Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many digital, data and technology staff (including contractors) are currently employed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of that number.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As of 31 July 2023 the number of permanent digital, data and technology staff in Defra was 940, and the number of contingent workers was 201. This is the number of staff in our Digital, Data and Technology Services Directorate only, there will be some additional staff working on digital, data and technology activity elsewhere across the rest of Defra group. Our HR systems do not currently allow us to identify staff in this category.
Defra continually keeps its resourcing under review. For digital, data and technology (DDaT) roles, there are particular challenges when it comes to recruiting and retaining civil servant staff – as acknowledged by the recent National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee reports into Defra’s technology, and by the Central Digital and Data Office’s own analysis and roadmap for DDaT in Government more generally. Defra therefore uses a blended model of civil servants, contingent labour and suppliers to deliver DDaT work, and has the resourcing needed to deliver the work required. As market conditions change, Defra regularly reviews the most efficient and effective blend of resourcing to deliver its work.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many applications for (1) licences, (2) grants, (3) subsidies, and (4) certificates, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs carried out (a) on paper, and (b) digitally, in the last year for which records are held.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Defra Group is developing a digital transformation strategy which will express our collective ambition to provide joined-up digital services for citizens and businesses and to deliver environmental outcomes in a more efficient and effective way, through harnessing opportunities presented by digital data and technology.
Areas of focus for our citizen and business facing services include:
Reducing the number of paper forms people are required to complete.
Making our services joined-up, consistent, user-friendly and accessible.
Reducing manual processing to provide faster outcomes.
As part of the strategy, we will explore our common types of services i.e. licences and grants, to identify opportunities to improve and consolidate our service and technology estate.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what, if any, support is available to domestic food producers whose crops are damaged or lost as a result of climate change-related extreme weather events.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of the concerns on variable weather conditions. The full impact will become more apparent as the harvest progresses – results will vary by region, area, crop, soil type, and fertiliser applications amongst other factors. The reality of the UK climate means that fluctuations in yield are expected and managed year on year by farmers.
We are keeping the situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the UK market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We also continue to regularly engage with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impacts of climate change and the increased frequency of extreme weather events on (1) domestic food producers, and (2) food security.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Climate Change Act 2008 established the framework for strengthening the UK’s preparedness for climate change. The Act requires that the government publish a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, which identifies the specific risks facing the UK from climate change. The most recent CCRA was published in January 2022.
The CCRA is followed by the publication of a National Adaptation Programme, which sets out the government’s response to the risks identified by the CCRA. The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses all 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third CCRA. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety, and quality from climate change overseas.
The UK Food Security Report is a triannual statistical report required under the Agriculture Act 2020. The first report was published in 2021 and the next report, due in 2024, will continue to improve our understanding of climate risks to UK food security.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of climate change-related crop loss as a driver of recent increases in food prices; and what proportion of those price increases they assess this accounts for.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, agricultural prices, labour and manufacturing costs, Sterling exchange rates and agricultural productivity. As such, we do not have an assessment of the direct or indirect impacts of climate change on food prices.