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Written Question
Fisheries
Friday 22nd July 2016

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the value of fishing to the UK economy in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by George Eustice

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO)’s Annual Fisheries Statistics show the contribution of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors to the UK economy over the calendar year period 2010-2014, as shown in the Table.

Year

Contribution of the Fisheries and Aquaculture sectors to the UK economy (£ million)

2010

542

2011

466

2012

438

2013

454

2014

426

Table: Contribution of the Fisheries and Aquaculture sectors to the UK economy, 2010-2014 (MMO, accessed 2016).

Figures for 2015 are not yet available.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Maps
Friday 15th July 2016

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the estimated value is of maps held by her Department.

Answered by George Eustice

Core Defra held a full set of hard copy Ordnance Survey Landranger maps. There are 204 maps in a full Landranger set.

The approximate second-hand sale value of all Core Defra hard copy maps is £1000.

Most of the mapping data that Defra uses is in electronic format.

Mapping data created by Defra, such as noise maps or maps of air quality, are made available as open data, without charge. As such, market value is difficult to ascertain.


Written Question
Dogs: Northern Ireland
Friday 1st April 2016

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

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 she has had with her counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive on the illegal dog trade.

Answered by George Eustice

The Government takes the illegal movement of dogs seriously and it is committed to working with the Devolved Administrations, delivery bodies, enforcement agencies and non-government organisations to tackle this issue.

Whilst there have been no recent Ministerial meetings on the illegal movement of dogs, Defra’s Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) has recently discussed the issue with his Devolved Administration counterparts, including the Northern Ireland CVO.

Additionally, there have been discussions on this issue between other Defra officials and officials within the Northern Ireland Devolved Administration.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Ministerial Policy Advisers
Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) policy and (b) other responsibilities are of each special adviser in her Department.

Answered by George Eustice

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, to PQ UIN 27946 on 29 March.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Health
Tuesday 1st March 2016

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's wellness strategy is.

Answered by George Eustice

Our Department’s employee Wellbeing Framework complements our Health and Safety Policy and supports the implementation of the Civil Service Employee Health and Wellbeing Strategic Action Plan. Our framework has been developed collaboratively by the Defra Wellbeing network to ensure consistency across all organisations in the Defra group. It focuses on three key priorities: Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies and Healthy Lifestyles and is delivered to our employees via workshops, campaigns and other initiatives accessible to all.


Written Question
World Milk Day
Monday 8th June 2015

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department took to celebrate World Milk Day on 1 June 2015.

Answered by George Eustice

Defra issued a number of supportive statements through social media to promote World Milk Day and highlight some of the key features of the UK milk industry, including the scale of UK production and the latest information on dairy exports. In particular, we celebrated the important contribution of UK dairying to the economy and as a key source of calcium in UK diets.