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60921

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Disciplinary Proceedings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of staff within his Department who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199905
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The data in the table relates to staff in core Defra only.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings who have not declared their ethnicity</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings who have declared themselves to be white British</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>100%</p></td><td><p>0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>Employees declare their ethnicity and national identity on a voluntary basis.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 14:41:58 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60922

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Equal Opportunities
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration his Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199948
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Core Defra follows Cabinet Office advice in meeting its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which is part of the Equality Act 2010, when considering bids for commercial contracts or grants.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As part of our evaluation criteria we ask each bidder to provide evidence of their equality and diversity policy or an equivalent document which demonstrates their organisation's commitment to equality and diversity and which is compliant with the relevant legislation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We ask each bidder to describe the steps they have taken to:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· monitor equality and diversity performance;</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· implement training programmes for raising awareness;</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· ensure staff and sub-contractors working on the contract comply appropriately with the relevant legislation;</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· address cases of discrimination and other breaches and set out measures for preventing recurrences; and</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· give the Department full confidence in their organisation's approach to equality and diversity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A score is allocated to the bidder's response to these questions which forms part of the overall technical evaluation of the bid.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 16/06/2014 14:53:32 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60923

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Equality
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what targets his Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199927
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Civil Service has a longstanding commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and ensuring that the Civil Service is representative of the society it serves. Central to this is the principle of appointment on merit which is the foundation of Civil Service recruitment and enshrined in law.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Core Defra does not have numerical targets for increasing our workforce diversity. However, Defra's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2013-15 contains a clear goal for Defra to become a diverse and inclusive Department ‘that can attract and retain talented people from the widest range of backgrounds and offer all our employees equality of opportunity to progress and achieve their potential on merit.'</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Defra is also committed to reviewing our Equality Objectives and monitoring our performance against them and further information is provided in our Workforce Monitoring Report here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/about/equality-and-diversity" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/about/equality-and-diversity</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Defra's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy is underpinned by an action plan, with good progress made in the first year, including:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Mandating unconscious bias training for managers of people and those involved in recruitment and interviewing.</li><li>Introducing senior leader Diversity Champions for specific groups.</li><li>Participating fully in Positive Action Pathways, Diversity Schemes and Programmes.</li><li>Ongoing participation in the award winning ‘Summer Diversity Internship Programme', specifically aimed at underrepresented students.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 16:45:08 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60924

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Disciplinary Proceedings
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of staff within his Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199884
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The data in the table relates to staff in core Defra only.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial Year</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff subject to formal disciplinary proceedings who have not declared their ethnicity</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff subject to formal disciplinary proceedings who have declared themselves to be white British</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>33%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>75%</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>33%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>17%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>Employees declare their ethnicity and national identity on a voluntary basis.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 14:45:15 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60992

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Ash Dieback Disease
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the state of health of the UK tree population following the recent Ash Dieback epidemic.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	200115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Surveillance and monitoring has been carried out by the Forestry Commission and the Food and Environment Research Agency to provide intelligence on the rate of spread for Chalara. The surveillance in all four administrations is helping to determine the extent of the disease. This work will continue on new infected sites and, in consultation with stakeholders, the Government will consider what future surveillance work is needed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Further information on the management approach to Chalara and other established tree pests and pathogens in England can be found in the Tree Health Management Plan, which was published in April 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tree-health-management-plan" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tree-health-management-plan</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 16/06/2014 15:12:49 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

61041

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Livestock: Antibiotics
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of antibiotics used in the UK are given to farm animals.
tabling member constituency	Richmond Park
tabling member printed	Zac Goldsmith
uin	199824
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Data on antibiotic use in the medical and veterinary sectors are currently collated in different formats, which prevents direct comparison; it is therefore not possible to accurately ascertain what proportion of total antibiotics used in the UK are given to farm animals.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In 2012, sales of antibiotic active ingredient authorised for veterinary use (farm and companion animals) totalled 409 tonnes.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 17/06/2014 14:47:49 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

61115

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Birds
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assistance his Department gives to farmers and landowners in controlling the number of jays which predate smaller song birds.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	200077
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. However, licences allow for the control of birds in some circumstances. In England, general licences are issued by Natural England permitting users to kill or take jays for several purposes. These include conserving wild birds and preventing serious damage to crops. They may be relied on by landowners and other authorised persons as long as they are satisfied they have met the conditions of the licence.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 17/06/2014 15:30:53 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

61116

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Nature Conservation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to improve the habitat and increase the number of (a) hedgehogs and (b) owls.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	200082
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Agri-environment schemes, such as Environmental Stewardship, are the principal means of improving habitats and the wider environment on farmland in England. Farmers receive funding to manage the cropped environment and provide additional habitats on their farms for birds and other wildlife. Under work to develop the implementation plan for Biodiversity 2020 (the Government's strategy for England's wildlife and ecosystem services) Natural England has commissioned work to review all Section 41 species. This is to identify priorities for action and to determine what those actions should be. The hedgehog is being considered within this context by the Mammal Taxon Group, which comprises specialist organisations, led by Natural England.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Activities of benefit to owls, currently funded by Environmental Stewardship, include the establishment of grassy margins and buffer strips, and the management of field corners. These can provide additional habitat for prey species such as small mammals. The restoration of traditional farm buildings can also provide both shelter and nesting sites along with the provision of nest boxes.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 17/06/2014 15:30:27 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

61117

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Hedgehogs
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of hedgehogs in the UK in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	200083
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>No estimates of hedgehog populations have been made by Defra in the last three years. However, a report ‘The State of Britain's Hedgehogs' was published in 2011 by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People's Trust for Endangered Species. It estimates that hedgehog numbers were approximately 1.5 million in 1995. The report is available online at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.ptes.org/files/1428_sobh2011lowres.pdf" target="_blank">www.ptes.org/files/1428_sobh2011lowres.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 17/06/2014 16:16:58 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

61118

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Rural Areas: Festivals and Special Occasions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) rural festivals and (b) country sports events have been held in the UK in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	200069
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p>Defra does not hold this information.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 16/06/2014 14:58:55 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon