Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
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 trends in cyber-enabled wildlife crime since 2015.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government part-funds the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). The NWCU publishes annual tactical assessments, which outline their analysis of current, emerging and future wildlife crime threats, including cyber-enabled wildlife crime.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of removing agricultural tariffs on US imports on the viability of small and medium sized UK farms.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
There has been no specific assessment completed of the impacts of the removal of tariffs on a bilateral basis on the viability of small and medium sized farms. Defra will consider the interests of all farmers, producers and consumers in the formulation of the Government’s future trade policy, including for a future trade agreement with the United States.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
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 has made an assessment of the effect a mutual recognition agreement with the US on animal welfare standards on the competitiveness of UK animal produce in the UK market.
Answered by George Eustice
US animal products are produced to a range of US animal welfare standards, partly because some US regulatory requirements apply at state level and others apply at federal level. Industry farm assurance schemes also exist in the United States and involve scheme members meeting scheme standards, which may exceed US regulatory requirements. The quality standards which apply to particular products imported from the US also reflect the commercial supply chain requirements of the importer, which may exceed the baseline regulatory standards applying in the US.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will review the law on the caging of game birds.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department plans to support new programmes that would have been eligible for Rural Development Programme funding after 31 October 2019.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government has guaranteed that any Rural Development Programme projects where funding has been agreed before the end of 2020 will be funded for their full lifetime. It will ensure continued funding for these projects until they finish and means that we can continue to sign new projects during 2019 and 2020, after the UK leaves the EU.
Furthermore the Government will maintain the commitment to provide the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the Parliament. The Government will confirm the exact funding available in due course.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has budgeted for (a) payments to farmers, (b) administration apparatus for payments and (c) civil service hours to process claims and payments to replace Common Agricultural Policy payments after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
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 place in the Library each estimate that has been provided to Government since January 2019 on the potential reduction in the flow of food between the EU and the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement if the Government (a) takes and (b) does not take steps to mitigate the reduction in those flows.
Answered by George Eustice
In response to the Humble Motion passed on 9 September 2019, the Government published on GOV.UK on 11 September 2019 the Yellowhammer Planning Assumptions dated 2 August 2019.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what contingency funding he has allocated for the (a) slaughter, (b) burial and (c) disposal of lamb carcasses in the event that there is a decrease in the export of lamb if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.
Answered by George Eustice
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the gross amount was of funding made available for footpath maintenance in England in the 2018-19 financial year.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government does not collect the data of what has been spent by local highway authorities which are responsible for maintenance of other public rights of way.
The Government funded spending on National Trails maintenance was £1.81m in 2018/19.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
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 Department for International Trade's draft tariff schedule, Temporary rates of custom duty, published on 13 March 2019, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on livestock farmers in the event that the EU matches the tariff on sheep meat proposed in that draft tariff schedule in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Consistent with World Trade Organisation rules, the EU must apply tariffs equally to imports from all countries where there is not a trade agreement or any other preferential arrangement in place. In the event of no deal, this includes the UK.
We anticipate that the application of EU tariffs on UK exports would have a substantial negative impact across the UK farming sector, particularly for sheepmeat where those tariffs are high and around 30% of production is exported, approximately 95% of which goes to the EU. This is just one reason why delivering a negotiated settlement remains the Government’s top priority.