Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspectors work for the Animal and Plant Health Agency; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the number of inspectors for protecting the UK's biosecurity.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Below is the number of inspectors the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has in post at Executive Officer (EO) and Higher Executive Officer (HEO) grade, along with the number of Senior Executive Officers (SEO) who also support delivery. APHA also has apprentice plant health inspectors.
The numbers are subject to change as APHA has several vacancies which it is recruiting to fill, and has potential new starters who are going through the security checks and onboarding process. They are not included in the figures until they have started working for APHA.
Inland | Apprentice | 18 |
EO | 105 | |
Contractor | 3 | |
HEO | 102 | |
SEO | 12 | |
Imports | Apprentice | 20 |
EO | 71 | |
Contractor | 10 | |
HEO | 32 | |
SEO | 5 |
Total - 378
GB plant health services have increased the number of plant health inspection staff to service the demand for import checks in England and Wales of EU plants and plant products. Inspector levels are being monitored to ensure these meet demand and deliver checks in line with set Service Level Agreements and ensure minimal trade disruption. Border Control Posts (BCPs) are designed to handle high volumes of imported sanitary and phytosanitary goods with inspectors working shifts to carry out reliable checks which minimise friction on traffic flow. Checks at BCPs are handled by trained staff ensuring inspections are undertaken safely and efficiently.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
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 horticultural industry on the potential impact of EU-UK border processes on biosecurity.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra continues to monitor and review the impact of the controls. We are working closely with industry, trade partners and enforcement agencies to minimise disruption and costs to trade, while continuing to protect our biosecurity.
Defra engages with the horticultural industry through the Plant Health Portal and Plant Health Advisory Forum.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the horticultural industry on changes to phytosanitary certificates.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra engages with GB businesses well in advance of any such changes, through the Plant Health Portal and Plant Health Advisory Forum
Any changes to the required content of phytosanitary certificates are communicated to third country trading partners via World Trade Organisation notifications and through letters directly to third country competent authorities. Such notifications are sent months in advance to ensure that third countries have time to comment on, and adapt to, the changes.
The exception to this is during emergency situations, when the high level of biosecurity risk means new requirements are implemented more rapidly.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Government's policy is on creating a register of carbon offset schemes in the UK to monitor the purchase of viable agricultural land used for this purpose.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The UK Land Carbon Registry is operated on behalf of the UK and Devolved Governments. It contains information about projects registered under the UK Woodland Carbon Code and the UK Peatland Code, the location of registered projects, and the quantity of carbon units issued to date and expected to be issued in future subject to verification of the carbon savings delivered ( https://www.woodlandcarboncode.org.uk/uk-land-carbon-registry).
Agricultural and planning policies are devolved matters. In England Her Majesty's Land Registry publishes information on all companies (UK and overseas) which own property in England and Wales ( https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry).
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has deprioritised any Statutory Instruments in relation to the UK leaving the EU; and if he will publish the criteria his Department uses to deprioritise those Instruments.
Answered by David Rutley
Our objective has always been to have a functioning statute book in place by Exit Day and to ensure that the most critical secondary legislation was made by this point.
Defra requires 125 SIs to be in force for Exit day of which 122 have been laid and the other 3 SIs will be laid before Exit.
Each SI that is planned to be laid after 12 April has been carefully considered to ensure that this would not have legal or other consequences that cannot be addressed by temporary non legislative arrangements. In most cases the SIs would apply only very minor technical corrections to current legislation which would not impact operability or transfer functions from the EU which would not be required in the immediate period after Exit. We have also consulted the Devolved Administrations in reaching these conclusions.
As a consequence of this due diligence, Defra will have laid all critical secondary legislation immediately required for EU Exit. The laying of EU Exit SIs allows Parliament to fulfil its essential scrutiny role. The exact nature of this scrutiny, and the steps required before an SI completes its passage, is dependent on the type of SI and determined under the relevant primary powers.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to announce her decision on the designation of the 23 marine conservation zones proposed in tranche 2.
Answered by George Eustice
Decisions on the marine conservation zones being designated in the second tranche will be announced by the end of January 2016.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many buildings her Department sold in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
We have interpreted ‘buildings’ to mean ‘sites’. A site can be made up of several of buildings.
The table below shows the number of sites sold by core Defra by financial year.
Financial year | 10/11 | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 14/15 to date. |
Number of sites sold | 16 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what timetable is in place for the phase-out of her Department's telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Core Defra operates a dual numbering system for all 0845 prefix telephone lines with the prefix 03 used as the primary number. 0845 prefix numbers have been retained to allow callers a choice based on their call package arrangements. There is no timetable to phase out the 0845 prefixed numbers but a review of the dual numbering policy will conclude in November.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, under what timetable her Department plans to phase-out use of telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, 0844 and 0843 in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on customer service lines published in December 2013 and (b) 03 and 08, where 03 is the primary number under a dual numbering system.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Core Defra operates three telephone lines under a dual numbering system with the prefix 0345 as the primary number. In accordance with Cabinet Office guidance, the 0845 prefix numbers have been retained for these lines to allow callers a choice based on their call package arrangements. There are no plans to phase out either the 0845 or 0345 prefixed numbers.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 his Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls each such number has received in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at BT local rates are available in each such case.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Core Defra provides three telephones lines with the prefix 0845 operated under contract by an external provider. Alternative numbers charged at BT local rates, using the prefix 0345, are available for all three lines and are the primary numbers. 0845 prefix numbers have been retained in order to minimise disruption to users during the transition to 0345 prefixed lines.
Information on the number of calls each number has received in the last 12 months will be placed in the Library of the House.