Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department's second report on rural proofing, Delivering for rural England, published on 3 September 2022, does not make reference to specific social care policies in relation to rural areas.
Answered by Scott Mann - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
My Department works across HM Government to compile the annual report on rural proofing which is based on contributions provided by individual Departments in respect of the policy areas for which they are responsible. The Department of Health and Social Care leads on the provision of health and care services to rural communities and the report published on 3rd September describes the significant work being done to address issues of rurality in delivering those services.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department's second report on rural proofing made no reference to the work undertaken by the APPG on Rural Health & Social Care and its report looking at rural health and care provision.
Answered by Scott Mann - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
My Department works across HM Government to compile the annual report on rural proofing which is based on contributions provided by individual Departments in respect of the policy areas for which they are responsible. The Department of Health and Social Care leads on the provision of health and care services to rural communities and the report published on 3rd September describes the significant work being done to address issues of rurality in delivering those services.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of Devon's Campaign to Protect Rural England's suggestion that regenerative agriculture is a better use for Devon's greenfield land than solar panels.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We recognise the need to preserve our most productive farmland. As stated in the recently published British Energy Security Strategy, we will continue supporting the effective use of land by encouraging large-scale solar projects to locate on previously developed, or lower value land, where possible, and ensure projects are designed to avoid, mitigate, and where necessary, compensate for the impacts of using greenfield sites. The Government also supports solar that is co-located with other functions (for example, agriculture) to maximise the efficiency of land use.
Our new Environmental Land Management schemes will support and incentivise farmers who embrace sustainable, regenerative practices. Many farm businesses are already adopting and developing regenerative techniques such as the use of cover crops, strip tilling, and practices to reduce fertiliser or herbicide use. We believe that environmental improvements and producing food go hand in hand. We have recently increased the Farming Investment Fund for small technology grants from £17 million to over £48 million, supporting around 4,000 farmers with their investment plans.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to Answer of 7 March 2022 to Question 129762, when he expects to have completed information gathering; and when he plans to make a decision on whether to ban foie gras imports.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the response to the hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead on 7 March 2022 to Question 129762, we continue to engage with a range of stakeholders about the issues regarding foie gras produced overseas using force-feeding practices. This activity is a key step in taking forward the Government’s commitment to improving animal welfare standards as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the recommendations of the all-party Parliamentary group on rural health and social care's report on rural health provision in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I welcome the all-party Parliamentary group’s report on rural health provision. There are two recommendations that make direct reference to Defra: recommendation 1 on defining rurality and recommendation 2 on identifying health inequalities.
The official rural definition is strictly a statistical one – the rural-urban classification. Working with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Ordnance Survey and other relevant departments this will be revised once data from the 2021 Census become available. The classification is not prescriptive, and departments have always been able to define rurality flexibly as appropriate for the policy or budgetary context, taking account of relevant factors.
On identifying health inequalities, one of the pillars of the Levelling Up White Paper published on 2 February is that the Government will transform its approach to data. As part of this, the Government Statistical Service Subnational Data Strategy aims to improve the UK’s subnational data, mapping local geographies and helping improve transparency and accountability to the public. Defra will be working with the ONS and other departments to implement this strategy.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
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 prevent the spread of the equine herpes virus into the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are aware of the outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) in Europe and are monitoring the situation closely. We are in regular contact with the equine sector and working with them to ensure owners are informed about the risks and are taking the necessary precautions to keep their animals safe.
Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) is not notifiable to government and isolation of sick animals is the best protection against infection. There is no public health risk.
Horse owners are advised to contact their private vet if they observe any respiratory illness, abortion or neurological signs in horses or ponies in their care or would like to discuss options for vaccination against the disease. We are monitoring the effectiveness of vaccination with disease experts and the British Equine Veterinary Association.
All horses imported into the UK are required to be certified as being fit to travel and not to have originated from a premises where disease is known to be present. Any horses imported into the UK should be placed in isolation for at least 10 days before allowing them to mix with other equines. Comprehensive industry advice and guidance on biosecurity and vaccination is available online.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat the Government has committed to creating or restoring is in addition to or inclusive of replacing habitat lost as a result of the National High speed Rail Network.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
HS2 is the first major infrastructure project to commit to seeking to deliver no net loss in biodiversity across the route. However, we can still go further and the Government is asking HS2 Ltd to look to identify opportunities to move towards gains in biodiversity, where it is reasonably practicable to do so. HS2 is also enhancing the Phase 2a scheme's existing No Net Loss objective, by working to identify and implement appropriate opportunities, where it is reasonably practicable, to move towards net gains in biodiversity.
We are still developing our monitoring approach for net gain and for wider commitments in the 25 Year Environment Plan such as the Nature Recovery Network, which incorporates the commitment to create or restore 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites.
We expect mandatory and voluntary net gain to contribute both to the Nature Recovery Network and to the long-term goal. As we develop our monitoring and delivery approaches to net gain and to the Nature Recovery Network more broadly, we will clearly need to consider how much of the habitat created is contributing to the goal.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether boat owners are permitted to visit their boats for essential (a) maintenance and (b) safety checks during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The coronavirus guidance published by jointly by the Departments for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (updated on 7 January 2021) provides that maintaining second homes, caravans, boats and other assets is not generally a reasonable excuse for leaving home. However, people may leave home to secure their second home, caravan or boat to secure their second home, in order to avoid it posing a risk of harm/injury to themselves or others.
Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) examiners can access boats in the course of professional activity to conduct safety examinations where these are necessary to renew or obtain a BSS certificate, akin to an MOT for a road vehicle. The BSS website ( https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/requirements-examinations-certification/arranging-the-examination/) sets out guidance on how to arrange a BSS examination within the current national covid restrictions, and where necessary boat owners should contact their navigation authority for further advice on this.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
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 offering Government funding to support the (a) establishment of and (b) operation of existing small abattoirs.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra recognises the contribution that small abattoirs make to local supply chains and that there are animal welfare benefits in shorter journey times to slaughter.
The Government is currently funding one mobile abattoir project through the Rural Development Programme for England as part of the Growth Programme. The project is farmer led and is due to be operational in early Summer 2021.
We are also exploring potential opportunities under the Agriculture Act to fund small abattoirs as part of wider agricultural funding mechanisms currently in development. Small abattoirs will need to demonstrate a viable business model and meet the needs of the market.
Asked by: Anne Marie Morris (Conservative - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether remaining funds in the Zoo Animals Fund can be ringfenced to support zoos and aquariums that have more than 12 weeks operating costs remaining and who are therefore ineligible for support from the Zoo Animals Fund.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
A £14 million funding envelope was made available for the initial Zoos Support Fund (ZSF), which closed at the end of July, and this envelope was then rolled forward and expanded to £100 million and made available for the subsequent Zoo Animals Fund (ZAF). It is therefore not the case that there are unspent funds from the ZSF which are available to be allocated to zoos separately from the ZAF. ZAF grant payments to zoos begin when they reach their final 12 weeks of financial reserves. Zoos can though, apply at any time before reaching this 12 week point to help with their business planning. The objective of the ZAF is to provide for operators who, due to a coronavirus-related drop in income, are experiencing severe financial difficulties and need support in caring for their animal collections between now and the start of the next season. It is not a guarantee to ensure that individual zoo operators themselves stay in business. If zoos are downsizing or rehoming their collection the fund can also provide support for this to ensure the animals’ welfare. We are monitoring uptake of the ZAF and remain in discussion with zoos about how the scheme is working.