Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Blenkinsop Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that it would be a huge change if we could use PCR to analyse diseased badgers on the spot. That would change the whole debate and would be an enormous help in disease reduction. We have been working closely with the university of Warwick and are bringing in other agencies to see whether we can accelerate that work. Sadly, PCR is not yet reliable enough. If we can get a greater than 50% chance of identification, it will cause a sea change on this issue.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

3. What steps he is taking to prevent redundancies among staff working on flood protection at the Environment Agency.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dan Rogerson)]

The chief executive of the Environment Agency has been clear that the planned reduction in posts, which is necessary to ensure that the agency has an affordable business structure, will not affect its ability to respond to flooding. The Environment Agency will prioritise the resilience that is needed to manage flood incidents and recovery. The additional £130 million of funding that was announced in February and the £140 million that was announced in the Budget for the repair and maintenance of vital flood and coastal defences will mean that there is no reduction in the Environment Agency’s flood and coastal risk management job numbers.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

The Prime Minister promised that the reported plans for 550 redundancies among flood protection staff at the Environment Agency would not be put in place. Will the Minister confirm how many flood protection staff the EA plans to make redundant over the next two years?

[Dan Rogerson]

As I set out in my original reply to the hon. Gentleman, the agency prioritises flood and coastal defence work. The extra money that we have put in place to support that work means that it can look again at how it is managing jobs across the agency. Of course, like all other Government Departments and agencies, the Environment Agency has to respond to the need to tackle the deficit. However, we are putting money in place to ensure that our flood and coastal defences are run and maintained properly.