Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether officials from her Department met counterparts from the Environmental Protection Agency in the US to discuss that country's ban on the production of personal care products and cosmetics which contain plastic microbeads.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Defra officials have been in discussions with the US Food & Drug Administration to help develop aspects of the UK approach on which we are currently consulting.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance is issued by her Department on the efficacy of homeopathy treatment in livestock.
Answered by George Eustice
All veterinary medicines, including homeopathics, that make medicinal claims (treatment or prevention of disease) must provide data to demonstrate their efficacy and require a full marketing authorisation in order to be sold in the UK. Guidance on the efficacy data required to gain a marketing authorisation is provided by the European Medicines Agency.
There are currently no homeopathic veterinary medicines authorised with medicinal claims.
The veterinary homeopathic products on the market have all been registered either through the homeopathic registration scheme or are on the ‘Grandfather list’. These products are not permitted to make medicinal claims.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of senior civil service graded posts in her Department classified as (i) deputy director, (ii) assistant director, (iii) team leader and (iv) policy manager have been based outside London in each year since 2014.
Answered by George Eustice
The number and proportion of Deputy Director SCS posts based outside London as at 30 September for each year since 2014 is shown below:
| 2014 | % of Total | 2015 | % of Total | 2016 | % of Total |
SCS Pay Band 1 (Deputy Director) | 11 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 |
Note: % shown is of total SCS based outside London, rounded to the nearest whole number
We do not use the descriptor Assistant Director in Defra; Team Leader and Policy Manager posts are below SCS level.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 potential effect of a British exit from the EU on the international legal enforceability of protected UK food names.
Answered by George Eustice
We have not made an assessment of the potential effect of a British exit from the EU on the international legal enforceability of protected UK food names.
Separately, the Government is taking steps to achieve a significant increase in the number of UK food products covered by the EU’s protected food names scheme. We continue to exert pressure on the European Commission to secure wider international recognition of these products, as well as our wines and spirits drinks that are protected by Geographical Indications, in the context of EU bilateral trade negotiations.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department is having with (a) the Greater Manchester combined authority, (b) the metropolitan district councils of Greater Manchester, (c) Transport for Greater Manchester and (d) Highways England on the Greater Manchester Air Quality Action Plan.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Air quality control in the ten district councils of Greater Manchester is managed as a consortium led by the air quality and transport delivery arms of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), with input from Highways England. It is through this consortium that Defra engages on air quality matters.
The latest Air Quality Action Plan progress report submitted by Greater Manchester GMCA was in March 2015. The next progress report is expected to be submitted to Defra for review early this month.
Defra has regular discussions with Highways England to ensure that air quality outcomes are mainstreamed in their policy, and that adequate measures are put in place at strategic roads to address the impact of air pollution. Defra is also part of Highways England’s delivery programme board for the air quality element of the Road Investment Strategy.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on local authority obligations under an Air Quality Area Action Plan.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Defra engages regularly with the Department for Communities and Local Government on air quality matters, including on the revision of the Local Air Quality Management policy guidance (available at):
which incorporates advice on Air Quality Action Plans (Chapter 5) and the National Planning Policy Framework (Chapter 9, para 124). The Framework is available at: http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/policy/.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what work her Department is doing to monitor air quality standards in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) England.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Defra has eight fixed air quality monitoring sites located in Greater Manchester - at Bury Whitefield Roadside, Glazebury, Manchester Law Courts, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester South, Salford Eccles, Shaw Crompton Way, Wigan Centre - and one hundred and seventy eight fixed monitoring sites in total across England.
Many of these sites (seven in Manchester and 111 across England) provide near real-time data on one or more of the following pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), ozone, and sulphur dioxide. Data is made available on our website.
Full details of the sites, including locations, pollutants measured and concentrations observed at each, are available on Defra’s UK Air Website: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/.
Data from these sites is reported alongside modelling data as part of the UK’s annual national compliance reporting.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues on distributing UK fines for air quality breaches to individual local authorities or combined authorities.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Ministerial colleagues within Defra and across Whitehall on a range of issues, including on air quality. The air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide we published on 17 December last year sets out the steps we are taking to reduce pollutant levels, including working in partnership with Local Authorities, to avoid any prospect of fines.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 value of stationery that has been (a) lost and (b) stolen from her Department in each of the last five fiscal years; and what the cost was of replacing such stationery.
Answered by George Eustice
No estimate of value has been made as there were no reported losses or thefts of stationery from the Department in the last five fiscal years.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much was paid in (a) year end and (b) in-year bonuses to officials of her Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
The table below sets out how much was paid to officials in the core-Department in end-year and in-year non-consolidated performance payments in each of the last three financial years.
Financial Year | End-year Payments | In-Year Payments |
2012-13 | £898,447 | £167,490 |
2013-14 | £1,359,640 | £250,423 |
2014-15 | £1,002,359 | £298,028 |
The amounts include end-year payments made to Senior Civil Servants and staff at Grade 6 and below and in-year payments made to staff at Grade 6 and below.