Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 criteria were used to appoint members from Devon to the Dynamic Food Procurement Board.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Dynamic Food Procurement National Advisory Board (DFPNAB) is not a statutory body. It is an independent grass roots body with participants from member organisations, public procurers and small businesses with a shared interest in promoting the use of the dynamic purchasing model in the food supply chain. While its members are not appointed by the Secretary of State, Defra does take part in meetings.
Trials of the dynamic procurement model have shown it can, in the right circumstances, offer greater access to public sector contracts for small, medium and local producers. The Government is investigating the larger scale use of dynamic purchasing for food procurement and the DFPNAB has freely shared its knowledge and expertise to assist with this work.
The DFPNAB meets approximately every three months. The date of the next meeting has not been agreed, but is expected to take place in January 2020.
The DFPNAB does not publish the minutes of meetings.
The Government does not monitor the effectiveness of independent bodies.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 plans he has to introduce a legal definition of the term grass-fed in relation to livestock raised on pasture all of their lives.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Food Information Regulations already protect consumers by stating that food information must not be misleading, in particular, as to its method of manufacture or production.
There is therefore no need for the Government to introduce further legislation to define production methods for meat or other farmed food. Producer-led accreditation schemes such as the highly respected Pasture For Life scheme provide an excellent way for farmers to market their outstanding British food.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 discussions he has had with Natural England on its revised policy on heather management.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The most recent statement Natural England (NE) has put out in relation to heather management, has been their position statement on “Burning as a tool for the restoration of upland blanket bog”. On 24 January, NE informed Defra Ministers that a position statement would be published.
On 11 February, NE published the position statement.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 he has made of the additional cost to landowners of surveying moorland under the proposed new legislation from Natural England.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Natural England does not have the powers to legislate or propose legislation.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 plans he has to continue funding National Trails beyond the current financial year.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Discussions between Natural England and the trails partnerships on their future funding settlements are ongoing. These discussions are in the context of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act Committee’s recommendation to move towards a more sustainable funding model in the long term whilst maintaining a high quality experience for the user.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 he has made of the potential merits of including National Trails in the ongoing review of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Significant portions of existing national trails fall within boundaries of existing national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. These important assets can expect to receive attention through the Glover Review, which will enable all stakeholders to express their views on the future of these places.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 he is taking to promote use of National Trails.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Since 2013 the promotion of national trails and the ‘acorn’ (registered trademark) has been carried out by Walk Unlimited, a social enterprise, which champions the network through its website www.nationaltrail.co.uk. It works with the individual trail partnerships who remain responsible for providing information on their trail to the national site and for local promotion. Natural England also encourages individual trail partnerships and the emerging England Coast Path partners to consider promotion of both the individual trails and stretches of those trails and the promotion of the family of national trails.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 he has made of the number of people who use National Trails every year.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The most recent estimate from 2013 is that at least 70 million visits are made each year to places passed through by a national trail.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 set out all land owned by the Forestry Commission where development has been granted for holiday centres or associated tourist developments.
Answered by George Eustice
Listed below are the sites on land managed by the Forestry Commission where there have been the most significant visitor developments. Many of these are long standing and where required the necessary planning consents are in place. The sites where planning permission has been granted and work has not started or is in progress are noted.
Forestry Commission Visitor Centres
Alice Holt Forest
Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest
Bolderwood Car Park and Visitor Site
Cannock Chase Forest
Dalby Forest
Delamere Forest – consent granted - redevelopment pending
Fineshade Wood
Grizedale
Haldon Forest Park – consent granted - redevelopment pending
Hamsterley Forest
Hicks Lodge
High Lodge Thetford Forest
Kielder Castle Visitor Centre
Kielder Water and Forest Park
Moors Valley Country Park
Rosliston Forest
Sherwood Pines
Thames Chase Forest Centre & Broadfields
Wendover - consent granted – redevelopment underway
Whinlatter
Wyre
Westonbirt Arboretum
Forest Holidays Cabin Sites
Keldy, North Yorkshire
Cropton, North Yorkshire
Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
Thorpe Forest, Norfolk
Blackwood Forest, Hampshire
Forest of Dean
Deerpark, Cornwall
Delamere Forest - Consent granted - development pending
Camping in the Forest Campsites
Hollands Wood, New Forest
Aldridge Hill, New Forest
Ashurst, New Forest
Denny Wood, New Forest
Holmsley, New Forest
Longbeech, New Forest
Matley Wood, New Forest
Ocknell, New Forest
Roundhill, New Forest
Setthorns, New Forest
Postern Hill, Savernake
Bracelands, Forest of Dean
Christchurch, Forest of Dean
Sherwood Forest – under development
Third Party Developments (not listed above)
Matlock, cabin site
Rosliston, cabin development with Local Authority
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - 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 his Department is taking to encourage Parish Councils to adopt single-use plastic-free policies.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
We published our 25 Year Environment Plan on 11 January. This states our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste and, in particular, the waste from single use plastics. The steps we will take to achieve this include exploring the introduction of plastic free aisles by retailers; exploring how we can develop our producer responsibility schemes to give producers more incentives to design more resource efficient products; and extending the carrier bag charge to small retailers.
HM Treasury published a call for evidence on 13 March that seeks views on how the tax system or charges could reduce the amount of single use plastics waste by reducing the unnecessary production of these items; increasing reuse wherever feasible; and increasing the levels of recycling.
The Government would like to see all levels of government support the 25YEP and its initiatives, including parish councils.