Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester 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 Government's publication A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation, published on 29 March 2023, how much and what proportion of the budget of each regulator in their Department was spent on regulation of artificial intelligence in the latest period for which information is available; how many staff in each regulator worked (a) wholly and (b) partly on those issues in the latest period for which information is available; and whether those regulators plan to increase resources for their work on artificial intelligence.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The AI White Paper emphasised the importance of ensuring that UK regulators and public bodies have the capacity, expertise, and capabilities to implement government’s pro-innovation approach whilst recognising and understanding the risks. This is particularly true for those regulators for which AI falls squarely within their regulatory remit, but also applies to a much wider range of public and regulatory bodies considering the implications AI has across the economy.
Artificial intelligence offers undoubted opportunities across a wide range of Defra sectors, and is increasingly being considered for practical use. AI is currently included within teams working on broader issues, such as technology and innovation. As future opportunities are identified we expect that the department will allocate further resources to support appropriate use of AI across our areas of policy responsibility.
As part of the AI regulation White Paper consultation, we are engaging closely with regulators across the wider landscape and their sponsoring government departments to understand the organisational capacity they need to regulate AI effectively, across technical, regulatory, and market-specific expertise. This will inform our work to develop policy options with a view to addressing any gaps that emerge.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of UK-produced steel procured by his Department and associated departmental public bodies and agencies in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government is working with the steel industry, the unions and devolved administrations to support the UK steel sector to develop a long-term sustainable future. This includes making sure that UK producers of steel have the best possible chance of competing for and winning contracts across all Government procurement.
BEIS collates and publishes annually information on how much steel is purchased for Government’s major infrastructure projects in the previous financial year, including what proportion is UK-produced.
We have collated the 2019/20 data and expect to publish later this year. We will start collating the data on UK steel procured in 2020/21 in due course.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to begin discussions on a new domestic school milk subsidy programme to replace the current EU Scheme.
Answered by George Eustice
As we leave the EU we have a great opportunity to reshape policies to meet our national priorities. We are considering the longer term approach to the EU school milk scheme in the context of our domestic schemes. Any future changes in this area will be subject to wide consultation with stakeholders.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many non-executive directors of her Department who were in post before May 2015 have since left the Department's board; what the names and length of tenure of such directors were; and how many and what non-executive director appointments she has made since May 2010.
Answered by George Eustice
There have been no changes to Defra Board non-executive directors since May 2015. The Defra Board has four non-executive directors. Information on tenure since May 2010 is set out each year in Defra’s Annual Report and Accounts published at:
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many recruitment and employment agencies her Department has used to source staff in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The number of recruitment and employment agencies core Defra has used to source both temporary and permanent staff in each year since 2010-11 is as follows:
Financial Year | No of recruitment / employment agencies |
2010/11 | 39 |
2011/12 | 22 |
2012/13 | 18 |
2013/14 | 22 |
2014/15* | 21 |
*to 31 Dec 2014
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester 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 spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
The table below sets out information for the Core Department in respect of financial years 2009-10 to 2013-14 (the last complete year for which audited information is available).
The system the Department had in place for booking rail and air travel in the period prior to May 2012 did not provide management information on the class of travel. Information on first class train tickets and business class air travel up to and including April 2012 is therefore not held by the Department, and the figures for 2012-13 in this table reflect eleven rather than twelve months’ expenditure.
Some journeys use different classes of ticket for different legs of the journey. These are known as mixed tickets and have been excluded from these figures as it is not possible to identify the element relating to business class travel.
£’000 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
(a) Taxis | 480 | 229 | 63 | 63 | 72 |
(b) First Class Train Tickets | -- | -- | -- | 13 | 11 |
(c) Business Class Air Travel | -- | -- | -- | 174 | 201 |
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
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 cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) her Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Rt. Hon. Member for Horsham to PQ UIN 217821 on 15 December 2014.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester 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 spent on (a) consultants, (b) temporary staff and (c) contingent labour in each of the last five years; how many people have been so employed; what the length of contract of each such person was; and what equivalent civil service salary band each was on.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
All staff employed in Core Defra who are not on the payroll are considered to be contingent labour. For reporting purposes, they are separated into consultants and temporary staff. The table below therefore only distinguishes between these two categories.
£m | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
Consultancy | 21.6 | 3.4 | 5.2 | 7.4 | 9.7 |
Temporary Staff | 8.4 | 12.4 | 5.3 | 4.8 | 6.2 |
We could only obtain detailed information on the numbers of people employed in these ways in each year, and the equivalent civil service grades, at disproportionate cost as this data is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester 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 Prime Minister's speech of 15 August 2011 calling for a family test to be applied to all domestic policy, which policies of her Department have been so assessed to date.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided by my Rt. Hon. Friend for Thornbury and Yate, Steve Webb, on Monday 13th October 2014, to PQ UIN 208864.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many jobs have been transferred from the public to the private sector as a result of privatisations or outsourcing by his Department since May 2010.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Since May 2010, 202 core Defra staff have transferred to the private sector.