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1470753

registered interest
date	15/06/2022
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	Animal and Plant Health Agency: Weybridge
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 report entitled Improving the UK’s science capability for managing animal diseases, published by the National Audit Office on 15 June 2022, what assessment he has made of the reasons for his Department allowing the Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge site to deteriorate to a state where some of the facilities were found to be no longer fit for purpose; what steps he is taking to tackle the (a) under-investment and (b) poor strategic management of the site identified by that report; what recent assessment he has made of the site’s ability to respond effectively to a major animal disease outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	18870
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2022 answer text <p>We are taking all the necessary steps to secure our animal health science capability. Defra recognised that a complete redevelopment was needed to keep the site fit for purpose and since then has carried out a major programme of critical maintenance and set up the Science Capability in Animal Health (SCAH) programme - a major investment to secure the long-term future of the Weybridge facility. We have secured funding of £1.4 billion of which £200 million has been allocated for this SR Period to safeguard and enhance the laboratories at Weybridge and secure our vital scientific capability. This substantial investment recognises the Government’s commitment to the strongest possible standards of biosecurity.</p><p> </p><p>We have demonstrated our effective response to significant animal disease outbreaks. For example, Avian Influenza over the last two winter seasons have been the largest on record.</p><p> </p><p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency provides high-quality surveillance, preparedness, detection and response to biosecurity threats from animal diseases - both those that might affect our ability to trade and those which pose a threat to human health. The work which has commenced to safeguard and enhance the Weybridge site will enable its excellent scientists to continue at the forefront of science which protects the country, boosting our resilience against animal diseases.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 27/06/2022 16:53:36 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1465370

registered interest
date	24/05/2022
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	Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control
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 email dated 5 May 2022 from his Department's Bovine TB Programme to authors of a report cited in the Veterinary Record containing a correction and apology from his Department for a data error on the incidence of bovine TB in areas where badgers were not culled, if he will issue a (a) public apology for, and retraction of his Department's blog issued by his Department's press office on 18 March 2022, entitled Rebuttal of claims on TB cull effectiveness and (b) correction to all journalists and independent parties briefed on the contents of that press statement; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	7961
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>The Veterinary Record has published a correction to the data error in the letter from the UK Chief Veterinary Officer and Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser published on 19 March 2022. This does not alter the conclusions in the original letter. We have also corrected the corresponding Government Vets blog post. Thus, we have no plans to make a public apology for, or retraction of, Defra’s statements in response to the paper by Thomas Langton and others published on 18 March 2022.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 01/06/2022 15:45:16 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1464056

registered interest
date	18/05/2022
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	Agriculture: Subsidies
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 potential merits of increasing support payments and grants to farmers in England in the context of rates of agricultural inflation.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	4535
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products. Furthermore, we have announced new Research Starter Projects - open to individual farming, growing or forestry businesses in England to develop feasibility studies to accelerate research and development.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/06/2022 08:35:40 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1464057

registered interest
date	18/05/2022
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	Sustainable Farming Incentive
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 his Department plans to (a) publish (i) the remaining standards for the Sustainable Farming Incentive and (ii) the advanced level for the existing standards under the scheme and (b) open those schemes for applications from farmers.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	4536
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/05/2022 answer text <p>In March 2021, we revealed the eight standards that were going to be piloted in the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot agreements. These are now live and the learning from the pilot is being fed into the design of the live scheme.</p><p> </p><p>In December 2021, we published an indicative timetable for when we expect future elements of the scheme to roll out. The scheme will launch later this year with core elements of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, expanding those elements until we have the full offer available in 2025. As part of the early roll out in 2022 we will release the introductory and intermediate levels of the Arable and Horticultural Soils Standard and Improved Grassland Soils Standard, and the introductory level of the Moorland Standard, and, slightly later on, the annual health and welfare review. As indicated in the March publication of 2022, we intend to roll out the advanced levels of both soil standards in 2023 and the full moorland standard is set to be rolled out in 2024.</p><p> </p><p>When the scheme launches later this year, farmers who are eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) will be eligible to apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive. This covers most farmland in England. In later years, when we are ready to take on new customers not already registered for BPS, we will remove the BPS eligibility requirement, so a wider range of farmers will become eligible for the scheme. We do not expect to do this before 2024.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 27/05/2022 13:30:36 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1464090

registered interest
date	18/05/2022
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: Legislation
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 post-implementation reviews of legislation his Department has undertaken on time for legislation enacted over the last 10 years.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	4537
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/05/2022 answer text <p>Information on the number of pieces of primary and secondary legislation that have gone through post-legislative scrutiny by the department in the last ten years is not held by a central team in Defra. It would therefore incur disproportionate costs to obtain this information in full. We do have some information that we are able to provide between 2016 and 2022 which I have detailed here. We are unable to provide information older than 2016 without incurring disproportionate costs as this information is not held in the department.</p><p> </p><p>The information provided here is only held for internal administrative reasons and therefore may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the past decade.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has 91 statutory Post Implementation Reviews (PIRs) which we were obliged to publish between 2016 and 2022. Of these,</p><ul><li>29 have been completed,</li></ul><p>o 9 were completed by the statutory deadline,</p><p>o the remaining 20 were completed late.</p><ul><li>62 PIRs are currently outstanding.</li></ul><p> </p><p>A key factor in delays for those outstanding has been the need to prioritise work related to our exit from the EU and the response to the coronavirus pandemic. We are conscious the proportion of reviews completed on time is low and Defra is taking steps to address this backlog and strengthen our approach in this area and to complete future reviews on time.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 27/05/2022 13:41:36 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1463670

registered interest
date	17/05/2022
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	Animal Products: 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, with reference to his Department’s 2021 Animal Welfare Action Plan, if he will take legislative steps to implement (a) a ban on the advertising and offering for sale in the UK of specific, unacceptable practices abroad and (b) the other legislative commitments set out in the section of the Animal Welfare Action Plan entitled International trade and advocacy; for what reasons a bill containing those policies was not contained in the Queen’s Speech 2022; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	3558
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/05/2022 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 17 May 2022 to the hon. Member for Rotherham, <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-05-13/1511" target="_blank">PQ 1511</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 25/05/2022 11:31:02 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1461234

registered interest
date	10/05/2022
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	Outdoor Recreation
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 Answer of 19 April 2022 to Question 148359 on Outdoor Recreation which stated that there are no plans to release the Agnew Review in a consolidated way, if he will place a copy of the (a) final report and (b) recommendations of that review, otherwise known as the Access to the Outdoors Commission, in the Library.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	164
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2022 answer text <p>As set out in my answer of 19 April, no formal report was produced by the Access to the Outdoors commission. The outcomes of the commission include £30 million provided through the Spending Review to improve public access to green spaces and better joined up working across government in taking forward a number of policy measures.</p><p>These include the development of the UK-wide Levelling Up Parks Fund which will create parks and green spaces on urban land which has become unused, undeveloped or neglected. This Government is investing an unprecedented £2 billion in walking and cycling over this Parliament, building hundreds of miles of high-quality cycle lanes and increasing access to a range of places including green spaces. We have also launched the Department for Education's Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, which includes a commitment to increase opportunities for all children and young people to spend time in nature, learn more about it, and get involved in improving their environment.</p><p>The 'Preventing and Tackling Mental Ill Health through Green Social Prescribing' cross-governmental project is testing nature-based social prescribing in seven test and learn sites. The project is working in both rural and urban locations and is helping connect those living in cities with nature.</p><p>We are working to complete the England Coast Path, to support our network of National Trails and intend to create a new National Trail across the North of England.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 16/05/2022 16:21:11 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1459940

registered interest
date	25/04/2022
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	Environment Protection
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 he plans to (a) publish and (b) lay before Parliament the environmental principles policy statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	158921
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>We will publish the environmental principles draft policy statement and lay it before Parliament as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 28/04/2022 06:42:43 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1460181

registered interest
date	25/04/2022
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 assessment he has made of the unique biodiversity loss challenges facing each sector of the economy, including those which go beyond deforestation; and if he will make it his policy to issue guidance on sectoral pathways to a nature positive economy.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	158922
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>The Government has committed to leave the environment in a better state than we found it, and recognises the unique biodiversity loss challenges faced by every sector of our economy.</p><p>Through the Environment Act, the Government is introducing a statutory cycle of monitoring, planning and reporting on Environmental Improvement Plans (EIPs). The Outcome Indicator Framework provides one method of reporting on the progress of the EIP. The Framework draws together a comprehensive suite of measures which collectively describe environmental change as it relates to the ten goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan (which will become the first EIP).</p><p>The Government has introduced a significant number of policies across the economy to support sectors to recover nature, from biodiversity net gain to environmental land management schemes. In 2018 the Green Book incorporated reference to natural capital for the first time. The 2020 version of the Green Book incorporated as its supplementary guidance Defra's 'Enabling a Natural Capital Approach' (ENCA) which provides further data, guidance, and tools to support policymakers in every Government Department on how to consider natural capital in all decision-making.</p><p>In our 2019 Green Finance Strategy, the government committed to transforming the frameworks for financial decision making. This includes supporting the finance sector to develop the tools and skills to price climate and biodiversity risk into financial models. As part of the strategy, we set a clear expectation for the finance sector to implement the recommendations of the global Taskforce on Climate related Finance Disclosures, to ensure that risks are properly understood. We also committed to catalyse international action on nature-related financial disclosures.</p><p>Since the publication of the Strategy, we have increased our ambition and accelerated the pace including the Chancellor's announcement in November 2020 setting a timetable for climate disclosures to become mandatory by 2024 and through the launch of a global market-led Taskforce on Nature Related Disclosures. The Chancellor also announced plans to legislate to create a Green Taxonomy, to provide clear guidelines to investors on the sectors, technologies and activities that can be considered compatible with the transition to a nature-positive economy in line with our long-term environmental policies. As part of the Strategy, we also set up a Green Finance Institute in partnership with the City of London to support and leverage the skills in our world leading financial sector.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 28/04/2022 11:16:15 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1460191

registered interest
date	25/04/2022
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	Outdoor Recreation
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 Answer of 19 April 2022 to Question 148359 on Outdoor Recreation which stated that there are no plans to release the Agnew Review in a consolidated way, if he will place a copy of the (a) final report and (b) recommendations of the review, otherwise known as the Access to the Outdoors Commission, in the Library.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	158924
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 28/04/2022 10:45:06 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas