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1126136

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Attorney General: Brexit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Attorney General, how many staff of his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other Departments and (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU have since returned to his Department.
	tabling member constituency	Carshalton and Wallington
	tabling member printed	Tom Brake
	uin	253465
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The Attorney General’s Office had one employee who joined DExEU on loan to support work on preparations for the UK to leave the EU. The employee subsequently moved permanently to another department and will not return to the Attorney General’s Office.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 21/05/2019 08:06:53 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
	tabling member	151 label Biography information for Tom Brake

1127077

	registered interest
	date	16/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Consumers: Internet
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2019 to Question 245672 on Consumers: Internet, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 are fully enforced.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	255292
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2008 provides for a number of enforcers, such as Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority, to enforce consumer protection legislation, including the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Alleged breaches of legislation should be reported in the first instance through the Citizens Advice consumer service on 03454 04 05 06 (<a href="http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/" target="_blank">www.citizensadvice.org.uk/</a>). The helpline will refer on alleged breaches of legislation to the relevant authority for appropriate enforcement action.</p> answering member constituency Rochester and Strood answering member printed Kelly Tolhurst question first answered 21/05/2019 14:54:53 answering member 4487 label Biography information for Kelly Tolhurst
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1125859

	registered interest
	date	09/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence: Data Protection
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage large providers of artificial intelligence technology to ensure greater privacy rights for customers.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL15649
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The Data Protection Act 2018 set new standards for protecting personal data, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation. It imposed strict obligations on organisations to ensure that personal data is processed safely and securely. Organisations which fail to comply with the new legislation may be investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office and subject to substantial fines.</p><p> </p><p>All organisations that process personal information must comply with data protection principles. One of these principles states that organisations shall be fair, lawful and transparent in the collection and use of personal data. That means all relevant organisations, including providers of artificial intelligence technology, must clearly explain and justify what they will be doing with personal information that they collect.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has also recently set up the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to identify and address any gaps in the data and AI governance landscape, as and when they emerge. The Centre will provide independent expert advice to Government on the measures needed to enable and ensure safe, ethical and innovative use of data and technology.</p> answering member printed Lord Ashton of Hyde question first answered 21/05/2019 11:10:11 answering member 4247 label Biography information for Lord Ashton of Hyde
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1124878

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	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	Water Companies: Competition
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions there have been between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about the need to ensure that small business customers benefit from the non-household retail water market in England.
	tabling member printed	Baroness McIntosh of Pickering
	uin	HL15553
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Ofwat are the economic regulator for the water industry, and it regulates and monitors the operation of the retail business market. Ofwat published their first annual report on the market, Open for Business<em>,</em> in July 2018. It identified that small and medium sized business customers are not yet experiencing the same benefits that larger customers receive from the retail market, and raised a number of issues that could be affecting this.</p><p> </p><p>Ofwat and Mosl, the market operator, have been taking a number of actions to investigate further and address these issues, including for SMEs.</p><p> </p><p>Ofwat is currently undertaking a further assessment of the market with a view to publishing their second annual report in July.</p><p> </p><p>My Department has ongoing discussions with Ofwat and Mosl about these issues and will discuss the outcomes of the second annual report with Ofwat in due course.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Minister Coffey, the Minister responsible for this policy area, requested that the then Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility, Margot James MP, use her channels to advertise and promote to small business customers that they can benefit from the non-household retail water market in England.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 21/05/2019 13:37:33 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
	tabling member	384 label Biography information for Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

1126006

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	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: Quotas
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the EU Withdrawal Agreement enables the UK to invoke Hague Preference during the implementation period.
	tabling member constituency	Camborne and Redruth
	tabling member printed	George Eustice
	uin	253554
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Article 130(4) of the Withdrawal Agreement provides for the relative stability keys for the allocation of fishing opportunities to be maintained during the implementation period. This provision is intended to ensure that the UK’s share of quota cannot be reduced and that the UK will continue to be able to invoke Hague Preference during the implementation period.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 21/05/2019 12:06:08 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	3934 label Biography information for George Eustice

1126036

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	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: Former Ministers
	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 much his Department has paid to hon. Members under section 4 of the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 since 13 July 2016.
	tabling member constituency	Ellesmere Port and Neston
	tabling member printed	Justin Madders
	uin	253606
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Any such payments are published in the department’s audited annual accounts, and these accounts can be found on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 21/05/2019 12:10:48 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4418 label Biography information for Justin Madders

1126124

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	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: Brexit
	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 staff in his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other departments or (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU, have since returned to his Department.
	tabling member constituency	Carshalton and Wallington
	tabling member printed	Tom Brake
	uin	253454
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>EU departure is an all-of-Government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is responsible for overseeing negotiations to leave the EU and establishing the future relationship between the UK and EU. The Department for International Trade works to secure UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade.<strong><br></strong></p><p>Departments continually review workforce plans and reprioritise and assess changing needs, which includes identification and cessation of non-priority work where appropriate. We have accelerated our plans, and at the same time, the Civil Service as a whole is working to ensure that exit implementation is carried out to a high standard without impacting public service delivery across the whole of Government.</p><p>For Defra, information relating to all staff who have been transferred or loaned to another department since June 2016 is provided below. We are not able to confirm how many of these were related to exit roles as this information is not held.</p><p>We have interpreted the second part of the question relating to ‘other departmental briefs’ as those working on projects with or in other departments through any informal arrangement that is not a formal loan or secondment. Based on this interpretation, Defra does not hold this data and is unable to provide this information.</p><p>The information is from June 2016 – present.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Total number of staff transferred to another Government department (OGD) between June 16 – March 19</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>445</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Number of staff transferred to an OGD who have since returned to Defra</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>0</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total number of staff loaned to an OGD between June 19 – March 19</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>118*</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Number of staff loaned to an OGD who have since returned to Defra</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>14</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>*This figure includes 30 loans where the end dates are between May 2019 and January 2022, and therefore we would not expect staff to have returned to Defra. All loans are generally for a period of two years.</p><p> </p><p>We do not use the term ‘secondment’ to refer to Civil Servants moving between departments, instead we use the term ‘loan’. Therefore we have interpreted this question to refer to those who have moved to other departments on loans.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 21/05/2019 14:09:10 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
	tabling member	151 label Biography information for Tom Brake

1126147

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	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	Countryside Stewardship Scheme
	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 Rural Payments Agency will deliver outstanding countryside stewardship payments in full.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	253688
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) took on responsibility for Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship in October 2018, and is simplifying the administration of the schemes as far as possible under the current EU system by streamlining processes, making changes to IT systems and boosting the workforce to speed up processing.</p><p> </p><p>All eligible Countryside Stewardship 2016 and 2017 claims have received a payment apart from exceptional cases, for example, those that cannot be paid for legal reasons such as probate. Any claim that was not paid a 2018 advance payment by the end of March was issued a bridging payment in early April.</p><p> </p><p>The RPA is on track to meet its commitment to complete 95% of 2018 final payments on claims by the end of July.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 21/05/2019 12:27:53 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1126148

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	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	Farmers: Training
	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 plans his Department has to provide support for on-going training for young farmers who have entered the farming industry, to help ensure the sustainability of that workforce.
	tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
	tabling member printed	David Warburton
	uin	253689
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>It is a key priority of this Government to enable an innovative, productive and competitive agricultural sector, which invests in its people and skills.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is working with industry bodies to improve access to the skills and training required within the industry. The Food and Drink Sector Council identified skills as one of its first priorities. The Council has established a Workforce and Skills Group to develop a long-term action plan for a world-class workforce for all sectors of the food chain, including agriculture.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 21/05/2019 13:34:19 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4526 label Biography information for David Warburton

1126606

	registered interest
	date	14/05/2019
	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	Farmers: Suicide
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to suicides in the farming sector, what steps he is taking to monitor levels of distress in that sector.
	tabling member constituency	Stroud
	tabling member printed	Dr David Drew
	uin	254107
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2019 answer text <p>Defra takes the issue of farmers and agricultural workers’ wellbeing very seriously. I am aware that rates of suicide are higher across the agricultural sector generally than they are for the general population. I know that they often have a solitary lifestyle, it is hard work and their businesses are subject to unpredictable factors such as the weather. As part of the Future Farming programme we are looking at the impact of policies on wellbeing, and we are also working with partners to foster personal and business resilience.</p><p> </p><p>As part of our on-going work using data on the farming sector, we monitor the published ONS statistics on suicides by employment group. As well as headline mortality numbers, we keep under review the issues that may affect broader experiences of positive and negative wellbeing.</p><p> </p><p>Officials meet regularly with farming and rural charities to hear first-hand about resilience in the farming sector. This provides an indication of how farmers and farm workers are responding to any pressures affecting the sector.</p><p> </p><p>Government launched its first ever Loneliness Strategy in October 2018. One of Defra’s commitments is to hold regular stakeholder roundtables to tackle the issues of loneliness and isolation in rural areas. The next roundtable, to be chaired by Lord Gardiner, is being held on 11 June 2019. Defra also provides financial support through an annual grant of £1.7 million to Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE), whose network of 38 rural community councils work on housing and transport issues that we know can affect farming communities.</p><p> </p><p>Defra works closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on this issue. The National Suicide Prevention Strategy highlights the higher risk of suicide experienced by certain occupational groups, and this includes agricultural occupations. Through the Strategy, DHSC has ensured that every local authority has a suicide prevention plan in place to implement tailored approaches to reducing suicides based on the needs and demographics of local communities.</p><p> </p><p>In October 2018, the Prime Minister announced the first Minister for Suicide Prevention, and she recently met the Farming Community Network to understand better the issues facing farmers.</p><p> </p><p>It is important that farmers are aware of the people they can turn to if they are going through difficult times. In particular, the farming charities – the Farming Community Network, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution and the Addington Fund – all do a brilliant job in supporting farmers and their families. The National Farmers Union also has a regional network of advisers who can provide support.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 21/05/2019 14:49:38 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	252 label Biography information for Dr David Drew