Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member printed grouped question UIN question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

47827

registered interest
date	09/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Attlee on 30 April 2012 (WA 420), what is their policy on grants and state aids for harbour dredging; under which United Kingdom Government and European Union funding programmes grants are permitted; what account they take of the effect of any grant on competition with other ports in the area or region; under what circumstances grants for dredging are available for a single beneficiary which will be the main commercial beneficiary; and whether, in any application for a grant for port development, any dredging element must be identified and justified separately.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL6769
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government's policy, as confirmed in the National Policy Statement for Ports, is that the ports industry in England and Wales is generally successful in funding investment, including in capital dredging, on a commercial basis without need for support from public funds. Consequently there is a general presumption against such grants, which can displace and deter private sector investment and distort competition, whether for single or multiple beneficiaries. There may, however, be occasional exceptions, as in the case of the Regional Growth Fund grant awarded for dredging in Liverpool Bay and the Mersey Estuary. This was based on an exceptional regional economic regeneration justification. In any such case, the prospective impact on competition with other ports would be taken into account during consideration of the application.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dredging costs, along with other port costs, could potentially be eligible for grants from European funding schemes such as the Connecting Europe Facility and Trans-European Networks - Transport (CEF/TEN-T). The Government would normally expect any grant application for UK or EU funds to show disaggregated costings, including clear identification of any dredging element that may be present.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 29/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

47866

registered interest
date	09/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what they are doing to ensure the protection of bees.
tabling member printed	Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
uin	HL6808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The importance of pollinators, including the honeybee, and their value to both food security and sustaining the natural environment is recognised as a high priority. In view of this, Defra has taken action on a number of fronts, including:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>· contributing £2.5 million over five years to the Insect Pollinators Initiative;</p><p> </p><p>· establishing the Healthy Bees Plan, a ten year plan to protect and improve the health of honeybees in England and Wales, of which five years has already been completed;</p><p> </p><p>· continuing to fund the long-established National Bee Unit bee health programme, which includes inspection of colonies, diagnosis of bee pests and diseases, and training for beekeepers; and</p><p> </p><p>· launching a public consultation on the National Pollinator Strategy this month.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 22/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

47743

registered interest
date	08/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what regulations apply to smallholders with flocks of less than 50 laying hens if they (1) want to sell their eggs to the public, (2) want to sell products to the public such as cakes made from the eggs laid by their hens, and (3) want to sell their eggs to third parties who wish to make cakes from them for resale at venues such as country markets and farmers' markets; whether the regulations covering the third category are national regulations, and if so, which regulations; and whether those regulations are liable to local authority interpretation.
tabling member printed	Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer
uin	HL6691
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The sale of eggs in England (equivalent regulations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) is regulated by the Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2009, the Control of Salmonella in Poultry Order 2007 and European Union food hygiene and food safety regulations. Any exemption from the legislation is subject to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>1) Exemption from rules on quality and grading is available to smallholders with fewer than 50 laying hens providing their eggs are sold at the production site, door-to-door or directly in local markets without any marketing indication (e.g. grading) directly to the final consumer. Producers supplying fewer than 360 eggs per week (Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidance) directly to consumers or to local retailers and caterers are exempt from the requirements of Regulation (EC) 852/2004, which establishes basic food hygiene requirements for registered food businesses.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>2) Smallholders with fewer than 50 laying hens who use their own eggs for cakes and other food products sold to the public as part of a regular and organised operation are required to register as a Food Business Operator with the local authority and comply with the food hygiene regulations. The FSA has issued advice for local authorities as to which operations require registration to ensure that charity and community food operations are not disproportionately burdened.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>3) There is no obligation on smallholders with fewer than 50 laying hens to ascertain what use customers will make of their eggs.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 25/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	1934 label Biography information for Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

47747

registered interest
date	08/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of cats deliberately poisoned by antifreeze products each year; and what action they are taking to combat such attacks.
tabling member printed	Lord Black of Brentwood
uin	HL6695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government has not made any estimate of the number of cats deliberately poisoned by antifreeze products. Any deliberate poisoning of a cat is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 punishable by a fine of £20,000 and/or six months imprisonment.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 10/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	4171 label Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood

47807

registered interest
date	08/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the recent conference in London, what support they are providing to the government of Botswana in preparing for the follow-up conference in early 2015 on the illegal wildlife trade.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL6755
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government welcomes the announcement made by the Government of Botswana that it will host a follow up conference on the illegal wildlife trade in early 2015. This meeting will be vital in helping to ensure that the commitments made at the London Conference in February 2014 are fully implemented.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government has offered its full support to Botswana in preparing the meeting. This may include continuing to convene the group of senior officials that prepared the London Conference, offering the support of the UK's diplomatic network in maintaining high level political engagement on the issue with existing and new partner countries and a possible contribution to the cost of the conference.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 22/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

47808

registered interest
date	08/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what effect they expect that the recently announced Elephant Protection Initiative will have on the illegal wildlife trade; and what support they are giving to the Initiative.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL6756
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p /> <p>The Government warmly welcomes the Elephant Protection Initiative (EPI), launched at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 by the Presidents of Botswana, Chad, Gabon and Tanzania, and the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia.</p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p>Through the EPI, these Governments are committing to:</p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p>· observing an extended moratorium on consideration of future international ivory trade</p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p>· closing domestic ivory markets</p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p>· putting all ivory stockpiles (both seized ‘illegal' and ‘legal' ivory accrued from elephant mortality) beyond economic use.</p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p>In response to these bold commitments, the EPI is intended to provide participating Governments with access to a fund to support the implementation of the measures contained in the Africa Elephant Action Plan. The UK Government has committed to supporting this fund, in the first instance by matching the first tranche of private sector funding amounting to around £1m.</p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p> </p><p /> <p>The text of the Elephant Protection Initiative can be accessed through the following link: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-agreed-on-illegal-wildlife-trade" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-agreed-on-illegal-wildlife-trade</a>.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 22/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

47809

registered interest
date	08/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are taking steps to encourage the governments of China and Vietnam to cease the trade in ivory.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL6757
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Governments of both China and Vietnam participated at Ministerial level in the London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade on 12 and 13 February 2014. They joined the other participating countries in agreeing to the London Conference Declaration. In this, Governments have committed to support the existing CITES commercial prohibition on international trade in elephant ivory until the survival of elephants in the wild is no longer threatened by poaching. They have also committed to taking a wide range of actions to reduce the demand for wildlife products, including ivory, and to agreeing for the first time to renounce the use of any products from species threatened with extinction. We very much welcome this strong signal by China and Vietnam of their commitment to join the rest of the international community in tackling the scourge of the illegal trade in ivory and other wildlife products.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In the margins of the Conference I had constructive meetings with both Forestry Vice Minister Jianlong Zhang of China and Deputy Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Ha Cong Tuan of Vietnam to discuss the impacts of the illegal wildlife trade and the action needed to tackle the problem. I hope to visit Vietnam in the near future to continue this constructive dialogue.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We will also fund two projects in Vietnam which applied through the 2013-2014 Darwin Initiative Funding Round, at a total cost of just over £0.5m. These will be supported from the £10m of new funding for tackling the illegal wildlife trade, announced on 23 December 2013 by the Secretaries of State for Environment and International Development. One project is focused on combating wildlife trafficking by cutting out the ‘middle man'. The other will support action to reduce demand for rhino horn.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 22/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

47422

registered interest
date	07/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the percentage cost over-run established by the management board for any budget in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to merit being tabled at the departmental management board; and how many times in the last 12 months that has occurred.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL6654
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Core Defra's Governance arrangements ensure that a full schedule of pressures and opportunities is prepared each month and reviewed by the Department's Group Management Accounts team to ensure that Defra remains within its control totals, and each Director remains within their approved budget. In addition, the schedule is signed off on a quarterly basis by the Executive Committee via the Department's Finance Panel.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>With this process in place we have not had to table any over-runs to the management board in the past 12 months.</p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 22/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

46979

registered interest
date	03/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they are making in complying with the European Union Directive 2008/50/EC on air quality.
tabling member printed	Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
uin	HL6587
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The UK reports compliance with the limit values in the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) to the European Commission in September each year. The last report related to concentrations of air pollutants in 2012. This indicated that the UK met both the daily and annual limit values for particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less (PM<sub>10</sub>)and complied with the EU limit values for sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, benzene and lead.</p><p>Meeting the nitrogen dioxide (NO<sub>2</sub>) limit values alongside busy roads continues to be a significant challenge for the UK and most other Member States. In 2012, 32 zones exceeded the annual mean limit value (or margin of tolerance for zones with a time extension) and two exceeded the hourly mean limit value. The UK is investing heavily in measures to reduce emissions, in particular from transport, and over £2bn worth of measures have been announced since 2011. These measures will address both particulate matter and NO<sub>2</sub>.</p><p>Further information is available in the series of reports on ‘Air Pollution in the UK' available at: <a href="http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/index" target="_blank">http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/index</a></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 16/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

47004

registered interest
date	03/04/2014
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what area was set aside for the growth of beet for biogas production in the United Kingdom, in each of the last three years.
tabling member printed	Baroness Byford
uin	HL6612
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Official statistics on the area of sugar beet used to produce biogas, or energy produced from UK sugar beet are not currently available. The data below shows the production of bioethanol from sugar beet and the land used.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Bioethanol (million litres)</strong>1</p></td><td><p><strong>Land used (thousand hectares)</strong>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>15 April 2010 – 14 April 2011</strong></p></td><td><p>68.5</p></td><td><p>13.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>15 April 2011 – 14 April 2012</strong></p></td><td><p>21.8</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>15 April 2012 -14 April 2013</strong></p><p>(provisional) 3</p><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p>59.9</p></td><td><p>10.4</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>1 All sugar beet volumes above were grown on previously cropped land</p><p>2 Source: Defra June Survey of Agriculture. UK area at year n-1.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/structure-of-the-agricultural-industry</a></p><p>3 (e) Figures for 2012-13 (Year 5) are as of 15 September 2013 and are not final.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OfGEM) records have identified two operational anaerobic digestion plants which only use sugar beet to produce biogas for electricity generation.</p><p>Defra published an experimental statistics release on the use of crops for bioenergy in December 2013.</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/289168/nonfood-statsnotice2012-12mar14.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/289168/nonfood-statsnotice2012-12mar14.pdf</a></p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley grouped question UIN HL6613 question first answered 16/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	3343 label Biography information for Baroness Byford