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1645064

	registered interest
	date	15/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Business and Trade
	answering dept id	214
	answering dept short name	Business and Trade
	answering dept sort name	Business and Trade
	hansard heading	Exports: Notifiable Diseases
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential impact of notifiable disease outbreaks on exports.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	189877
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Business and Trade maintains regular dialogue with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a wide range of issues relating to agriculture and trade. The government will continue to prioritise trade facilitation in our FTAs to benefit UK exports.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Worcestershire answering member printed Nigel Huddleston question first answered 23/06/2023 13:15:55 answering member 4407 label Biography information for Nigel Huddleston
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567568

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	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, how much funding was released from the Basic Payment Scheme following the reduction of direct payments to farmers in England in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125434
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>Applying reductions to Direct Payments frees up money to be spent on financial assistance under our other schemes for farmers and land managers. As set out in our Future Farming and Countryside Programme annual report, published in October 2022, we spent £1.654 billion on Direct Payments in financial year 2021 to 2022. That was part of a total spend of £2.294 billion on existing farming schemes and our new financial assistance schemes, as set out in that report.</p><p>Information about spend on Direct Payments and financial assistance under our other schemes for financial year 2022 to 2023 will be included in an annual report to be published later this year.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/01/2023 15:01:05 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567569

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	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, how much funding has been allocated to each of the schemes available to farmers in England under the Agricultural Transition Plan for Financial Years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125435
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>We will not have fixed allocations (or 'pillars', as they were known whilst we were in the EU) of money ring-fenced to different schemes. Instead, we will learn as we go and find the best ways to manage the overall budget to respond to demand in a way that helps us achieve our intended outcomes. This means we will keep the allocation of funding between different schemes under review over time.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/01/2023 15:13:59 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567570

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	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, how much funding his Department provided to farmers under each scheme within the Agricultural Transition Plan in England in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125436
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/01/2023 answer text <p>In 2021-22, we spent £2.294 billion on our schemes within the Agricultural Transition Plan. We’ve laid before Parliament the spend at scheme level for 21-22 and we will continue to provide annual financial reports. The annual report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022/future-farming-and-countryside-programme-annual-report-2021-to-2022-html-version.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 24/01/2023 15:11:25 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1567571

	registered interest
	date	17/01/2023
	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, how many farm businesses have accessed at least one of the schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan in the financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	125437
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2023 answer text <p>Outside the bureaucratic Common Agricultural Policy, we are freeing farmers to enhance the natural environment alongside food production, supporting our drive to reach net-zero by 2050. We will deliver this by pressing ahead with our Environmental Land Management schemes and phase out direct payments.</p><p><br> As we set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan, we are providing a package of ongoing funding and one-off grants to support farmers with environmental actions, food production and productivity. We’ve already opened two new environmental land management schemes – the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Landscape Recovery - and already have thousands of farmers applying. That’s alongside Countryside Stewardship, which continues to offer payment for environmental actions, and will be enhanced to deliver our high environmental ambition. In parallel to the schemes, we have launched a number of grants for one-off funding to support productivity, such as money for new equipment and technology, slurry storage and water management. We urge all farmers to look at our schemes and grants and to decide what works for their farm business.</p><p><br> In 2021/22 there were at least 39,000 instances of businesses accessing at least one of the schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan. And so far in 2022/23, the number of businesses is at least 48,000 businesses. Of these 32,000 businesses (2021/22), and 36,000 businesses (2022/23) accessed at least one of the environmental land management schemes available under the Agricultural Transition Plan.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 25/01/2023 17:06:18 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1626995

	registered interest
	date	11/05/2023
	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	Eggs and Poultry
	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 she has made of the potential merits of using powers under Section 20 and 21 of the Agriculture Act 2020 to make a declaration of exceptional market conditions for the poultry and eggs sector.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	184707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2023 answer text <p>We recognise that the agriculture industry, including the poultry and eggs sectors, has faced a number of challenges over the last year, particularly in relation to the increase of input costs as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, our assessment is that the conditions for intervention under Section 20 or Section 21 of the Agriculture Act are not currently met, not least because input costs are now falling.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to closely monitor the situation in each sector through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group and via regular, on-going sector stakeholder engagement.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 16/05/2023 09:09:59 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1645060

	registered interest
	date	15/06/2023
	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: 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, whether her Department has undertaken planning exercises in the last 10 years to test the UK's preparedness for managing a farm animal disease outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	189874
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>There have been four UK-wide exercises involving Defra, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency including their operational partners and stakeholder organisations:</p><ul><li>Exercise Holly (July 2021) tested government’s response to an outbreak of African swine fever.</li><li>Exercise Blackthorn (November 2017 to July 2018) tested the response to a major outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD).</li><li>Exercise Willow (2016) examined the UK’s capacity to respond to a large cross-border outbreak of FMD.</li><li>Exercise Walnut (2013) tested the response to an outbreak of classical swine fever.</li></ul><p>We have also completed numerous operational, field and laboratory-based exercises to test and refine contingency plans on a yearly cycle, and our response capability has been tested by real-world outbreaks such as the ongoing outbreak of avian influenza.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/06/2023 15:47:25 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1645061

	registered interest
	date	15/06/2023
	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
	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 she made of the adequacy of Animal Plant and Health Agency veterinary resources; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	189875
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>APHA has approximately 430 veterinary posts and at the end of May 2023, 60 of these were vacant. Recruitment is underway and locum vets are being used while vacancies are being filled. Because of the nature of APHA work, veterinary resource needs can change rapidly. This was seen during last winter and the large avian influenza outbreak that required a prioritising resource allocation and the temporary expansion of the Agency’s workforce.</p><p> </p><p>APHA has contracts in place to enable it to bring in more veterinary resource from private veterinary practices at times of peak demand and this was heavily used during the outbreak.</p><p> </p><p>APHA also was also able to draw on veterinary resource from core Defra. There are other potential changes to APHA’s responsibilities which will require more veterinary resource. These changes are individually impact assessed to identify resource requirements. One such example is the new Border Operating Model where APHA is likely to need significant extra veterinary resource to check imported live animals. Defra provides APHA with additional funding to expand veterinary resource where needed.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/06/2023 10:12:58 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1645062

	registered interest
	date	15/06/2023
	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	Avian Influenza: Vaccination
	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 discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on developing an avian influenza vaccination trade strategy.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	189876
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/06/2023 15:43:23 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1645071

	registered interest
	date	15/06/2023
	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: Finance
	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 much funding she plans to allocate to the Animal and Plant Health Agency in each of the next five financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	189884
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2023 answer text <p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) Defra funding for financial year 2023-24 is £185.2 million RDEL (Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) and £15.7 million CDEL (Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit). Indicative funding for 2024-25 has been set but is not yet confirmed and is expected to be agreed by January 2024. Future year funding beyond this is subject to the Government-wide spending review process which will determine the overall funding for Defra and APHA.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 23/06/2023 10:05:22 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts