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1105779

registered interest
date	28/03/2019
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	Coastal Erosion and Floods
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What steps he is taking to tackle coastal erosion and flooding.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	910084
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>Local Authorities have direct responsibility to produce shoreline management plans covering the entire coast of England. These plans provide a long term, sustainable policy framework for local authorities, to manage the risk of coastal change over the next 100 years.</p><p> </p><p>Government is working closely with coastal authorities on a review of shoreline management plans to ensure they are up to date and using the best evidence. Schemes within the current capital investment programme to 2021 benefit from £1.2 billion of investment in coastal erosion and sea flooding projects which will better protect over 170,000 properties.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/03/2019 17:02:11 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

1105782

registered interest
date	28/03/2019
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	Trade Agreements: USA
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on a potential free trade agreement with the US after the UK leaves the EU.
tabling member constituency	Blaydon
tabling member printed	Liz Twist
uin	910088
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State meets regularly with colleagues to discuss a wide range of issues on current and potential future trade agreements.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 28/03/2019 16:55:25 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
tabling member	4618 label Biography information for Liz Twist

1105783

registered interest
date	28/03/2019
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	Deer: Conservation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	What guidance his Department has issued to the Forestry Commission on deer culling.
tabling member constituency	Mid Sussex
tabling member printed	Sir Nicholas Soames
uin	910089
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>Primary responsibility for deer management lies with local landowners. Defra and the Forestry Commission are members of the Deer Initiative Partnership which brings together land management and conservation organisations, with the shared goal of sustainable deer management. The Deer Initiative has produced guidance for deer managers. Defra has not issued specific guidance to the Forestry Commission, which has its own operating procedures for managing deer on the public forest estate.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/03/2019 17:01:08 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	116 label Biography information for Lord Soames of Fletching

1104778

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Consultants
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 consultants his Department has hired in each year since 2016; and what the cost has been to the public purse.
tabling member constituency	Bootle
tabling member printed	Peter Dowd
uin	236403
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not hold information on the number of consultants hired in any one year as this work is often commissioned as part of an outcome-based contract to ensure value for money.</p><p> </p><p>As set out in the Department’s published Annual Report and Accounts, the amount spent on consultants by Core Defra each year since 2016 is:</p><p> </p><p>2016-17 - £2,792,000</p><p>2017-18 - £11,422,000</p><p> </p><p>The increase reflects the need to ensure the Department draws on the best advice possible as we prepare to leave the EU.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 28/03/2019 16:45:52 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4397 label Biography information for Peter Dowd

1104802

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Poultry: China
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 progress trade opportunities with China in poultry meat and breeding stock.
tabling member constituency	Na h-Eileanan an Iar
tabling member printed	Angus Brendan MacNeil
uin	236416
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>China is a priority market for UK food and drink exports and Defra has been working closely with the UK poultry industry and the Department for International Trade, including with colleagues in Beijing, to identify and develop trade opportunities in the poultry sector.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently unable to export poultry to China due to a ban which China imposed following outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that occurred in the UK in poultry from 2014-2017. We have achieved a number of positive steps towards lifting the ban, including the UK being recognised as officially free from HPAI by the World Organisation for Animal Health (the OIE) since September 2017. The UK also successfully hosted a Chinese inspection visit of Avian Influenza controls in the UK during September 2018.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst the ban remains in place, the Chinese inspection report was positive with regards to the strength of our HPAI controls. We will continue to work across Government and with industry to enable the ban to be lifted.</p><p> </p><p>Once the ban is lifted, we can progress to resuming live exports of poultry, which was an open export market prior to the implementation of the ban.</p><p> </p><p>Following re-opening of pre-existing trade, we can then undertake the longer process of opening a brand new market for the poultry sector, namely poultry meat exports. We will look to build on the successful visit in September 2018 of the UK AI controls to aid in providing the reassurance to China to open this new market, which would extend the range of poultry products available for UK industry to export to China.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 28/03/2019 14:39:53 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
tabling member	1546 label Biography information for Angus Brendan MacNeil

1104839

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Food: Waste
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 estimate he has made of the amount of surplus food produced in the UK; what the (a) sources and (b) destinations were of those surplus stocks; and how that estimate was calculated.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	236317
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) estimates that 43,000 tonnes of surplus food was redistributed in 2017. Retail (41%) and manufacturing (54%) provided the bulk of the surplus food redistributed with the remainder mainly from the hospitality and food service sector.</p><p> </p><p>Charitable organisations redistributed 21,000 tonnes while commercial operators dealt with around 22,000 tonnes.</p><p> </p><p>Data was collected by WRAP in an annual survey of major organisations whose primary business is redistribution of surplus food.</p><p> </p><p>In October 2018, the Secretary of State announced a £15m pilot fund for 2019/20 to support the further redistribution of surplus food and reduce food waste.</p><p> </p><p>We are looking to make announcements on the successful applicants to the first tranche of funding shortly and announce new opportunities for funding in the next few months.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/03/2019 14:56:09 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1104996

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Fisheries: Treaties
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government will ratify the Agreement on Port State Measures To Prevent, Deter And Eliminate Illegal, Unreported And Unregulated Fishing.
tabling member constituency	Richmond Park
tabling member printed	Zac Goldsmith
uin	236487
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The UK Government and the European Council have reached political agreement on the text of a treaty on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU (“the Withdrawal Agreement”).</p><p> </p><p>The UK is currently a Party to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) through its membership of the EU. In the event that the UK leaves the EU without the Withdrawal Agreement being approved and ratified, the PSMA would immediately cease to apply to the UK.</p><p> </p><p>In this scenario, the UK would deposit its instrument of accession in time to ensure that the UK becomes a Contracting Party to the PSMA in its own right immediately upon its withdrawal from the EU.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 28/03/2019 14:31:41 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
tabling member	4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

1093501

registered interest
date	22/03/2019
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	Biodiversity
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 his Department is taking to meet UN biodiversity targets on halting species decline and improving the condition of protected sites.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
uin	235742
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/03/2019 answer text <p>Domestic biodiversity policy is a devolved matter and the information provided relates to England only, except in relation to our plans internationally.</p><p>On land, around 94% of our protected sites, covering over 1 million hectares, are now in good condition or have management in place to restore their condition. At sea, we are putting management measures in place to protect and expand our Marine Protected Areas. We have consulted on a third tranche of 41 Marine Conservation Zones. Sites to be designated will be in place by 7 June.</p><p>Our agencies and non-Departmental bodies are working on species recovery projects with landowning and conservation partners, for example on freshwater pearl mussel, short-haired bumblebee and stone curlew.</p><p>The ongoing declines in nature are a global problem that need a global solution. That is why the UK is committed to playing a leading role in developing a global post-2020 framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity that is ambitious and transformational. Our Darwin Initiative supports global action by providing grants to protect biodiversity and the natural environment, with £10.6 million awarded in 2018. Defra has contributed almost £6 million over the last three years to Darwin Plus for Overseas Territories’ biodiversity. We continue to support activities to end poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, and have recently passed new legislation to close our domestic ivory market, which will be the toughest ivory ban in Europe and one of the toughest in the world.</p><p>The UK Government has committed to protecting the ocean, and has called for at least 30 per cent of the ocean to be in Marine Protected Areas by 2030. Our Blue Belt programme will protect marine habitats and species in 4million km<sup>2</sup> around the Overseas Territories by 2020.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 27/03/2019 16:16:00 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1092584

registered interest
date	21/03/2019
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	Fires
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 progress his Department has made on its wildfires review.
tabling member constituency	Mid Sussex
tabling member printed	Sir Nicholas Soames
uin	235405
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The Defra wildfire review on our future approach to land management (in the context of future mitigation of wildfire) is ongoing. The report will incorporate evidence, reviews and guidance currently being gathered. This includes a review of evidence on wildfire and its management, including the social science behind this. This is currently being conducted by Natural England and I expect that to be published before the end of June 2019. The Defra review will then be published shortly after. This will then be used to inform future wildfire management planning.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England is working with the Met Office and the National Parks to objectively review the operation of the Fire Severity Index (FSI), based on the relevant science. The outcome of this review will include any recommendations for improvements to the FSI system.</p><p>Defra’s Uplands Management Group are also in the process of producing moorland wildfire mitigation guidance. Furthermore, the England &amp; Wales Wildfire Forum (EWWF) hosted a stakeholder workshop in February on behalf of Defra the outputs of which will be used to feed into the review.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 28/03/2019 11:59:08 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	116 label Biography information for Lord Soames of Fletching

1092641

registered interest
date	21/03/2019
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 his Department is taking to (a) maintain and (b) increase animal welfare standards in battery hen farms.
tabling member constituency	Preston
tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
uin	235260
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2019 answer text <p>The use of conventional (“battery”) cages for laying hens has been banned in the UK since 2012. Laying hens are kept in either enriched colonies, free range, barn or organic systems. Enriched colonies provide more space for the birds to move around and are legally required to provide nest boxes, litter, perches, and claw shortening devices which allow the birds to carry out a greater range of natural behaviours.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The new statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Laying Hens and Pullets provides improved and up-to-date guidance for owners and keepers on how to comply with the legislation and help maintain high animal welfare standards.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We intend to continue being a world leader in animal welfare after we leave the EU by maintaining and strengthening our already world-class welfare standards. As part of our move to higher regulatory standards we intend to develop publicly-funded schemes for farmers to deliver animal welfare enhancements beyond our high regulatory baseline that are valued by the public.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 26/03/2019 11:34:15 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick