Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
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 reduce the effect of plasticulture on the environment; and what support his Department is giving to farmers to tackle plastic waste within their businesses.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
This is a devolved matter and the answer applies to England only.
Our Resources and Waste Strategy, published in December last year, builds on commitments in our 25 Year Environment Plan and sets out plans to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste. This is a seismic shift – it is not just about single use plastics, for example, but about all plastics, including those used in agriculture.
Plastics are used on farms for a number of reasons. Wrapping hay and silage bales, transporting feed and fertiliser, and insulating and protecting soil and horticultural crops, for example. The materials used are mostly recyclable, however attempts to collect it for recycling have often been unsuccessful, due to high levels of contamination making the recycling process uneconomic. The Government recognises the issues caused by inappropriate disposal of agricultural plastic, and we are working with the Environment Agency and the Waste and Resources Action Programme to explore how Government policy can address them.
Plastics used in agriculture are ultimately a small proportion of the total volume of plastics used, and the Government is taking a prioritised approach to tackling the overarching problem of plastic pollution. Earlier this year we published consultations on a number of key policy measures to significantly change the way that we manage our waste and to reduce the impacts of plastic on the environment: reforming existing packaging waste regulations; exploring the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks containers; and increasing consistency in the recycling system, along with a parallel consultation on the plastic packaging tax that the Chancellor announced in the Budget last year. We will publish the Government responses to these consultations on the GOV.UK website in due course.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what financial remuneration Dame Glenys Stacey will receive from his Department for undertaking the review of the rules associated with the current subsidy payments system; and how many staff will be assisting her in that review.
Answered by George Eustice
Dame Glenys’s salary will not change as a result of her appointment to this review. The review will be supported by a small secretariat function based in Defra, the details of which are currently being finalised.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hours Dame Glenys Stacey will be working on the review of the rules associated with the current subsidy payments system.
Answered by George Eustice
Dame Glenys Stacey has been appointed to work for two days per week, between 1 March and 31 December 2018, on the Farm Inspection Review.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what arrangements his Department has made with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that Dame Glenys Stacey will be able to continue her work as HM Chief Inspector of Probation whilst undertaking the review into the rules associated with the current subsidy payments system.
Answered by George Eustice
HMI Probation has recently recruited two new director and head of function posts, as part of a new organisational design. This increases HMI Probation senior staff capacity substantially, and enables some delegation. It is anticipated that the organisation will continue to inspect and report exactly as planned.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Article 10 certificates for ivory items have been (a) applied for and (b) issued in the last 10 years for which records are available.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
These are listed in the table below:
Date | Ivory Article 10 applications Received (a) | Ivory Article 10 certificates Issued (b) |
2006 | 35 | 31 |
2007 | 62 | 42 |
2008 | 64 | 61 |
2009 | 47 | 39 |
2010 | 63 | 42 |
2011 | 25 | 21 |
2012 | 68 | 55 |
2013 | 48 | 43 |
2014 | 63 | 53 |
2015 | 112 | 87 |
2016 to 07/12/16 | 58 | 57 |
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many exports categorised as (a) B1250 and (b) 16 01, under Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006, have been investigated by UK Border Force in each year since 2010.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
None.
The four environment agencies are the competent authorities of destination and dispatch under the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007.
Neither the Environment Agency nor the Northern Ireland Environment Agency has undertaken any recent investigations. Natural Resources Wales and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have investigated exports of end-of-life vehicles, as set out below. A number of these investigations are ongoing.
Year | Number of end-of-life vehicles |
|
|
2010 | 0 |
2011 | 0 |
2012 | 1 |
2013 | 6 |
2014 | 3 |
2015 | 1 |
2016 (to end Oct) | 3 |
Source: Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many exports of end-of-life vehicles were found to (a) not have and (b) have the required consent for each year since 2010.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The number of end-of-life vehicles found not to have the required consent is set out in the answer to PQ 54514. No figures are available for the numbers of end-of-life vehicles that had consent because vehicles categorised as B1250 are classed as green list waste, which is not automatically subject to notification.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the Indian government in its efforts to protect Indian elephants.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The then Prime Minister David Cameron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in London in November 2015 and issued a joint statement in which they resolved to work together to improve protection for both captive and wild Asian elephants. Further official level discussions have taken place with the Indian High Commission to clarify the issues and discuss specific areas on which we might work constructively beyond the international forums such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which already exist.
Within CITES the UK has led on securing agreement to measures to increase focus on protecting Asian elephants. These include the strengthening of national legislation and enforcement to combat illegal trade in live Asian elephants, for range countries to develop strategies to manage their captive domestic populations and to develop and apply a regional registration and marking system covering domestic Asian elephants.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
The table below provides details of the average hourly earnings of each group of employees in the core-Department as at 30th June 2015 in each of the last five years.
Year | Female | Male | Full-time | Part-time |
2015 | £19.79 | £21.31 | £20.51 | £20.84 |
2014 | £19.36 | £21.43 | £20.32 | £20.80 |
2013 | £18.62 | £20.88 | £19.76 | £19.44 |
2012 | £18.23 | £20.94 | £19.64 | £19.04 |
2011 | £18.69 | £21.20 | £19.80 | £20.92 |
The difference in hourly rate of pay for male and female staff can be explained by a greater proportion of male staff at the higher grades.
A recent equal pay review, analysing pay by grade, found that there were no significant equal pay differences based on gender.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much support from EU agricultural funding has been awarded to UK organic food producers in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Eustice
In England between 2010 and 2014, support for organic farmers was provided under the Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme (OELS) and Organic Higher Level Stewardship scheme (OHLS), which were set up under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). The following table provides details of the annual funding provided during this period. Organic farmers were also eligible for payments under the Single Payment Scheme.
OELS and OHLS funding in England 2010-2014:
Year | Annual funding for OELS: | Annual funding for OHLS: |
2010 | £1,986,129 | £17,454,578 |
2011 | £4,285,822 | £21,059,841 |
2012 | £6,088,660 | £24,443,405 |
2013 | £7,503,473 | £27,495,231 |
2014 | £8,665,682 | £29,486,762 |
Total Funding: | £28,529,766 | £119,939,817 |
Footnote 1: Because agriculture is a devolved matter, separate schemes operate in other UK countries. Data on other funding provided is available from devolved administrations.
Footnote 2: These data include payments to organic farmers under conventional land management options in combined organic and conventional agreements and include payments for existing and new agreements each year.
Footnote 3: RDPE funding comprises EU funding allocated under the CAP for England and relevant Exchequer match funding.