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Written Question
Agriculture: Food Supply
Tuesday 17th December 2024

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 July 2024 to Question 1488 on Agriculture: Food Supply, if he will have discussions with the Prime Minister on holding a farm to fork summit at 10 Downing Street in 2025.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra will work side-by-side with industry and stakeholders across the food system to deliver lasting change and will consider options for specific events as appropriate.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Advisory Services
Thursday 28th November 2024

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support business advisory services such as (a) Business Information Point West Devon and (b) the Future Farming Resilience Program.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Farming Resilience Fund (FRF) was developed to help farmers through the early years of the Agricultural Transition, specifically to assist farm businesses to adapt to the initial reductions in the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

Feedback about the FRF has been overwhelmingly positive, including about the services offered by Business Information Point on behalf of Devon County Council.

Defra will carefully consider the findings from the Farming Resilience Fund, alongside other advisory programs, to shape what any future support might look like.


Written Question
Dartmoor: Nature Conservation
Wednesday 2nd October 2024

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

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 meet with hon. Members representing constituencies in Devon to have discussions on the (a) conservation of Dartmoor moorland and (b) protection of Dartmoor ponies.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I will meet with hon. and Rt hon. Members representing constituencies in Devon, and key stakeholders, to discuss these issues.


Written Question
Dartmoor: Horses
Tuesday 17th September 2024

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

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 is taking steps to coordinate efforts with local groups to protect Dartmoor ponies.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The new Moorland Offer, as outlined on the Government website, includes 10 new actions to be included in Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and two new and one amended action to be included in Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT). The new offer will provide payment for grazing with both cattle and ponies and will make both cattle and ponies eligible under the native breeds at risk supplement. The competition between the two has been removed as recommended in the Dartmoor review. In the new offer, ponies are exempt from stock removal requirements, in recognition that removal of ponies from moorland is neither feasible nor desirable in most circumstances.

Full details of the expanded and improved SFI offer available to farmers were published by the government on Tuesday 21 May 2024. Expressions of interest have now opened for those wishing to apply through the Sustainable Farming Incentive controlled roll out. The application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) will be confirmed shortly. Farmers and other eligible land managers can apply for an SFI agreement to run alongside their existing agreement, if:

  • They or their land are eligible for each scheme
  • The activities or outcomes they are being paid for are compatible

They will not be paid twice for a similar activity or outcome on the same area of land at the same time (known as ‘double funding’). It should be noted that those managing land designated as SSSI will need to obtain Natural England consent for their grazing management actions; this is part of Natural England statutory duty regarding the protection of SSSIs. Those managing land not designated as a SSSI will not need to discuss their grazing management with Natural England to enter into a Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement.

The new moorland offer will be subject to monitoring and evaluation, particularly in the first year. Any change in the pony population during this time will be investigated and further mitigations will be explored if necessary.


Written Question
Protected Site Management on Dartmoor Independent Review
Tuesday 17th September 2024

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

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 implement the recommendations of the report of the Independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor led by David Fursdon.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In April, the previous Government published the response to the independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor.

Central to that was agreeing to the recommendation of creating a land use management group for Dartmoor, to reinforce Dartmoor’s existing governance - providing a place for cooperation and collaboration between key stakeholders and our arm’s length bodies.

Following the general election, we are now in the process of appointing the independent chair of the group – with applications for the role closing on 3 September and interviews taking place shortly.

The new group will play a key role in delivering a Land Use Framework and land-use plan for Dartmoor, as well as the other recommendations attributed to the group in the government response.

Further information can be found on GOV.UK here.


Written Question
Salmon: North Atlantic Ocean
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department held discussions at the recent North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation on protecting salmon stocks as they migrate to feeding grounds in the North Atlantic; and if she will press for international agreement on such protections.

Answered by Mark Spencer

As a contracting party to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO), the UK took part in the organisation’s annual meeting in June. Salmon migrating to the North Atlantic are protected by NASCO’s prohibition of fishing salmon beyond coastal States’ jurisdictions with the exception of the waters off West Greenland, where salmon fishing is capped at 27 tonnes per annum until 2025.


Written Question
Agriculture: Environment Protection
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she (a) received and (b) plans to publish the report of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, commissioned by Natural England pursuant to the Agri-Environment Schemes Species Monitoring Project.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

The report is currently with Natural England Agri-Environment Monitoring and Evaluation team, waiting on final clearance and the associated documents to be prepared for the Defra publication process. The timescales may vary but it is likely to be published in Quarter 3 of this year.

A draft was produced in March 2022, followed by Natural England Technical Steering Group review and external peer review by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in July 2022. External peer review responses were returned in November 2022 and reviewed January 2023, followed by amendments with the final report submitted to Natural England on 18th May 2023.


Written Question
Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Agriculture
Wednesday 29th March 2023

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

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 she has had with Natural England on its policy on grazing on sites of special scientific interest; and whether she is taking steps to help ensure the continuation of traditional farming of hefted flocks on Dartmoor.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

Grazing on sites of special scientific interest needs to be undertaken carefully and sensitively and should be tailored to the specific site to ensure that the condition of the SSSI site is either maintained or improved. Traditional hefting (or learing as it is known in Dartmoor) of flocks can work alongside this. I will work closely with Natural England to help ensure that sites of special scientific interest can be managed effectively to balance hefting alongside these two elements in Dartmoor.


Written Question
Hill Farming
Monday 27th March 2023

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

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 Natural England on supporting the value of traditional farming and the social and cultural capital of its communities supported by upland farming in a manner that encourages the promotion of each.

Answered by Mark Spencer

Natural England’s role is to help conserve, enhance and manage the natural environment for the benefit of present and future generations in a way that contributes to sustainable development. We hold regular discussions with Natural England to support this aim.


Written Question
Dogs: Brucellosis
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)

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 (a) prevalence of Brucella Canis and (b) risk it presents to humans in the UK; and what steps including import controls she is taking to prevent the spread of that disease.

Answered by Mark Spencer

Brucella canis is classed as a reportable disease under the Zoonoses Order and in 2022, the first full reporting year, 54 cases were reported.


The Human Animal Infections & Risk Surveillance group (HAIRS), chaired by Defra, published a risk statement in February 2021 which concluded that the evidence available at that time did not allow an in-depth assessment of the risk to the general public. This statement is now under review in light of new data available.


Working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), we will continue to gather information on the disease risk posed by B.Canis and will consider any further actions including import controls as appropriate.