Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the number of low-income families not covered by the WaterSure scheme; and if she will extend eligibility to low-income households containing one parent and two children.
Answered by Rory Stewart
WaterSure is the national mandated tariff that all water companies provide to support metered customers on low incomes that have unavoidably high water use. It is not the purpose of WaterSure to support all vulnerable customers. The Government has no plans to amend the eligibility criteria.
The Government recognises that some customers face affordability pressures and that this varies greatly by region. Consequently, the water companies are best placed to discuss these issues with their customers and to agree on the design of any support schemes (e.g. social tariffs). This will help ensure that they take account of local circumstances and the needs of customers.
To assist the water companies the Government has published guidance on the introduction of social tariffs. Using this guidance, the water companies have been able to introduce social tariffs since April 2013. Alongside this the water companies also offer customer assistance funds, support tariffs, debt advice and support with water efficiency.
From April there are now 14 water companies offering social tariffs to their customers and we anticipate the remaining four companies to introduce them within the next two years. Ofwat’s 2014 Price Review predicts that water companies will be helping around 1.8 million customers by 2020, which is more than double the 760,000 customers that currently receive assistance.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will implement the recommendations contained in the recent report by the Dogs Trust entitled The Puppy Smuggling Scandal.
Answered by George Eustice
We are taking action to tackle the illegal puppy trade focused on three areas.
The Dogs Trust’s report highlights that responsibility for stopping the illegal movement of puppies begins in the country where they are born. The UK Chief Veterinary Officer wrote to the authorities in the countries highlighted in the report and follow up action has been taken. We will continue to alert the authorities in any Member State where we become aware of issues in relation to the operation of the pet travel scheme.
“Secondly, we will maintain effective border controls. Every pet entering Great Britain is checked for compliance with the EU pet travel scheme and in 2014 checks were carried out on over 170,000 dogs, cats and ferrets. Stringent penalties are in place where people are found to be breaking the rules.”
Thirdly, the illegal trade is driven by demand for cheap, pedigree puppies and we have published guidance on the steps pet owners can take to avoid buying an illegally imported pet: https://www.gov.uk/buying-a-cat-or-dog. We are also working with the Pet Advertising Advisory Group who have developed minimum standards for on-line pet advertisers which have led to the removal of over 130,000 problematic adverts in the last year.
The Dogs Trust has been invited to meet with the Minister for animal welfare to discuss their report ‘The Puppy Smuggling Scandal’.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the proportion of dairy production which involves intensive indoor methods.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra does not collect information on systems of production. It is difficult to categorise dairy farms in terms of intensity as it can be measured in many different ways and levels of intensity change gradually rather than at specific predetermined points.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to prevent non-stun slaughter of animals.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government has no plans to ban non-stun religious slaughter. The Government would prefer that all animals are stunned before slaughter, but it recognises the importance which Jewish and Muslim communities attach to the right to slaughter animals for food in accordance with their beliefs.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration she has given to requiring the mandatory installation of CCTV cameras in animal slaughterhouses.
Answered by George Eustice
On 3rd January 2014, I received an independent expert report on CCTV in slaughterhouses produced by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee. I am considering that report and its recommendations.
A copy of the report is available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fawc-opinion-on-cctv-in-slaughterhouses, I have also put a copy in the Library of both Houses.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent the overuse of antibiotics on farm animals.
Answered by George Eustice
In September 2013 the Government published the UK Five Year Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy 2013 to 2018 which is led by the Department of Health, Public Health England and Defra. An annual progress report and implementation plan for the strategy is due for publication in November. This report will describe progress in implementing the strategy. It will include the further measures on animal health to be taken over the next four years to respond to the risk of AMR and to promote the responsible use of antibiotics.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) direct employees, (b) outsourced workers and (c) workers in agencies which report to her Department are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
There are no direct employees paid less than the Living Wage in core Defra, AHVLA, VMD and RPA.
In FERA there are 11 and in CEFAS 7 directly employed members of staff on apprenticeship schemes who are paid below the Living Wage.
207 people are known to be employed on contracts in Defra and the executive agencies where the contractors pay less than the Living Wage.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will issue updated advice on the care of pets to address the issues of the welfare and abandonment of domestic rabbits.
Answered by George Eustice
The poor welfare and abandonment of any animal is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 or 6 months' imprisonment or both. The Government has no plans to issue specific advice on keeping pet rabbits but such advice is available from animal welfare organisations and some pet shops.