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1205570

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Coronavirus
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 he is taking to support farmers to adapt their business models during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Broxtowe
tabling member printed	Darren Henry
uin	61828
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Government wants a profitable and resilient farming sector. We will always champion our farmers and growers by supporting them to produce more of our great British food and drink, providing a reliable and sustainable food supply to the British public.</p><p>At the outset of the pandemic, we introduced a number of measures to support our farming sectors through this difficult period. These included relaxing drivers’ hours, temporarily relaxing certain elements of competition law and a dairy response fund to help those dairy farmers most in need of support. We have also worked closely with the dairy and horticulture sectors to address supply chain and labour issues.</p><p>We have been in close discussion with banks to ensure the farming sector has access to financial support to ease cashflow problems during this period, including through the HMG backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL), and the Bounce Back Loan scheme.</p><p>The Agriculture Bill provides the legislative basis for longer term transition to support investment in a more productive and sustainable farming sector.</p><p>It will allow us to introduce ambitious new land management schemes in England, based on the principle of &quot;public money for public goods&quot;, so that we can reward farmers and land managers who protect our environment, improve animal welfare and produce high quality food in a more sustainable way. The Bill will also help farmers to stay competitive, with measures to increase productivity and invest in new technology.</p><p>Last week, Defra and the Department for International Trade launched a package of support that will offer immediate support to help agriculture, food and drink businesses grow their trade activity overseas. This will help producers, manufacturers and agri-tech companies across the food supply chain, from farm to fork.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 29/06/2020 14:35:09 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4794 label Biography information for Darren Henry

1205584

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Nottinghamshire
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 he has had with Cabinet colleagues on (a) reviewing and (b) mitigating the effects on communities of recent flooding in Nottinghamshire.
tabling member constituency	Broxtowe
tabling member printed	Darren Henry
uin	61833
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>Nottinghamshire saw one of wettest Autumns on record and received almost three times the monthly average of rainfall from Storm Dennis. More recently, flooding from thunderstorms in June 2020 impacted similar locations, including Trowell and Beeston. The Environment Agency has been working closely with all concerned parties in Nottinghamshire’s local community, and particularly with local councillors from Broxtowe Borough Council in the Trowell area, to better understand flooding related issues.</p><p> </p><p>In July 2018 the Government published the Surface Water Management Action Plan (SWMAP). This SWMAP sets out the steps the Government is taking, with the Environment Agency and others, to manage the risk of surface water flooding. As part of this, in July 2019, the Government commissioned an independent review of the arrangements for determining responsibility for surface water and drainage assets.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is currently investing £2.6 billion to deliver more than 1,000 flood defence projects to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021. In Nottinghamshire, we have invested £38.8 million in flood defences between 2010 and 2019, providing better protection for around 14,400 homes. At the Budget in March, it was confirmed that Government will double the amount it invests in the flood and coastal defence programme in England to £5.2 billion over six years from 2021, better protecting a further 336,000 properties, including 290,000 homes.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 29/06/2020 11:49:07 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4794 label Biography information for Darren Henry

1205667

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Seasonal Workers
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 people have been recruited to the Pick For Britain scheme as of 19 June 2020; and whether that number has been sufficient to meet demand.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	61705
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Pick for Britain website was launched in April as a joint Defra and industry initiative to bring together people who are looking for work on UK farms with recruiters who have roles to fill. As well as the website, we have worked across industry and with commercial partners and others to widely promote the Pick for Britain campaign. At its busiest point 27 businesses, including recruiters who worked for multiple individual horticulture businesses, were listed on the ‘Jobs’ page. The website has had over 1.5 million unique page views since its launch, and several recruiters and growers have now filled their vacancies for the season and have asked to be removed from the website. The campaign’s benefits have been felt beyond the website, and industry have confirmed that many more businesses have benefited from the wider campaign.</p><p>We know that there is a lot of interest from domestic workers, but we are not able to share any information about specific vacancies, interviews or people in jobs as that information is commercially sensitive and held by individual companies. Defra has therefore not set a target for the total number of workers the Pick for Britain campaign aims to have directly or indirectly recruited.</p><p>We are closely monitoring the situation, and although labour supplies can change quickly industry is indicating that the demand for seasonal workers is currently being met.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 61706 61708 question first answered 29/06/2020 14:38:48 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1205668

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Seasonal Workers
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 agricultural settings have benefited from the Pick For Britain scheme to date.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	61706
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Pick for Britain website was launched in April as a joint Defra and industry initiative to bring together people who are looking for work on UK farms with recruiters who have roles to fill. As well as the website, we have worked across industry and with commercial partners and others to widely promote the Pick for Britain campaign. At its busiest point 27 businesses, including recruiters who worked for multiple individual horticulture businesses, were listed on the ‘Jobs’ page. The website has had over 1.5 million unique page views since its launch, and several recruiters and growers have now filled their vacancies for the season and have asked to be removed from the website. The campaign’s benefits have been felt beyond the website, and industry have confirmed that many more businesses have benefited from the wider campaign.</p><p>We know that there is a lot of interest from domestic workers, but we are not able to share any information about specific vacancies, interviews or people in jobs as that information is commercially sensitive and held by individual companies. Defra has therefore not set a target for the total number of workers the Pick for Britain campaign aims to have directly or indirectly recruited.</p><p>We are closely monitoring the situation, and although labour supplies can change quickly industry is indicating that the demand for seasonal workers is currently being met.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 61705 61708 question first answered 29/06/2020 14:38:48 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1205670

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Seasonal Workers
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 review the effectiveness of the Pick For Britain scheme; and whether that review will include analysis of the effect of (a) the UK leaving the EU and (b) the covid-19 outbreak on that scheme.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	61707
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Pick for Britain website was launched in April as a joint Defra and industry initiative to bring together people who are looking for work on UK farms with recruiters who have roles to fill.</p><p> </p><p>We are evaluating the impact of the Pick for Britain website on an ongoing basis through engagement with the recruiters and businesses who use it. Industry feedback indicates the demand for seasonal workers is currently being met, but we know this may change in the coming months and we will continue to closely monitor the situation. Although Pick for Britain was launched in direct response to the Covid-19 outbreak we will, as part of our evaluation, consider how positive lessons from the campaign might be applied beyond the end of the Transition Period.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 29/06/2020 14:42:11 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1205673

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Seasonal Workers
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 he has set for the Pick For Britain scheme; and what assessment he has made of whether those targets have been met.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	61708
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Pick for Britain website was launched in April as a joint Defra and industry initiative to bring together people who are looking for work on UK farms with recruiters who have roles to fill. As well as the website, we have worked across industry and with commercial partners and others to widely promote the Pick for Britain campaign. At its busiest point 27 businesses, including recruiters who worked for multiple individual horticulture businesses, were listed on the ‘Jobs’ page. The website has had over 1.5 million unique page views since its launch, and several recruiters and growers have now filled their vacancies for the season and have asked to be removed from the website. The campaign’s benefits have been felt beyond the website, and industry have confirmed that many more businesses have benefited from the wider campaign.</p><p>We know that there is a lot of interest from domestic workers, but we are not able to share any information about specific vacancies, interviews or people in jobs as that information is commercially sensitive and held by individual companies. Defra has therefore not set a target for the total number of workers the Pick for Britain campaign aims to have directly or indirectly recruited.</p><p>We are closely monitoring the situation, and although labour supplies can change quickly industry is indicating that the demand for seasonal workers is currently being met.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 61705 61706 question first answered 29/06/2020 14:38:48 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1205674

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Labour Market
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 his Department has made of the combined effect of the UK leaving the EU and covid-19 travel restrictions on the agricultural labour market in 2020.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	61709
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>Free movement continues until the end of the Transition Period, which is the end of this year. In future, any EU citizen wishing to come to live and work in the UK will need to apply under the UK’s future immigration system. Agricultural businesses will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. We have guaranteed the rights of all EU citizens and their families already living in the UK. The EU Settlement Scheme, which opened in March 2019, has already received more than 3.5 million applications from EU citizens who are able to stay and work in the UK and there is still over a year until the application deadline of 30 June 2021</p><p> </p><p>The Seasonal Workers Pilot is providing thousands of workers to farms across the UK this year. Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 have delayed the arrival of some Pilot workers. Defra and the Home Office are working closely with the operators of the Pilot to enable workers to reach the UK, including facilitating the re-opening of Visa Application Centres in Ukraine and Belarus on 1 June. This has allowed significant numbers of Pilot workers from those countries to obtain a visa and travel to the UK.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has been working closely with the sector and other Government departments to closely monitor and respond to the agricultural labour market this year. Industry feedback indicates the demand for seasonal workers is currently being met, but we know this may change in the coming months and we are closely monitoring the situation.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 29/06/2020 14:44:59 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1205675

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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: Seasonal Workers
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 estimates his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of the Pick For Britain scheme.
tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
tabling member printed	Nick Smith
uin	61710
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Pick for Britain campaign has been a joint industry-Government initiative with co-investment from partners, which has ensured that the successful campaign has been at little direct cost to the Government. So far £16,500 has been spent by Defra on the Pick for Britain campaign and a small budget for potential future spend to the end of the season is available should this be needed.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 29/06/2020 14:30:00 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1205679

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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	Veterinary Services: Unfair Practices
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 his Department is taking to tackle exploitative practices by out of hours vet care providers which operate monopolies of practice over large geographical areas.
tabling member constituency	Ashfield
tabling member printed	Lee Anderson
uin	61806
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the independent non-Ministerial department responsible for investigating competition issues in the UK. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that companies are behaving anti-competitively in a market. Individuals can report anti-competitive behaviour by emailing the CMA at <a href="mailto:general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk.%20" target="_blank">general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk. </a></p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 29/06/2020 14:24:07 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4743 label Biography information for Lee Anderson

1205697

registered interest
date	19/06/2020
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	African Swine Fever: 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, what recent assessment he has made of the level of risk of an outbreak of African swine fever in the UK; and what steps the Government is taking to mitigate that risk through border controls.
tabling member constituency	North West Norfolk
tabling member printed	James Wild
uin	61815
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency regularly assess the changing global animal disease presence and its potential risk to the UK. The most recent assessments for African swine fever (ASF) were published on the Gov.uk website in March 2020 (for Europe) and May 2020 (for South East Asia and Oceania). The UK remains at medium risk for the entry of contaminated or infected products. The risk of exposure to the UK pig population is highly dependent on the level of biosecurity on individual pig premises and is low.</p><p> </p><p>In terms of mitigating that risk, EU safeguard measures restrict the commercial trade of pork and pork products from regions that are affected by ASF so these cannot be traded with the UK. All countries outside of the EU who are currently approved to trade in pork and pork products with the UK are free of ASF. The import of pork products from non-approved countries is illegal. Defra continues to work closely with Border Force officials to crack down on illegally imported meat and UK Border officials target and search freight, passengers and luggage at the border and will seize and destroy illegally imported meat products. A specific communications campaign about ASF was launched in summer 2019 which included a new poster campaign introduced in UK airports and ports, to raise awareness of the disease and the risks of bringing back potentially contaminated products.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 29/06/2020 14:27:15 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4787 label Biography information for James Wild