Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the carbon emissions and air pollution from diesel shipping moored (a) off Enderby Wharf, Greenwich and (b) in other inshore UK waters.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Assessment of local air quality is a matter for Local Authorities, following statutory guidance set by central Government and the devolved administrations. Central Government assesses air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions at a UK level using the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of people who will (a) leave and (b) join the labour market in rural areas before 2025.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
To inform Defra’s policy brief on the rural economy published on 27 December 2014, an estimate was included for how much employment in rural areas could increase by 2025. This assumed employment could grow at the rate of projected population growth in rural areas (derived from Office for National Statistics population projections). Further details can be found in the policy brief: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/390767/policy-brief-rural-productivity-pb14252.pdf
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
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 page seven of her Department's policy brief, How increased Connectivity is Boosting Prospects of Rural Areas, published in December 2014, what assessment she has made of the effect of Visit England's marketing campaigns on tourism to rural areas to date.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the rural economy. In recognition of this, the Government launched the Rural Tourism package aimed at growing the visitor economy in rural areas. Under that package, Visit England estimates that its promotional activity to attract visitors to the countryside has so far delivered an extra 1,851 full-time equivalent jobs and £100 million in visitor spend.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
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 page seven of her Department's policy brief, How increased Connectivity is Boosting Prospects of Rural Areas, published in December 2014, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Skills and Knowledge Transfer Programme on business people in rural areas to date.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
To date, the Rural Development Programme Skills and Knowledge Transfer Programme has provided training across England for 215,000 (non-unique) participants who have completed 220,000 training days. Delivery is still underway and an evaluation will be carried out.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
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 page seven of her Department's policy brief, How increased Connectivity is Boosting Prospects of Rural Areas, published in December 2014, what assessment she has made of the effect of UK RuralSkills on farmers' management and business skills to date.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Management and Business Skills forms one of a number of contracts awarded under the Rural Development Programme for England skills framework. The contract was awarded to Traineast, which works with its UK Rural Skills partners to provide coverage across England. To date, under the Management and Business Skills contract, 3,973 training days have been completed with 2,444 (non-unique) participants taking part in training. Evaluation completed by trainees following training indicates that 99.96% will put the skills gained into practice. Delivery under the skills framework is ongoing and an evaluation will be carried out.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
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 page seven of her Department's policy brief, How increased Connectivity is Boosting Prospects of Rural Areas, published in December 2014, what assessment she has made of the effect of the International Food and Drink Action Plan on the level of (a) food and (b) drink exports to date.
Answered by George Eustice
Since the publication of the UK Food and Drink - International Action Plan in October 2013 we have supported 2,500 companies (1,500 more than we had pledged), opened over 100 markets for animal and animal products, implemented a faster export health certification system two months ahead of schedule and continued to champion British food and drink here and overseas at major trade shows and events. Full details of the progress made can be found in the One Year On report published on the Open to Exports website at http://opentoexport.com/article/uk-food-and-drink-international-action-plan-one-year-on-2/.
The agri-food and drink sector is worth over £100bn and includes the largest manufacturing sector worth over £26bn. Food and drink exports in 2013 were £18.9bn up £700m compared to 2012 and 39% above those in 2010.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
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 page six of her Department's policy brief, How increased Connectivity is Boosting Prospects of Rural Areas, published in December 2014, what estimate she has made of the proportion of areas which will not be covered by superfast broadband by 2017 that are (a) rural and (b) coastal.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The Government is investing £780 million to give access to superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by 2017. This will be achieved through two delivery phases. Until Phase 2 is complete, it is not possible to estimate precisely how many rural and coastal areas will not be covered by superfast broadband by 2017. Approximately 1.4 million premises are expected to fall within the remaining 5% hard to reach areas across the UK. We are currently exploring how to extend superfast broadband into these final areas.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will meet the Chairman and Board of First Milk to discuss the effect of that body's recent announcements on milk prices, delays in payments and increased capital levy contributions on the viability of farmers who supply it.
Answered by George Eustice
The Secretary of State and I have spoken to the Chairman of First Milk to discuss the recent announcement on milk prices and the impact this will have on farmers. We are closely monitoring the situation and are in contact with milk industry experts to consider if any further action is appropriate.
I will continue to work closely with the dairy industry as a whole to manage price volatility. Most recently I met the Chairman of First Milk on Monday evening.
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what changes there have been in the number of herds under TB restrictions (a) in each area of the UK, (b) in the Gloucestershire pilot cull area and (c) in the Somerset pilot cull area in each month since January 2010.
Answered by George Eustice
The latest statistics for herds under bovine TB restrictions can be found online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain
Statistics below county level are not available. For Gloucestershire and Somerset as a whole, the number of herds not officially TB free due to a bovine TB incident as at the end of January in each year since 2010, plus the latest published figures for September 2014, are shown below.
Gloucestershire | Somerset | |
January 2010 | 220 | 146 |
January 2011 | 228 | 220 |
January 2012 | 222 | 227 |
January 2013 | 230 | 254 |
January 2014 | 230 | 269 |
September 2014 | 185 | 194 |
Asked by: Huw Irranca-Davies (Labour - Ogmore)
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 has taken to ensure that statistics which record mis-stunning of animals are accurate; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by George Eustice
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to UIN 209694.