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1081906

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2019
	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	Fishing Vessels: Northern Ireland
	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 discussions have taken place between the Governments of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland to resolve the issue of the two Northern Irish fishing vessels seized by the Irish Navy on 26 February 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	228157
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/03/2019 answer text <p>On 26 February, two Northern Ireland fishing vessels were detained in Dundalk Bay. The skippers of the boats appeared in court on 1 March. They have since been released without conviction and the boats returned.</p><p> </p><p>The Voisinage Arrangement between the UK and Ireland provides for reciprocal access to fish in the 0-6nm zone. However, the arrangement has been suspended by Ireland following a decision by the Irish Supreme Court in 2016. As a result, fishing by Northern Ireland vessels within Ireland’s 0-6nm zone is currently not permitted. The UK has continued to respect the arrangement but cannot allow this unequal treatment to continue indefinitely.</p><p> </p><p>The UK Government has made numerous representations to the Irish Government since 2016 to push for the reinstatement of the arrangement as soon as possible. Following the seizure of the two vessels, the Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, committed on 1 March to changing the law to restore the status quo to what it was before 2016, and has indicated that he is confident the legislation can be passed quickly. Government officials are seeking confirmation from the Irish Government of the timetable for this.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 07/03/2019 14:24:57 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1082531

	registered interest
	date	06/03/2019
	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	Sheep
	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 assessment his Department has made of the effect on the local environment of sheep farming.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	229199
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The sheep sector plays a vital role in contributing to rural life, local economies and the iconic landscapes of the UK. With over 50% of the national flock being in Wales and Scotland, the sheep sector is an important sector across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The climate and topography of the UK mean that much of it is unsuited to commercial crop production, especially in Wales, Scotland and the north and west of England, where livestock production is the main use of agricultural land. Sheep are a major part of that, with breeds adapted to thrive in areas of harsh climate, topography and low feed-value vegetation. Furthermore, grazing of sheep has a key role in maintaining open habitats, primarily grasslands and heathlands, by hindering succession to scrub or woodland in the lowlands and sub-montane zone. In doing so they are an important land management resource.</p><p> </p><p>We are currently developing our own farming policies as we prepare to leave the EU. Our intention, as laid out in the Agriculture Bill, is for our future policies to primarily reward farmers for providing environmental benefits. We are currently working with farmers, land managers and representative bodies including the National Farmers Union, Tenant Farmers Association and National Sheep Association to ensure that our future Environmental Land Management system can work with livestock farms including sheep farms in lowland and upland areas.</p><p> </p><p>Defra undertakes and coordinates research across the whole food production system, looking at factors including environmental impacts, productivity, efficiency, waste reduction etc. This includes research into sustainable diets, local and seasonal produce, environmental labelling, supply chain efficiency, and sustainable consumption.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 11:54:19 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1083519

	registered interest
	date	07/03/2019
	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: Imports
	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 assessment he has made of the implications for food imports from the US of the United States - European Union Negotiations: Summary of Specific Negotiating Objectives, published by the Office of the United States Trade representative in February 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Edinburgh North and Leith
	tabling member printed	Deidre Brock
	uin	229717
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government welcomes the publication of the United States - European Union Negotiations: Summary of Specific Negotiating Objectives, and the more recent publication of Specific Negotiating Objectives for the UK. These publications are of course important, but do not change the Government’s view that any future trade deal must work for UK consumers, farmers and businesses.</p><p>The Government has made it clear that we will not water down our food or animal welfare standards in pursuit of any trade deal. Existing food standards on issues such as chlorinated chicken will come across through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. For hormone treated beef the UK has transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC into UK law, which prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported products. This will continue when we leave the EU.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 12:09:54 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4417 label Biography information for Deidre Brock

1083571

	registered interest
	date	07/03/2019
	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: Public Consultation
	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 consultations by his Department (a) are open, (b) are closed awaiting a Government response and (c) have been initiated since 2016.
	tabling member constituency	Bootle
	tabling member printed	Peter Dowd
	uin	229742
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>All public government consultations are uploaded onto GOV.UK where one can filter consultations by many criteria, including department, official document status and date of publication. As of 12 March 2019 Defra had:</p><p>a) 9 open public consultations,</p><p>b) 14 consultations closed awaiting a government response; and</p><p>c) 116 consultations published in total from 1 January 2016.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 12:11:13 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4397 label Biography information for Peter Dowd

1083718

	registered interest
	date	07/03/2019
	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	Pigs: Bovine Tuberculosis
	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 TB tests on pigs have returned a negative result after a primary inconclusive test result in England in each year since 2013.
	tabling member constituency	East Yorkshire
	tabling member printed	Sir Greg Knight
	uin	229700
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>We have interpreted the term ‘inconclusive test result’ as suspect pig slaughterhouse cases, tested in abattoirs when TB-like lesions are identified. For these ‘inconclusive’ cases, post mortem samples have been taken and processed for bacteriological isolation of Mycobacterium bovis <em>(M. bovis).</em></p><p>This information is available under the periodical statistics on Gov.UK:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/other-tb-statistics" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/other-tb-statistics</a></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>England</p></td><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Total individual animal specimens submitted for post-mortem examination</p></td><td><p><em>of which:- </em>animal specimens where culturing was not attempted</p></td><td><p>Animal specimens which underwent laboratory culture</p></td><td><p><em>of which:-</em> animal specimens with culture results pending at end of period</p></td><td><p><em>of which:-</em> animal specimens that were culture positive for <em>M. Bovis</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>272</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>272</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>36</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>191</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>188</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>77</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>74</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>31</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>57</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>56</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>14</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>67</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>65</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>117</p></td><td><p>13</p></td><td><p>104</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>111</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>107</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>19</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Q1-Q3 2018</p></td><td><p>101</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>97</p></td><td><p>18</p></td><td><p>17</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 11:50:37 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	1200 label Biography information for Sir Greg Knight

1083719

	registered interest
	date	07/03/2019
	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	Pigs: Bovine Tuberculosis
	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 the average time taken is from the date of a first sample to a final test result in TB tests on pigs in England for each year since 2013.
	tabling member constituency	East Yorkshire
	tabling member printed	Sir Greg Knight
	uin	229701
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The average time to obtain results from growing cultures in the laboratory from samples taken from pigs can vary between 42 and 98 days.</p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><strong> Animals</strong></td><td><strong>Average Days</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>2013</strong></td><td>73</td><td>81</td></tr><tr><td><strong>2014</strong></td><td>68</td><td>111</td></tr><tr><td><strong> 2015</strong></td><td>65</td><td>93</td></tr><tr><td><strong>2016</strong></td><td>104</td><td>93</td></tr><tr><td><strong> 2017</strong></td><td>108</td><td>88</td></tr><tr><td><strong> 2018</strong></td><td>144</td><td>92</td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>APHA’s laboratory IT system does not hold the date the sample was taken. The data provided above has been calculated using the date when the samples were received at the APHA laboratory. This data excludes any incomplete submissions or those currently pending.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 11:38:16 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	1200 label Biography information for Sir Greg Knight

1084418

	registered interest
	date	08/03/2019
	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: Procurement
	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 the guidance entitled, Procurement policy note 03/14: promoting tax compliance, how many suppliers were allocated contracts by his Department as a result of complying with (a) one and (b) more than one of the mitigating circumstances after failing the tax compliance questions.
	tabling member constituency	Oxford East
	tabling member printed	Anneliese Dodds
	uin	230095
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. To obtain the information a manual search through individual records would be required as this is not recorded on departmental systems.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 13/03/2019 13:52:49 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4657 label Biography information for Anneliese Dodds

1084427

	registered interest
	date	08/03/2019
	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: Chief Scientific Advisers
	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 meetings he held with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 December 2018 and 28 February 2019.
	tabling member constituency	North Norfolk
	tabling member printed	Norman Lamb
	uin	230040
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State had two bilateral meetings with Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 December 2018 and 28 February 2019. The Chief Scientific Adviser also regularly attends other Secretary of State meetings on wider issues.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 10:32:07 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb

1086592

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2019
	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	Organic Farming
	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 he has in place to (a) expedite agri-environment funding (i) applications and (ii) claims and (b) review rates of reward for the production of public goods to tackle the effect on the cash flow of organic farmers of leaving the EU without a deal.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	230680
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2019 answer text <p>Having taken over responsibility for this task in October 2018, the Rural Payments Agency is working to process outstanding agri-environment payments and agreements as soon as possible. We know how important these payments are to customers, which is why for Countryside Stewardship claimants, we will be making bridging payments worth 75% of their current claim value to farmers who have not received their advance payments in April.</p><p> </p><p>While our priority remains to deliver a negotiated deal, we fully recognise the concerns of the organics sector and are working hard to mitigate the impact of a no deal on organic operators.</p><p> </p><p>We have already confirmed that food and feed products that are certified as organic in the EU will be recognised after 29 March at the UK’s discretion. We are working to secure a reciprocal agreement so our operators can continue to export their organic produce to the EU.</p><p> </p><p>We currently have no plans to review rates of reward for organic farmers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 18/03/2019 13:10:19 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1086702

	registered interest
	date	11/03/2019
	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	Seasonal Workers: Cornwall
	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 seasonal workers employed in Cornwall in each of the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	St Austell and Newquay
	tabling member printed	Steve Double
	uin	230817
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The number of seasonal, casual or gang labourers on commercial agricultural holdings<sup>(a)</sup> in the South West Region on 1 June in each of the last five years is shown in the table below. County breakdowns are only available for 2013 and 2016, therefore figures for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are included for these years only.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Seasonal, casual or gang labour<sup>(b)</sup></strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South West Region</p></td><td><p>4429</p></td><td><p>5440</p></td><td><p>5744</p></td><td><p>5415</p></td><td><p>6757</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cornwall and Isles of Scilly</p></td><td><p>837</p></td><td><p>n/a</p></td><td><p>n/a</p></td><td><p>1221</p></td><td><p>n/a</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>n/a: not available</p><p>Source: Defra June Survey of Agriculture</p><p>(a) Commercial holdings are those with significant levels of farming activity. These significant levels are classified as any holding with more than 5 hectares of agricultural land, 1 hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.</p><p>(b) Seasonal, casual or gang labour is defined as seasonal, casual and gang workers, including family and non-family workers who are usually employed for less than 20 weeks of the year.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 12:14:50 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	4452 label Biography information for Steve Double