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61320

registered interest
date	11/06/2014
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: 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 assessment he has made of the effect on air quality of the escape of methane and other gases from disused mine workings in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	East Yorkshire
tabling member printed	Sir Greg Knight
uin	200250
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2014 answer text <p>The Coal Authority is responsible for dealing with reported cases of escaped gases from disused mine workings, including monitoring concentrations where necessary. Consequently, Defra has made no assessment of the impact on air quality of the escape of methane and other gases from disused mine workings.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 18/06/2014 10:02:49 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1200 label Biography information for Sir Greg Knight

61450

registered interest
date	11/06/2014
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	Floods: South East
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 he has made of how many properties at risk of flooding in (a) Windsor constituency and (b) the Thames Valley that will not be covered by the new Flood Re scheme.
tabling member constituency	Windsor
tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
uin	200307
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The assessment of the impact the scope of the Flood Re Scheme will have was done at a UK level. There was no specific assessment for individual constituencies or regions.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 11:03:41 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

61462

registered interest
date	11/06/2014
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 Charges: South West
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 agreement has been reached to extend to 2020 the reduction to household water bills for South West Water customers.
tabling member constituency	Penistone and Stocksbridge
tabling member printed	Angela Smith
uin	200276
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government announced the decision to fund South West Water to enable it to cut bills by £50 per year for all household customers in the Budget 2011. Households in the South West have received the reduction since April 2013. The understanding has always been that this reduction would continue for the duration of both the current spending review and the next.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 16/06/2014 15:04:18 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1564 label Biography information for Angela Smith

61517

registered interest
date	11/06/2014
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	Eurostar
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received any representations about the refusal of Eurostar to allow pets on board its trains using the Passports for Pets scheme.
tabling member printed	Lord Black of Brentwood
uin	HL295
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Defra has received a small number of letters from pet owners on this issue since 2012.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Government does not impose any obligation on transport companies to carry pet animals. It is a commercial decision on the part of transport companies as to whether they offer this service to their customers.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 23/06/2014 11:04:34 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	4171 label Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood

60921

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
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	Disciplinary Proceedings
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 staff within his Department who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199905
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The data in the table relates to staff in core Defra only.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings who have not declared their ethnicity</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings who have declared themselves to be white British</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>100%</p></td><td><p>0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td><td><p>No dismissals</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>Employees declare their ethnicity and national identity on a voluntary basis.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 14:41:58 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60922

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
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	Equal Opportunities
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 consideration his Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199948
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Core Defra follows Cabinet Office advice in meeting its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which is part of the Equality Act 2010, when considering bids for commercial contracts or grants.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As part of our evaluation criteria we ask each bidder to provide evidence of their equality and diversity policy or an equivalent document which demonstrates their organisation's commitment to equality and diversity and which is compliant with the relevant legislation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We ask each bidder to describe the steps they have taken to:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· monitor equality and diversity performance;</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· implement training programmes for raising awareness;</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· ensure staff and sub-contractors working on the contract comply appropriately with the relevant legislation;</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· address cases of discrimination and other breaches and set out measures for preventing recurrences; and</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· give the Department full confidence in their organisation's approach to equality and diversity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A score is allocated to the bidder's response to these questions which forms part of the overall technical evaluation of the bid.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 16/06/2014 14:53:32 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60923

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
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	Equality
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 targets his Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199927
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Civil Service has a longstanding commitment to promoting equality of opportunity and ensuring that the Civil Service is representative of the society it serves. Central to this is the principle of appointment on merit which is the foundation of Civil Service recruitment and enshrined in law.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Core Defra does not have numerical targets for increasing our workforce diversity. However, Defra's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2013-15 contains a clear goal for Defra to become a diverse and inclusive Department ‘that can attract and retain talented people from the widest range of backgrounds and offer all our employees equality of opportunity to progress and achieve their potential on merit.'</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Defra is also committed to reviewing our Equality Objectives and monitoring our performance against them and further information is provided in our Workforce Monitoring Report here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/about/equality-and-diversity" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/about/equality-and-diversity</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Defra's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy is underpinned by an action plan, with good progress made in the first year, including:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Mandating unconscious bias training for managers of people and those involved in recruitment and interviewing.</li><li>Introducing senior leader Diversity Champions for specific groups.</li><li>Participating fully in Positive Action Pathways, Diversity Schemes and Programmes.</li><li>Ongoing participation in the award winning ‘Summer Diversity Internship Programme', specifically aimed at underrepresented students.</li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 16:45:08 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60924

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
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	Disciplinary Proceedings
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 staff within his Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.
tabling member constituency	Washington and Sunderland West
tabling member printed	Mrs Sharon Hodgson
uin	199884
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The data in the table relates to staff in core Defra only.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial Year</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff subject to formal disciplinary proceedings who have not declared their ethnicity</p></td><td><p>Percentage of staff subject to formal disciplinary proceedings who have declared themselves to be white British</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>33%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>75%</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>33%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>17%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>25%</p></td><td><p>67%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p>Employees declare their ethnicity and national identity on a voluntary basis.</p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 17/06/2014 14:45:15 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1521 label Biography information for Mrs Sharon Hodgson

60992

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
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	Ash Dieback Disease
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 assessment he has made of the state of health of the UK tree population following the recent Ash Dieback epidemic.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	200115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Surveillance and monitoring has been carried out by the Forestry Commission and the Food and Environment Research Agency to provide intelligence on the rate of spread for Chalara. The surveillance in all four administrations is helping to determine the extent of the disease. This work will continue on new infected sites and, in consultation with stakeholders, the Government will consider what future surveillance work is needed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Further information on the management approach to Chalara and other established tree pests and pathogens in England can be found in the Tree Health Management Plan, which was published in April 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tree-health-management-plan" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tree-health-management-plan</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Cornwall answering member printed Dan Rogerson question first answered 16/06/2014 15:12:49 answering member 1504 label Biography information for Dan Rogerson
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

61041

registered interest
date	10/06/2014
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: Antibiotics
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 antibiotics used in the UK are given to farm animals.
tabling member constituency	Richmond Park
tabling member printed	Zac Goldsmith
uin	199824
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Data on antibiotic use in the medical and veterinary sectors are currently collated in different formats, which prevents direct comparison; it is therefore not possible to accurately ascertain what proportion of total antibiotics used in the UK are given to farm animals.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In 2012, sales of antibiotic active ingredient authorised for veterinary use (farm and companion animals) totalled 409 tonnes.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Camborne and Redruth answering member printed George Eustice question first answered 17/06/2014 14:47:49 answering member 3934 label Biography information for George Eustice
tabling member	4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park