Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish the draft Agricultural Bill.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government published the Agriculture Bill on 12 September 2018.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Irish Environment Minister on the movement of food products after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
We place huge value on maintaining the UK’s unique arrangements with Ireland and the friendly cooperative relationship we have built in recent years. We want the best deal for the food, fishery and farming sectors, including making sure we have a continuing range of high quality, affordable food products. Defra Ministers have met their counterparts in the Irish Government on a number of occasions to discuss the future EU-UK relationship.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has a strategy to prevent large quantities of food waste; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Preventing food waste is environmentally and financially beneficial for households and businesses.
The Government is taking a multi-pronged approach to prevent food waste involving householders and food businesses across the food chain. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), supported by Defra, launched the Courtauld Commitment 2025 in March 2016. The Courtauld Commitment 2025 is an ambitious ten-year voluntary agreement that brings together organisations across the food system to identify priorities, develop solutions and implement changes at scale, both within signatory organisations and by spreading new best practice across the UK. The Commitment goes further than ever before with ambitious industry targets to be reached by 2025. One of these is a 20% per capita reduction in food and drink waste arising in the UK.
The new phase will focus on providing a more targeted approach, focused on the most wasted food products and the people who generate the most waste.
Government will continue to play a central role in food waste reduction and the Resources and Waste Strategy will set out further policies in this area later in the year.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs entered the UK in 2017.
Answered by George Eustice
The total number of dogs entering Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme in 2017 was 287,016, and the total number of dogs entering for commercial reasons was 39,998
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) do not hold data regarding dogs moving to Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he last met with representatives of the RSPCA to discuss animal welfare.
Answered by George Eustice
Ministers meet the RSPCA regularly to discuss animal welfare issues. Most recently, Lord Gardiner met them on 11 June 2018. I also attended their parliamentary drop-in on 13 June 2018.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 deforestation in the UK.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As forestry is a devolved matter this answer relates to England only.
The Government is committed to accelerating new woodland planting and has a number of manifesto commitments to support afforestation in England, including the planting of eleven million trees and a further one million trees in our towns and cities by 2022.
The Government also has a number of schemes to support afforestation including the Woodland Creation Grant under Countryside Stewardship, the Woodland Carbon Fund, and the Woodland Creation Planning Grant.
In January the Prime Minister announced through the 25 Year Environment Plan the support of the new Northern Forest, which will see 50 million trees planted by 2042.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 has taken to ensure that (a) pesticides and (b) chemicals do not enter rivers.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Pesticides are strictly regulated and are only authorised for use if the relevant information shows no unacceptable risks to the environment. This assessment takes account of the likelihood that the pesticide might enter water and the effects on aquatic organisms that might result. When a pesticide is authorised, conditions may be set to ensure the protection of water, such as buffer zones between the watercourse and the sprayed area.
Chemical releases to rivers are controlled by a number of mechanisms. The manufacture and use of chemicals is initially regulated through legislation such as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation which requires companies to register the chemicals they supply and assess their risks so they can recommend risk management measures in their supply chain. Higher risk substances may be subject to authorisation or restrictions on manufacture or use to reduce environmental exposure and therefore minimise risks. Direct discharges of chemicals to rivers are controlled by environmental permits. Where necessary these include specific limits for concentrations of particular chemicals that can be discharged to a river to ensure that risks are managed and the environment and human health is protected. Discharge quality is monitored and enforcement action taken if permit limits are exceeded. We work closely with business, infrastructure and emergency service providers to provide advice to reduce the chance of accidental releases.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many children have taken part in the tractor driving for 13-15 year olds course in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
Tractor driving courses for 13 to 15 year olds are delivered by private training providers. Information on the number of children that have participated on these courses is unavailable because Defra does not collect data on these courses.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cattle tested positive for bovine tuberculosis in 2017.
Answered by George Eustice
During 2017, 32,416 cattle were compulsorily slaughtered in England because they responded to the tuberculin skin test or interferon-gamma test in a way that was consistent with being infected with Mycobacterium bovis. Official statistics on TB in cattle in Great Britain can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage young people to work in agriculture.
Answered by George Eustice
Having a skilled workforce in place and attracting young talent to agricultural careers is vital for the future of UK food and farming. There is a wide breadth of exciting technical and highly skilled careers in agriculture from primary production to research, engineering, agronomy, animal welfare and plant health.
The Government is reforming post-16 technical education to provide clear routes to skilled employment in agriculture and other sectors. The changes we have made to the apprenticeship system are transforming lives. We are helping employers to create high quality apprenticeships at all levels that give people of all ages and backgrounds the skills they need. Employers are designing new high quality standards to ensure apprenticeships are more responsive to their needs. Apprenticeship standards are available in a broad range of sectors including agriculture, with Land Based Service Engineer and Arborist approved for delivery, with more in development.
In addition, we currently provide extra support for young farmers starting out in farming through the EU Basic Payment Scheme. Eligible farmers aged between 18 and 40 can claim a 25% uplift on up to 90 hectares of their Basic Payment Scheme payments for the first five years of their new business.
Defra also provides grant funding support to the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs to provide mentoring, training and development opportunities for young people across England who are interested in food and farming.