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1087060

registered interest
date	12/03/2019
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	Peatlands
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 value of blanket bog peat lands to (a) carbon sequestration and (b) flood prevention.
tabling member constituency	Rochdale
tabling member printed	Tony Lloyd
uin	231367
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>Blanket bogs can act as a source or sink of carbon depending on their condition. Near natural condition blanket bogs sequester small amounts of carbon per hectare per year (0.7 to 2.8 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalents); however, the largest climate mitigation benefit of restoring blanket bog peatlands is from avoided emissions of greenhouse gases, rather than carbon sequestration, as degraded blanket bogs are more significant sources of greenhouse gases.</p><p> </p><p>Research funded by Defra shows that restoring upland peat habitats can slow overland water flow leading to delayed and reduced peak discharge in small catchments. However, it remains difficult to demonstrate the benefits of peat management on flood prevention in larger catchments.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 15/03/2019 11:22:55 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	450 label Biography information for Tony Lloyd

1087133

registered interest
date	12/03/2019
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	Air Pollution
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 deaths that can be attributed to poor air quality in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Coventry South
tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
uin	231360
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The latest advice from the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, published in August last year, is that the mortality burden of the air pollution mixture (based on both PM<sub>2.5 </sub>and NO<sub>2</sub>) in the UK is equivalent to 28,000 to 36,000 deaths per year. Mortality burden is a statistical way of assessing the impact of diseases and pollution. The equivalent figures at a more localised level are not available. Public Health England has, however, estimated the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution at local authority level in the Public Health Outcomes Framework, available to view and search online at: <a href="https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework" target="_blank">https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 15/03/2019 14:48:53 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1087190

registered interest
date	12/03/2019
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	Coeliac Disease: Food
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 on the effect on the supply chains of coeliac produce of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
uin	231369
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>The UK has a high degree of food security, built on access to a range of sources including strong domestic production and imports from other countries. This will continue to be the case whether we leave the EU with or without a deal.</p><p>Our Food Security and Resilience team have been meeting weekly with industry and retailers to make sure we are prepared for all scenarios. The Government has well established ways of working with the food industry to minimise potential disruption and we are using these to support contingency planning.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 15/03/2019 11:43:44 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1087218

registered interest
date	12/03/2019
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	Chemicals: Regulation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the debate of 25 February 2019, on Exiting the European Union (Consumer Protection) motion debate, Official Report column 75, what progress has been made on setting up the IT system intended to support the establishment of UK REACH.
tabling member constituency	Wakefield
tabling member printed	Mary Creagh
uin	231418
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2019 answer text <p>In the event of a no-deal scenario, the UK REACH IT system will provide the critical functionality needed to support UK REACH and provide continuity for UK business. REACH IT is being built in a phased approach, prioritising all essential industry user functions for the end of March 2019. This will enable industry to register new chemicals and those with existing REACH registrations to provide the UK Agency, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with details to verify those registrations.</p><p> </p><p>We have tested this system in recent weeks with over 100 industry users, receiving positive feedback during its testing phase. The decision was made not to switch to deploying contingency plans as we are confident that the UK REACH IT system will be ready from 29 March.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 15/03/2019 14:53:06 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	1579 label Biography information for Mary Creagh

1086567

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	Dogs: Quarantine
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 puppies have been seized and taken into quarantine since the Animal and Plant Health Agency established an intelligence team to gather data, intelligence and information on the illegal movement of dogs and puppies in 2015.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
uin	230871
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA’s) data retention period for import data is 3 years. APHA holds data on animals landed in Great Britain that do not meet the import requirements and therefore require quarantine, under the Rabies (Importation of Dogs, Cats and Other Mammals) Order 1974 (as amended) (RIO).</p><p> </p><p>The number of puppies quarantined in the last three years can be found in the table below. The figures for illegal animals also include:</p><p> </p><p>• pet animals that arrive at UK airports and during the pets check are found to be non-compliant.</p><p>• animals that are found ‘inland’ and after a trading standards investigation are found to be non-compliant.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>Number of puppies quarantined</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p>680</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p>486</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td><td><p>178</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>There are many reasons why people do not comply with the legislation concerning the importation of dogs entering the UK. As a result, Defra and APHA have put in place mechanisms to understand the cause of non-compliance through collaborative working with third sector partners, enhanced working with carriers and better sharing of information by developing intelligence networks.</p><p> </p><p>Due to the complex landscape, it is not possible to correlate the number of seizures to any one particular initiative. There have been a number of recent focused efforts from all involved parties including training carrier operatives on the requirements for compliant travel and changes to the hours of working of APHA staff at Dover. Intelligence gathered has been used effectively to alert other EU member states of issues arising, to disrupt illegal trade before it enters the UK.</p><p> </p><p>It is therefore through a combination of numerous activities that the number of dogs requiring seizure has dropped.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 14/03/2019 15:26:26 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

1086568

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	Livestock: Transport
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 animals have been transported to mainland Europe for slaughter in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Leeds North West
tabling member printed	Alex Sobel
uin	230872
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The Trade Control and Expert System (TRACEs) publishes data on the number of exports for slaughter. TRACEs has only published data from 2014-2016; data for 2017 and 2018 has not yet been published.</p><p> </p><p>The data can be viewed here: <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/live_animals_en" target="_blank">https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/live_animals_en</a></p><p> </p><p>The total volume of trade in live exports for slaughter to the EU from the UK from 2014 to 2016 was:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Cattle </strong></p></td><td><p>3,982</p></td><td><p>7,673</p></td><td><p>10,464</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sheep</strong></p></td><td><p>361,769</p></td><td><p>321,343</p></td><td><p>385,099</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Pigs </strong></p></td><td><p>10,396</p></td><td><p>12,772</p></td><td><p>8,916</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>378,161</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>343,803</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>406,495</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The majority of animals are exported from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 14/03/2019 11:22:39 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4658 label Biography information for Alex Sobel

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

1086721

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	Hedgehogs: East Midlands
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 steps he has taken to tackle the decline in hedgehog numbers in the East Midlands.
tabling member constituency	Mansfield
tabling member printed	Ben Bradley
uin	230910
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>The Government has published advice on how to help hedgehogs through the creation of hedgehog havens and making gardens as welcoming as possible. This can be accessed at: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/news/five-simple-steps-to-transform-gardens-in-to-hedgehog-havens" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/news/five-simple-steps-to-transform-gardens-in-to-hedgehog-havens</a></p><p> </p><p>We support the excellent work being undertaken by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, such as the Hedgehog Street campaign and their Conservation Strategy for Hedgehogs which sets out a ten year approach to supporting this species. Natural England is taking action to address some of the objectives in this strategy.</p><p> </p><p>As set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan, we are committed to creating or restoring 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat to provide benefits for species such as the hedgehog. Agri-environment schemes such as Countryside Stewardship provide funding to restore, extend and link important habitats and boost food resources for a range of species including hedgehogs.</p><p> </p><p>These actions are at a national level. We do not hold information on how they are being taken forward in the East Midlands specifically.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 14/03/2019 17:00:23 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4663 label Biography information for Ben Bradley

1086725

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	Smallholdings
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 ensure that local authorities are delivering value for money through their management of county council smallholding estates.
tabling member constituency	Stroud
tabling member printed	Dr David Drew
uin	230610
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>Defra’s annual report to Parliament on the proceedings of local authority smallholdings in England published on 27 February 2019, shows that the reporting smallholding authorities generated a revenue account net surplus of around £16 million in 2017/2018 from their council smallholdings estates.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities regularly review all their commercial assets to establish strategies to help meet financial requirements and deliver service transformation needs. We encourage all smallholding authorities reviewing rural estate assets to follow the principles and guidance set out in the Rural Estate Asset Management Planning Good Practice Guidance which was prepared by the Association of Chief Estates Surveyors and the Tenancy Reform Industry Group.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill grouped question UIN 230612 question first answered 14/03/2019 12:22:42 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
tabling member	252 label Biography information for Dr David Drew

1086726

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	Smallholdings
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 last carried out an assessment of the performance of local authorities in delivering the objective for county council smallholding estates as set out in section 39 of the Agriculture Act 1970.
tabling member constituency	Stroud
tabling member printed	Dr David Drew
uin	230611
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/03/2019 answer text <p>I value the contribution council farms make in providing opportunities for new entrants to start off in farming.</p><p> </p><p>Every year Defra lays a report on the proceedings of Local Authority Smallholdings before Parliament and publishes it on GOV.UK. The most recent report was published on 27 February 2019 providing statistical and financial information on the delivery of council farm smallholdings estates across England for the financial year of 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.</p><p> </p><p>The report can be downloaded from the GOV.UK website here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/68th-annual-report-to-parliament-on-smallholdings-in-england" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/68th-annual-report-to-parliament-on-smallholdings-in-england</a></p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 14/03/2019 12:33:43 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
tabling member	252 label Biography information for Dr David Drew