Local Government Finance (Rural Authorities)

Debate between Neil Parish and James Paice

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Neil Parish]

My hon. Friend is right. The position is the same in Devon, where the Devon county council leader made enough savings to get through the current budget and was going forward well, but his budget was cut yet again. That is the problem. Devon is reputed to have more roads than Belgium, for instance, which is why the cost of repair, particularly after the floods, is so large. [Interruption.] It is absolutely true. There are more roads in Devon than there are in Belgium.

Rural authorities have to deal with high fuel prices, and the cost of education in schools is much higher. Devon is the 244th lowest in the table for school funding. All these factors need to be taken into consideration by the Government so that we get a fair share. I have much more to say, but in order to give colleagues time to speak—

[Sir James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

If my hon. Friend is drawing his remarks to a close, which would be a shame, may I urge him to address the issue that he promised to come on to, which was raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith), about damping? It will mean that rural authorities will not see the gains to which they are entitled before 2020 and probably not at all.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. We have already used 14 minutes, and every time we carry on, we are going to lose some speakers. It is that serious.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Neil Parish and James Paice

Thursday 19th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

I am certain that my hon. Friend the Deputy Leader of the House has heard my hon. Friend’s words. I assure him that I entirely agree with him.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

12. What support she is providing to rural communities to encourage enterprise and growth.

Intensive Dairy Farming

Debate between Neil Parish and James Paice

Tuesday 14th December 2010 Westminster Hall

[Neil Parish]

I do not believe that we want to go backwards, but this proposal wants to go forwards too fast. It will see off too many medium-sized farmers who can make a good living. That is my point.

[Mr Paice]

I understand my hon. Friend’s point, and I will try to pick it up, although I will obviously not be able to respond to all the important points that my hon. Friends and the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) have made.

There has been a bit of a battle for credibility between some of my hon. Friends as to who first milked cows. If I might join in, it is about 44 years since I first milked cows. In those days—we can all say “in those days”—most dairy herds were in the 20-to-30 cow bracket, and 100 was a massive herd. If we had had a debate about mega-dairies in those days, we would have been talking about 100 cows.

The average herd in England is now 113 cows. There are lots of herds with more than 500 cows; one has 2,000 cows and several have more than 1,000 cows. The world has moved on, and no Government of any colour—we have obviously had all shades over the past 44 years—have blown the whistle and said, “This is too big.”

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Neil Parish and James Paice

Thursday 4th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

I can say to my hon. Friend quite clearly that the most important thing that anybody who wants to employ migrant labour—or, indeed, any non-local labour—should do is ensure that they are dealing with a licensed gangmaster. They should ask to see the certificate or licence of the gangmaster proposing to bring the labour on to the farm. That way they can all be reassured they are doing the right thing.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

18. What steps her Department is taking to assist the farming industry to become more competitive.

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr James Paice)]

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave a few moments ago.

[Neil Parish]

This country has a highly competitive pig and poultry industry that is completely unsubsidised and relies heavily on imported feed. Will the Minister assure us that we can get a greater threshold when allowing imports of non-genetically modified feed into the country, otherwise we will export our industry abroad?

[Mr Paice]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Discussions are taking place in Europe about the threshold for the import of GM soya, predominantly, which is what he is talking about, and I can assure him that we will be taking a constructive view to those negotiations. Quite clearly it would be pointless to deprive our livestock sector of something in a way that simply means we import more livestock products that have been fed on GM food.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Neil Parish and James Paice

Thursday 24th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

The former Secretary of State is desperately trying to create a division where none exists, because the situation is clear—in black and white, if I may use the phrase—in the coalition agreement. The considerations mentioned in the parliamentary answer to which he refers concern the details of how, where and who, along with all the other issues that have to be addressed in working out how to do a cull of badgers and how to integrate it with the badger vaccine deployment project.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

May I follow up an earlier question on the movement of animals? During the winter, a sheep farmer in Honiton had to fill in a form every time she moved her sheep in and out of a field for lambing because she did not own that field—it was not part of her holding. We have got to find ways of simplifying movement orders.

[Mr Paice]

I welcome my hon. Friend to the House and to DEFRA questions. I entirely agree with him: that is one of countless regulations that appear on the face of it to be nonsensical, and which the taskforce will consider.