Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department (a) allocated for and (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Budgets are not allocated to this level of detail. The annual Library budget allocation does not provide specific allocation to magazine subscription. The overall budget allocation covers magazines, (e-)books, print and online journals, document delivery, memberships, news coverage, analytical/economic tools and reference/full text databases.
The allocated library budget and spend on magazines and journals over the last three years since 2021/22 is outlined below.
Financial Year | Total Library budget | Spend on magazine and journals |
2021/22 | £780,000 | £487,281.54 |
2022/23 | £1,043,000 | £412,074.32 |
2023/24 | £1,247,000 | £538,098.20 |
Defra Library purchases magazines and journals for Defra, Animal and Plant Health Agency and Natural England staff to support them in their role.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The attached table outlines how much spending has been budgeted for and spent on advertising by the department in each of the last three financial years. Like all areas of government spending, costs are reviewed regularly to ensure value for money.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees have been planted on behalf of his Department since December 2019.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Below are the annual figures for the number of trees planted:
Total Trees Planted (April 2019 - 30 September 2023): 17,219,000 trees.
These figures reflect our continuous commitment to enhancing the UK's green spaces and contribute towards our environmental goals and targets.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in his Department have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has a specialist HR Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team made up of 11 full-time equivalent posts. In addition, the Farming and Countryside Programme has two posts which include EDI in their job titles. All roles are internally focused.
The Government is auditing the cost-effectiveness of all activities that support the EDI of the workforce, through the review of EDI spending announced last June.
As stated in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister for the Cabinet Office will be outlining the final proposals in response to the review in due course.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
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 Chapter 6 of his Department’s publication entitled Defra’s annual report and accounts for 2022 to 2023, published on 26 October 2023, which local authority received the excess rock armour.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The rock armour was transferred to Brighton and Hove City Council for the Brighton Marina to River Adur Coastal Protection Scheme.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra Group Communications is the first single employer shared service communications team in Whitehall, working for six organisations.
Alongside the core department, the team provides communications support for the core Department and five of its largest Arm’s Length Bodies including the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Rural Payments Agency. The teams work across all communications disciplines in support of the policy and operational priorities within each of these organisations. This includes media, planning, stakeholder engagement, digital communications and internal communications across the six parts of the Defra group. This integrated function reduces duplication, improves performance and saves money.
As Defra Group Communications staff work in an agile way in multiple organisations, it is not possible to provide granular full-time equivalent figures for each part of the group, including the core department.
As announced by the Government last year, departments are submitting productivity plans to modernise the Civil Service and reduce the size of the state to pre-pandemic levels. These roles, as all other business units in the department, are considered as part of these plans.
Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has considered the potential merits of introducing a retailer licensing scheme for the sale of vapes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children. Youth vaping has tripled in the last three years, and one in five children now use a vape. To address this, we recently published our response to the smoking and vaping consultation, which sets out our plan to restrict vape flavours, point of sale display, and packaging. The response is available at the following link:
We also set out our plans to introduce an age of sale requirement for non-nicotine vapes and other consumer nicotine products, as well as a £100 fixed penalty notice for underage sales of tobacco and vaping products. In addition, the consultation response announced that disposable vapes will be banned, which will be taken forward by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The Government will introduce legislation as soon as possible.
Whilst there are no current plans to introduce a retail licensing scheme, we have announced £30 million of additional funding per year to tackle illicit and underage sales of tobacco and vape products. In April last year, we also provided funding for a new enforcement unit to tackle the illegal and underage sale of vapes, which has conducted targeted inspections in ports, upskilled trading standards officers, and piloted online underage test programmes.
Asked by: Lord Woolley of Woodford (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Black Child Clean Air Report published by Global Black Maternal Health in June 2023, which indicated that almost half of all Black mothers do not feel educated on the foetal impact of air pollution exposure during pregnancy.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While no specific assessment has been made, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are working with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to review the Air Quality Information System to ensure members of the public, and vulnerable groups, have the information they need to protect themselves and understand their impact on air quality. UKHSA’s Cleaner Air Programme also aims to reduce people’s exposure to air pollution and achieve better outcomes for all, particularly for the most vulnerable populations including pregnant women and ethnic minority groups.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the commitment to match or exceed EU Ecodesign standards in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs publication entitled Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England, published on 18 December 2018, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1670.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Regulation 2023/1670 applies Ecodesign requirement to smartphones and tablets. These are not priority products under the Framework but the Government is currently considering the implications of the EU’s Ecodesign programme and what the UK’s approach should be across a wide range of products.
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 estimate he has made of the money unspent across his Department's budgets in 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has agreed with HM Treasury to budget exchange from 2023/24 to 2024/25 the following: £47.9 million Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) for the Future Farming and Countryside Programme; £24.2 million CDEL for the Science Capability in Animal Health Programme; and £33.21 million CDEL for the Borders Programme. In addition, Defra has reprofiled £116.24 million CDEL primarily to reflect more accurate spend over future years.