progress.
Projects are prioritised for the upcoming annual budget according to the following factors:
The programme is reviewed and agreed by Regional Flood and Coastal Committees (RFCCs), who may make adjustments to reflect local priorities.
If a project is not successful in securing funding for the upcoming year, it is rolled over to the longlist for the next year.
Delivery is the Government’s key priority, and we are working with the Environment Agency to review the programme in the light of the impacts of inflation and the pandemic. More information will be available in due course.
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 make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the use of private consultants by his Department in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department publishes expenditure on consultants in the annual report and accounts. The most recently published period is 2022-23 when the core department spent £23.7 million (page 108).
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 23 April 2024 to Question 22091 on Furs: Trade, what his planned timetable is for publication of the report from the expert Animal Welfare Committee on responsible sourcing in the fur industry.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Committee project on the responsible sourcing of fur is expected to conclude in 2025. The report will be published on gov.uk once finalised.