Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, was asked—

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

1. What recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the rules relating to neighbourhood planning referendums.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The commission is reviewing the draft regulations for the conduct of neighbourhood planning referendums and will respond to the Department for Communities and Local Government shortly. As required by the Localism Act 2011, the Department also consulted the commission on proposed questions to be put to voters at these referendums. The commission published its assessment of the proposed questions on 11 April and has recommended some changes to the wording to make it easier for voters to understand. It also suggested the need for supplementary information to be made available to voters to enable them to participate in an informed way.

[Sajid Javid]

The people of Bromsgrove are pleased that the Localism Act has given them unprecedented powers to shape their local community, but the wording in the referendums is crucial. Has the commission considered the best way to word such questions and will it be issuing formal guidance?

[Mr Streeter]

I am delighted to be able to give my hon. Friend a positive response. He makes the important point that in any referendum it is important that the question is right, clear and fair. The commission is conducting detailed research with experts, the public, political parties and campaign groups to ensure that the wording in the upcoming referendums under the Localism Act is unbiased and intelligible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 13th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis (Great Yarmouth) (Con)]

11. What steps she is taking to encourage young people to take up learning and vocational training opportunities in the countryside and farming sector.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

12. What steps she is taking to encourage young people to take up learning and vocational training opportunities in the countryside and farming sector.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

I am delighted that so many colleagues are keen to ask about this important issue. Improving skills and creating learning opportunities is an essential part of delivering growth in farming, rural areas and food businesses. To that end, earlier in the summer, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced 50,000 new apprenticeships, mainly associated with agriculture and the food industry. In addition, we are working closely with colleagues at the Departments for Education and for Business, Innovation and Skills to make sure that rural areas benefit from the additional £250 million that the Government are investing in adult apprenticeships.

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[Sajid Javid]

I recently met a farmer in my constituency who told me that more than 80% of his 50 employees are hard-working eastern Europeans. He finds it very difficult to attract young British people to take on those jobs. Is there anything that the Secretary of State’s Department can do to make this work more attractive to them?

[Mrs Spelman]

I am sure that the same complaint has been made to other hon. Members. On Open Farm Sunday, I visited a farm in Worcestershire where exactly the same point was made to me. It is important to stress, for the record, that although manual work on the farm is hard work, it can be very well paid—up to £10 an hour on average—so that seems not to be the impediment. By working with the Department for Work and Pensions, we are very keen to make sure that work does pay for our young people.

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The hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, was asked—

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

3. What recent recommendations the Electoral Commission has made to the Government on the running of UK-wide elections.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The Electoral Commission has made a number of recommendations to the Government on the administration of UK-wide elections, most recently in its report on the 2010 parliamentary general election. The commission has recommended that the Government set out a comprehensive plan to improve the management of elections and to make it easier for voters to participate.

[Sajid Javid]

Although the result of the recent alternative vote referendum was probably predictable from the beginning, it was nevertheless a very well-run process. Are there any lessons that we can learn from that for future UK-wide elections?

[Mr Streeter]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is being very perceptive, because there has been widespread public appreciation of how the UK referendum was run earlier in the year. The commission will be publishing a report next Wednesday that will make a number of recommendations for improving the delivery of all future UK-wide elections and will, in particular, emphasise the benefits of central co-ordination.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

I am delighted to welcome the announcement of the merger that my hon. Friend describes. It will allow the cultural and heritage purposes of the new waterways charity to be fundamentally linked with all the other benefits arising from creating the new entity. The three museums that the waterways charity now owns will become part of the new charity, and will be a fantastic resource for it in future.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

9. What progress she has made in reducing the burden of regulation on farmers; and if she will make a statement.

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

In May I welcomed the report of the independent farming regulation taskforce, which has made more than 200 recommendations to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers without lowering our standards. The Government are now carefully considering those recommendations.

[Sajid Javid]

Farmers in my constituency and nationwide would welcome the efforts that the Government are taking to reduce regulation. Can the Minister give the House an idea of the time scale for implementing those recommendations, and say whether any might be taken forward immediately?

[Mr Paice]

Perhaps my hon. Friend will accept tomorrow as being close enough to immediately. I can tell him that as of tomorrow, dairy farmers who are covered as members of the assured dairy scheme will find their state inspections going down to once every 10 years, as they are regularly inspected as part of the scheme to which they belong.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

That is a bit rich, given that the Labour Government spent 13 years running down our agricultural industry so that we now have to import to cover half our needs—that is the result of their policies. Of course we are developing our own proposals. The foresight report was produced under this Government and we stand by it. It is a very comprehensive report and we will, of course, be responding to it with a series of proposals to put British agriculture back where it belongs—back on its feet.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

4. What steps she is taking to support British food exports.

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

DEFRA leads on a number of initiatives to support British food exports, such as working with industry to develop export certification schemes for non-EU markets. A recent success has been certifying dairy products for export to India. We are working with the food industry, and across government, to maximise the growth potential through overseas trade. That commitment is clear in the recently published UK trade and industry strategy.

[Sajid Javid]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Two of my constituents run a very successful pet food company, First Class Foods Ltd. They are trying to tap into international demand, but they face a significant obstacle in China because, surprisingly, we do not have the relevant export licence. Will he help to bring good, wholesome, tasty British pet food to Chinese cats and dogs by addressing this issue?

[Mr Paice]

I shall resist all the obvious temptations in that question. I am aware of First Class Foods in my hon. Friend’s constituency. The difficulties of entering the Chinese market are not confined to pet food; it took us three years to make the necessary import arrangements in respect of breeding pigs. However, my officials are working with the Chinese Government and, in particular, their General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to find a way forward so that his company can export good quality pet food to China.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

9. What areas she has identified where the regulatory burden on hill farmers can be reduced; and if she will make a statement.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

13. What areas she has identified where the regulatory burden on the agricultural industry arising from EU legislation can be reduced; and if she will make a statement. We are very aware of the need to reduce burdens on farmers, to increase competitiveness and to trust businesses to maintain standards. The taskforce on farm regulation, which I appointed in July, will consider how to reduce regulatory burdens and deliver risk-based and integrated compliance and inspection. It will consider all regulation that bears on farmers, including hill farmers, and it has started a wide consultation to understand which issues cause farmers most concern.

[George Freeman]

Can the Minister give some reassurance to farmers in my Mid Norfolk constituency who are still struggling as a result of the non-payment, late payment or part payment of their single farm payments? This is having a serious impact on their cash flow, and it is often the result of slow interdepartmental communications on issues such as land transfer.

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[Mr Paice]

Of course I would be very happy to speak to my hon. Friend on this subject, and I appreciate the point that he is making. The upland entry level stewardship scheme is basically a very good scheme; I would not dissent from that—[Interruption.] I am not going to criticise the basis of the scheme, but my hon. Friend is right to say that some aspects of it are too bureaucratic and difficult to access, particularly when issues between landlords and tenants or issues of common land are involved. I am happy to try to address that.

[Sajid Javid]

Farmers in my constituency of Bromsgrove rightly abide by EU regulations, including those that are frankly unhelpful to the farming industry. The Minister might know that farmers in other EU countries often ignore those same regulations, and attract little or no sanction from the authorities in those countries. Will he reassure us that he is aware of this issue and that his Department is doing all it can to make it better?

[Mr Paice]

I am very much aware of the belief in many parts of the British farming industry that regulations are not applied elsewhere in Europe. I am going to be completely honest, as the House would expect, and say that I think some of those stories are slightly exaggerated. I have many friends and contacts in the farming industry elsewhere in Europe, and they complain just as vigorously about this. Nevertheless, my hon. Friend’s fundamental point is absolutely right. When a regulation is passed by Europe, it should be implemented and enforced equally across the whole of the Community, if we believe in fair trade and a single market.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 24th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Spelman]

I can reassure my hon. Friend that he is speaking to a Secretary of State whose constituency is entirely within the green belt and who has campaigned tirelessly on its erosion and, in particular, the unfortunate consequences of the phenomenon of garden grabbing. Those matters are the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government and I am well aware that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government intends to abolish the regional spatial strategy and to protect and maintain the green belt, as my hon. Friend would like.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

24. What plans her Department has to reduce the level of regulation on farmers; and if she will make a statement.

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

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave to Question 2.

[Sajid Javid]

I welcome those on the Front Bench to their new roles and I thank the Secretary of State for visiting Bromsgrove during the election campaign.

The Minister referred earlier to the review of EU regulations, but may I draw his attention to the fact that they are often not enforced by our major trading partners? While we enforce regulations harshly, many EU countries ignore them, so will the he consider that urgently?

[Mr Paice]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that very important question. There is a huge amount of concern that some EU countries are less vigorous in enforcing regulations, and it is one of the issues that the taskforce will want to look into. I would just add the caution that when one looks closely at a matter on the ground, it is not always as clear-cut as it appears. If he has a particular case in mind, I will be happy to look into it.