Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department is making available for planting or replanting urban trees to replace trees that have been removed due to disease or decay.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
There are no grants available specifically for the replacement of trees removed due to disease or decay, but there are opportunities for funding or new planting in and around our towns and cities under the recently launched £10 million Urban Tree Challenge Fund. This fund will support the planting of up to 130,000 trees across towns and cities in England, and contributes to our manifesto commitment to plant one million urban trees by 2022.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has commissioned research on the potential effect of electro-magnetic waves on levels of premature deaths in farm animals.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Defra manages an active programme of research to support the health and welfare of livestock. The research programme focusses on prevention and control of infectious diseases as well as covering animal welfare issues. There is no current research funded on electro-magnetic waves and their potential impact from this programme.
Defra does have a regular, consistent systematic process for identifying and assessing new threats to animal health and welfare through the Veterinary Risk Group and the issue has not been raised which could inform future research requirements.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) China and (b) countries in east Africa on ending the international trade in donkey skins; and what recent steps he has taken to help implement an international ban on the trade in donkey skins.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Defra takes the welfare of donkeys and other equids very seriously and has taken an active role in global efforts to monitor and strengthen welfare standards for these species. This included contributing to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Terrestrial Code chapter on Welfare or Working Equids adopted by OIE members in 2016, which provides species specific guidance to complement the general welfare principles applying to all animals. In addition we have contributed to the EU voluntary initiative developing guidance on responsible ownership and care of equidae. Influencing the raising of global standards through international fora can be an effective and sustainable way to address these issues across the world and therefore have a broader impact than bilateral meetings with particular countries. This is part of the Government’s strong commitment to strengthening welfare standards.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many pilot environmental land management schemes have been agreed, where those pilots will take place; and what the start date is for each such pilot.
Answered by George Eustice
Tests and trials allow us to co-design and test the operability of elements of the new system and to understand if and how new elements of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme work in a real life environment. Tests and trials are not analysing methods of delivery of environmental outcomes rather how the scheme or innovative mechanism will operate.
We received 113 proposals from stakeholders to conduct tests and trials of the new ELM scheme in phase one. We identified 49 of these which most closely matched the identified priorities and would help us test critical elements or building blocks of the new scheme. Of these 49, two have subsequently merged with other phase 1 proposals and one has withdrawn from the process, leaving 46.
The national pilot is due to start in 2021. It will test different types of possible approaches to deliver the new ELM scheme, and the underlying scheme mechanics (such as the payments system) before the ELM scheme launches in 2024.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the report entitled, Business Management Practices on Farms, England 2016/17, published by his Department in February 2018, what steps he is taking to increase the number of farm businesses that undertake (a) business and (b) land management planning; and what assessment he has made of the effect of new Environmental Land Management system as outlined in the statement of 12 September 2018 on the ability of farmers to produce land management plans.
Answered by George Eustice
The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will give farmers and land managers incentives to deliver a wide variety of environmental benefits. We are exploring the role of land management plans in the ELM scheme, including through undertaking a number of tests and trials on the use of land management plans.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures will be included in a future environmental land management scheme as outlined in the policy statement of 12 September 2018 on health and harmony: the future for food farming and the environment in a green Brexit, to ensure all farm businesses can create land management plans and participate in the new payment schemes.
Answered by George Eustice
The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will give farmers and land managers incentives to deliver a wide variety of environmental benefits through paying public money for delivering environmental public goods. In developing ELM, we are exploring how to maximise participation to increase the environmental benefits that are delivered. To support this, we are undertaking a number of tests and trials which include the role of land management plans and expert advice for farmers and land managers.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
[Suggested redraft] To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of farms at risk of closing down as a result of a new systems of agricultural payments as outlined in the Government's policy paper of 12 September 2018 on health and harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a green Brexit, what the size of those farms are; and the type of farming undertaken by those farms.
Answered by George Eustice
In September 2018, alongside the Agriculture Bill and policy statement, the Government published an ‘Analysis of the impacts of removing Direct Payments’. This provided an overview of the potential impacts to different farm types and sizes of moving away from direct payments and introducing a new system of public money for public goods.
Direct payments are arbitrary payments based on land area that tend to favour larger land owners rather than smaller family farming businesses. In England we will phase out direct payments during an agricultural transition, giving time for farmers to adjust. Phasing out direct payments will free up money so we can reward farmers for delivering public goods, including environmental outcomes and animal welfare.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures will be included in a future environmental land management scheme as outlined in the policy statement of 12 September 2018 on health and harmony: the future for food farming and the environment in a green Brexit, to promote farm cluster working and landscape-scale enhancement projects.
Answered by George Eustice
The new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will give farmers and land managers incentives to deliver a wide variety of environmental benefits through paying public money for delivering environmental public goods. In developing the ELM scheme we are exploring the role of farm cluster working and landscape scale enhancement, and how to incentivise this to maximise the delivery of environmental benefits.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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 make an assessment of the potential effect on volumes of food waste collected in the event of local authorities introducing food waste collections separate to other waste collections.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Our analysis shows that if all local authorities provide at least kerbside properties (as opposed to flats) with a separate food waste collection service, this would increase the amount of food waste collected by 1.35 million tonnes by 2029.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
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 effect of delinking basic payments from the land as outlined in paragraphs 91 to 99 of the explanatory notes to the Environment Bill on patterns of land ownership in rural areas.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Alongside the introduction of the Agriculture Bill last September we published an analysis of the impacts of phasing out and delinking Direct Payments. Delinking may encourage a faster transition of farming businesses and may help those who choose to leave farming. This could increase the ease with which new entrants can acquire land for farming.