Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland in the last two weeks on tackling the spread of bird flu in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Animal health and welfare policy and responding to outbreaks is a devolved matter. I outline below information about control of the disease in England. I also set out how all four administrations in the UK work with one another in order to develop a response which supports the areas of common interest.
My department, and the departments of all administrations in the UK, have well-established, strong track records of controlling and eliminating outbreaks of Avian Influenza. Our aim is to limit the spread and the economic impact of this disease on the industry, governments and other bird keepers.
Defra's approach to disease control is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain and in the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England. Once disease has been confirmed, susceptible birds are humanely culled and disease control zones put in place around the infected premises to further reduce the risk of spread. Movement of poultry and captive birds are not allowed in the zones and movements of eggs, poultry carcases and poultry litter and manure are subject to restrictions.
Veterinary investigations are carried out at each infected premises, including the tracing of all movements on and off, and surveillance within the disease control zones.
Avian Influenza Prevention Zones (AIPZ) were put in place in England, Scotland and Wales on 11 November 2020. These require all bird keepers to take extra biosecurity precautions such as limiting access to non-essential people on their sites, workers changing clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures, cleaning and disinfecting site vehicles regularly and fencing off ponds and standing water. Similarly, an AIPZ was declared in Northern Ireland on 1 December 2020.
In addition, given the increasing risk of incursion of avian influenza to captive birds, from the 14 December 2020 new housing measures will come into force in England for all poultry and captive birds. I refer the hon. Member to my statement of 8 December 2020:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-12-08/hcws631
Although disease control is a devolved matter colleagues in all administrations are an integral part of the UK-wide decision-making processes. All attend the Defra Group's National Disease Control Centre 'bird table' meetings, are members of the Animal Disease Policy Group and participate in daily stocktakes to review on-going disease control strategy.
I have no plans to amend Defra's responsibilities for compensation for affected keepers.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to provide additional financial support to poultry farmers in Northern Ireland who may have to cull livestock as a result of bird flu, beyond the support available under schemes administered by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Animal health and welfare policy and responding to outbreaks is a devolved matter. I outline below information about control of the disease in England. I also set out how all four administrations in the UK work with one another in order to develop a response which supports the areas of common interest.
My department, and the departments of all administrations in the UK, have well-established, strong track records of controlling and eliminating outbreaks of Avian Influenza. Our aim is to limit the spread and the economic impact of this disease on the industry, governments and other bird keepers.
Defra's approach to disease control is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain and in the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England. Once disease has been confirmed, susceptible birds are humanely culled and disease control zones put in place around the infected premises to further reduce the risk of spread. Movement of poultry and captive birds are not allowed in the zones and movements of eggs, poultry carcases and poultry litter and manure are subject to restrictions.
Veterinary investigations are carried out at each infected premises, including the tracing of all movements on and off, and surveillance within the disease control zones.
Avian Influenza Prevention Zones (AIPZ) were put in place in England, Scotland and Wales on 11 November 2020. These require all bird keepers to take extra biosecurity precautions such as limiting access to non-essential people on their sites, workers changing clothing and footwear before entering bird enclosures, cleaning and disinfecting site vehicles regularly and fencing off ponds and standing water. Similarly, an AIPZ was declared in Northern Ireland on 1 December 2020.
In addition, given the increasing risk of incursion of avian influenza to captive birds, from the 14 December 2020 new housing measures will come into force in England for all poultry and captive birds. I refer the hon. Member to my statement of 8 December 2020:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-12-08/hcws631
Although disease control is a devolved matter colleagues in all administrations are an integral part of the UK-wide decision-making processes. All attend the Defra Group's National Disease Control Centre 'bird table' meetings, are members of the Animal Disease Policy Group and participate in daily stocktakes to review on-going disease control strategy.
I have no plans to amend Defra's responsibilities for compensation for affected keepers.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on bringing forward the £3 billion investment for 4,000 hydrogen and electric buses announced in February 2020.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My department works closely with the Department for Transport through our shared Joint Air Quality Unit. As a result, officials in both departments have regular engagement to ensure evolving bus policy considers the potential impacts on air quality, including the development of the policy on 4,000 new zero emission buses.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 help ensure the participation of Northern Ireland in the Pick For Britain recruitment plan.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra discussed with officials at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) regarding the plans for the Pick for Britain website and their thoughts on a future public facing campaign, to attract more seasonal workers from the UK. The feedback received was that DAERA was working closely with industry representatives in Northern Ireland and would use the existing Department for Communities website – JobCentre Online (JCOL) to advertise local opportunities. The website also provided a link to the Pick for Britain initiative.
We continue to work with Devolved Administrations and hold regular meetings in order to understand the labour needs and specific issues they may be facing.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made by the Government on bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the import and export of hunting trophies.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government takes the conservation of endangered species seriously and?committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from endangered species in our manifesto. A consultation on controls on the import and export of hunting trophies to and from the UK was undertaken between 2 November 2019 and 25 February 2020. The outcome of the consultation and the accompanying call for evidence will inform our next steps. We are continuing to work on this important area and will publish the Government response as soon as it is practical to do so.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 make the appointment of a permanent animal welfare inspector a mandatory requirement for local authorities.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Local authorities in England are already required to appoint suitably qualified animal welfare inspectors in order to enforce the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. The 2018 Regulations require local authorities to consider applications for and undertake inspections of businesses seeking licences for certain animal related activities; namely dog breeding, pet selling, cat and dog boarding, riding schools and keeping or training animals for exhibition. Local authorities’ inspections ensure that welfare conditions are applied and they have powers to refuse or revoke a licence. The regulations provide for full cost recovery of local authority activity through licensing fees.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 make an assessment of the potential effectiveness of a campaign entitled Brand UK to promote British agri-food products after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Food and drink exports are a success story, increasing by 24% since 2010. The Government is determined to help showcase and promote our excellent food and drink even more in the years to come.
The UK’s growing reputation for quality food and drink, with high standards of food safety, animal welfare and sustainability is an excellent platform to increase demand for our products still further.
The Government is already promoting UK food and drink products very effectively through Defra’s ‘Food is GREAT’ campaign. The campaign helps raise the profile and reputation of UK food and drink overseas, by building global demand and increasing positive perceptions of our food and drink products. The campaign promotes excellent food and drink products from across the four nations of the UK. Most recently, the campaign showcased Northern Irish gin, Scotch Whisky, Welsh seafood and English Sparkling Wine to Japanese consumers, trade and media in events coinciding with the Rugby World Cup. The campaign is also active in other priority markets including the USA and China, as well as within the UK.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the list of agricultural products in schedule 1 part 1 of the Agriculture Bill does not include sheepmeat and pigmeat.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The current list of sectors in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Agriculture Bill applies to England and is based on the list in EU Common Market Organisation Regulation No 1308/2013, which provides the legislative framework for existing EU marketing standards. There is a power in Part 3 of Schedule 1 that will enable the Government to add sectors to that schedule via secondary legislation. The list of sectors and the regulation-making power (including the power to add sectors to the list) are reproduced for Northern Ireland at paragraphs 15 and 16 of Schedule 4 of the Bill.
In England, the power to add sectors will be exercised if, following public consultation with interested stakeholders, a decision is made to introduce a new marketing standard. As agricultural policy in the UK is devolved, it is for each administration to decide its approach and what measures it should adopt. Decisions on amending the list in Schedule 4 of the Bill will fall to the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the proposed process is for adding products under part 1 of schedule 1 to the Agriculture Bill.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The current list of sectors in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Agriculture Bill applies to England and is based on the list in EU Common Market Organisation Regulation No 1308/2013, which provides the legislative framework for existing EU marketing standards. There is a power in Part 3 of Schedule 1 that will enable the Government to add sectors to that schedule via secondary legislation. The list of sectors and the regulation-making power (including the power to add sectors to the list) are reproduced for Northern Ireland at paragraphs 15 and 16 of Schedule 4 of the Bill.
In England, the power to add sectors will be exercised if, following public consultation with interested stakeholders, a decision is made to introduce a new marketing standard. As agricultural policy in the UK is devolved, it is for each administration to decide its approach and what measures it should adopt. Decisions on amending the list in Schedule 4 of the Bill will fall to the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a grant to encourage farmers with slurry tanks to erect more effective safety railings around those tanks.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government does not currently provide funding for safety rails around slurry tanks in England. However, we keep the focus of our Rural Development Programme schemes under review. If we were to introduce a scheme for slurry management under the programme in future we would consider what it should fund.
All UK administrations have their own EU funded Rural Development Programmes. Any funding for slurry tank safety rails in Northern Ireland through this means would be a matter for the Northern Ireland programme.