Across the eight work streams, the Department’s EU Exit Programme is carrying out detailed analysis of the implications and opportunities presented by EU Exit. This work will support the Prime Minister’s 12 negotiating objectives and the achievement of our vision to unlock the potential of farming and fisheries as well as ensuring that we leave the environment in a better state than we found it.

It is our intention to shortly publish our 25 Year Food, Farming and Fishing, and Environment Green Papers, initiating a debate with all of Defra’s sectors and stakeholders, along with the wider public, to shape plans that will deliver genuine and lasting change for food, farming, fishing and the environment once we are outside the EU.

Defra is committed to developing a 25 year food and farming plan, which will set out a new vision for UK food and farming outside of the EU. It will be published in due course.

Civil servants have to have the ability to work flexibly across government sites where there is a business need to do so. The issuing of all passes is controlled by the local Departmental Security teams. Passes can also be issued to contractors or secondees based within Government premises on a case by case basis in regards to specific business needs. Numbers of passes issued directly to non-civil servants for access to departmental buildings will fluctuate over the course of a year.

Defra is planning to publish two Green Papers, one on our 25 year plan for the environment, and one on our 25 year plan for food, farming and fisheries. The Department is considering options for legislative and non-legislative measures to achieve a smooth and orderly exit from the EU, including through the Great Repeal Bill. We will confirm plans in due course.

The commercial data was extracted from the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) and the pet data was taken from APHA’s system for recording pets entering the UK, based on information provided by pet checkers.

In some cases imports are recorded on TRACES as “Canis familiaris / Felis catus”, so APHA are unable to distinguish between cat or dog imports. These are included on the table in row “Mixed cats/dogs”.

Pets

Commercial

Dogs

275,876

34,017

Cats

24,145

2,572

Ferrets

129

0

Mixed cats/dogs

N/A

327

The Office for National Statistics publish annually the highest and median salary for each Civil Service organisation as part of the Civil Service Statistics. This information can be found on the Office for National Statistics website:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/medianpayannexb

Earning levels for the lowest paid employees are not publically available.

EU funding for the promotion of agricultural products is available to all member states and will continue to be available until the UK’s exit from the European Union.

We are determined to get the best deal for Britain, including for our food and farming industry which generates over £110 billion a year for our economy.

We will need to consider our longer-term approach to funding as part of a future domestic agricultural policy and we will ensure we consult with stakeholders in relation to any future scheme for the UK.

According to the latest HMRC trade data, the provisional value of UK exports of food & drink to the EU for the 12 month period December 2015 to November 2016 was £11.8 billion.

Approximately 50% (£5.9 billion) of these exports were raw or lightly-processed goods related to the agricultural sector. The remaining 50% of exports were highly-processed goods related to the food & drink manufacturing sector.

Agricultural trade data is not available for the geographic detail requested in parts (a) and (b).

The numbers of cases of avian influenza confirmed in domestic flocks in England and Wales, by year and month in the last 24 months up to and including 31/01/2017, are shown in the table below. In addition the numbers of positive cases found in wild birds in England and Wales are shown.

Year

Month

Cases in Domestic Flocks

Cases in Wild Birds

2015

January

1

2015

July

1

2016

August

1

2016

December

1

7

2017

January

7

10

The Government has taken swift action to limit the spread of avian influenza, with restrictions around affected premises and wider measures in place across the country. These measures included increasing the sensitivity of the surveillance that is undertaken around wetland areas by key partners due to the increased prevalence of H5N8 in Europe.

To reduce the risk of bird flu spreading from bird to bird there is currently a requirement for all poultry keepers, even those who just keep a few birds as pets, to take all practicable and appropriate steps to keep their birds housed or otherwise separate from wild birds. There is also a ban on poultry gatherings.

Bird flu is also transmitted via the environment, for example in wild bird droppings, and it is vital that keepers practice strict biosecurity.

The numbers of cases of avian influenza confirmed in domestic flocks in England and Wales, by year and month in the last 24 months up to and including 31/01/2017, are shown in the table below. In addition the numbers of positive cases found in wild birds in England and Wales are shown.

Year

Month

Cases in Domestic Flocks

Cases in Wild Birds

2015

January

1

2015

July

1

2016

August

1

2016

December

1

7

2017

January

7

10

The Government has taken swift action to limit the spread of avian influenza, with restrictions around affected premises and wider measures in place across the country. These measures included increasing the sensitivity of the surveillance that is undertaken around wetland areas by key partners due to the increased prevalence of H5N8 in Europe.

To reduce the risk of bird flu spreading from bird to bird there is currently a requirement for all poultry keepers, even those who just keep a few birds as pets, to take all practicable and appropriate steps to keep their birds housed or otherwise separate from wild birds. There is also a ban on poultry gatherings.

Bird flu is also transmitted via the environment, for example in wild bird droppings, and it is vital that keepers practice strict biosecurity.

At a recent meeting of the EU Standing Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products on 20 January, the UK presented the view that withdrawal of these products may have a significant negative impact on pig production.

The scientific basis for recommendation of withdrawal of the products is to be re-examined by the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Veterinary Use. This process is expected to take two months.

We will continue to engage with UK stakeholders and the Commission to ensure that the wider context of the impact of a withdrawal is fully considered, and to achieve the best outcome for all stakeholders, balancing availability of medicines with the need to manage all associated risks.

Defra officials have been undertaking a thorough analysis of the agri-food industry, including the wine industry. We have also been speaking directly to wine producers and trade organisations, to understand what they need from us so they can continue to thrive after we leave the EU.

There is no record of discussions with representatives of the agricultural or retail sectors to discuss the decline in oilseed rape harvests specifically. Defra continues to support the improvement of oilseed rape through its Oilseed Rape Genetic Improvement Network (OREGIN). This network is dedicated to the development of new pre-breeding material with key resilience traits such as resistance to fungal pathogens, improved nutrient uptake efficiency, rooting and establishment as well as improved quality traits

There are currently 16 wild animals licensed by Defra for use by travelling circuses in England. The 16 wild animals are 6 Reindeer; 3 Camels; 3 Zebra; 1 Fox; 1 Macaw; 1 Racoon and 1 Zebu.

Some skin and fur products may never be legally imported into the UK for commercial use. These include seal skins and products and cat and dog fur and products.

If the fur is from an endangered species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), its import and trade will be subject to CITES controls, as will any body part of that species also being imported or traded. These controls are implemented by the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations. The Government has no plans to remove these controls.

Labelling of fur products for consumers is already covered by The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

I represented the United Kingdom at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, alongside my colleagues Fergus Ewing MSP, Lesley Griffiths AM and Michelle McIlveen MLA, on 12 and 13 December in Brussels.

EU quota negotiations, involving decisions on fishing opportunities for the next year for quota stocks in the North Sea, Atlantic, Channel, Irish and Celtic Seas, were first on the agenda, and were ongoing for the entire duration of the Council. This was the third annual Council at which fishing opportunities were set under the rules of the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, which aims to have all stocks fished at sustainable levels by 2020 at the latest.

The UK secured a number of crucial changes to the Commission’s original proposals including, where science supports it, quota increases for fishermen around all parts of the UK. This is due to stocks recovering after years of the UK’s insistence on limiting catches with sustainable scientific limits. Quotas secured include:

• North Sea: Cod +16.5%, Whiting +17%, Anglerfish + 20% Saithe +53% Sole +22%
• Irish Sea: Haddock +25% and Nephrops +8.6%
• Western Channel: Haddock +7% and Sole +20%
• North Sea Hake +12% and Western Hake +9%

The quota settlement for 2017 is worth just over £705 million to the UK, around £34 million more than in 2016.

The agreement means that for 2017, 29 stocks of interest to the UK will be fished at or below their maximum sustainable yield rate (MSY), an increase on 2016, out of 45 such stocks for which MSY assessments have been made. At the EU level, 44 stocks are fished at or below MSY, as announced by Commissioner Vella at https://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/vella/announcements/agrifish-council_en.

Where the latest scientific evidence supported it, the UK Government argued against unnecessary quota cuts proposed by the European Commission, securing the same quota as in 2016 for many species, including Cod and Sole in the Irish Sea, Anglerfish in the Celtic Sea and Whiting in West of Scotland.

There were some challenges especially on stocks like Bass, Cod, and Megrim in the South West and Sole in the Eastern Channel, where action is necessary to cut fishing mortality in order to allow these stocks to recover. However, we worked hard to secure an agreement that strikes the right balance for both our marine environment and coastal communities.

For 2017, sea bass catch limits from vessels using fixed gill nets were set at 250kg per month for unavoidable by-catch – a reduction of around 80% from 2016 - while hook and line commercial fishermen saw their potential catch cut by around 23%. The restrictions on recreational angling will remain the same as in 2016.

Proportionate quota uplifts were agreed for demersal stocks subject to the landing obligation in 2017. As in 2016, the Government will continue to support the English inshore fleet to adapt to the landing obligation, by allocating to them the first 100 tonnes of quota uplift of a species and 10% thereafter. There will be additional quota uplift in 2017 for new species such as North Sea cod and North Western Waters Pollack.

A paper was presented on Climate Change Effort Share Regulation and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), discussed alongside the ‘any other business’ item on agroecology. Many Member States, including the United Kingdom, were broadly satisfied with the proposals outlined in the paper. The UK intervened to argue that a methodology should be found to ensure a fairer distribution of credits between Member States.

After this, the Council agreed Conclusions on tackling unfair trading practices in the farming supply chain. The UK managed to secure a wording change that lessens the chance in 2017 of burdensome EU legislation that could hinder our current work in this area, as undertaken by the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

There then followed a political discussion on new regulation for organic produce, which will continue into the upcoming Maltese Presidency.

Several other items were discussed under ‘any other business’:

• Austria lodged a request to maintain the current level of support for first generation biofuels, supported by other Member States. While noting this remains the responsibility of Commissioner Cañete, Commissioner Hogan informed Council that the reduction of support was very modest, pertaining to a very small part of the biofuel sector.
• France debriefed the Council on a conference of Mediterranean countries that took place in Tirana, Albania, where agricultural and rural development and migrations in the Mediterranean zone was discussed.
• Commissioner Andriukaitis informed the Council about the first meeting of the Food Waste Platform.
• Commissioner Andriukaitis also updated Ministers on the work of the expert group on accelerating sustainable plant protection products. The advisory group recommended speeding up approvals of low-risk active substances, measures to stimulate businesses to apply for authorisations and the identification of low-risk products already on the market.
• Commissioner Andriukaitis announced that the new regulation on plant pests was now in force. The Commission sees this new legislation as allowing a much more proactive approach to the prevention of the entry of new pests into the EU. Malta, as incoming Presidency, mentioned plans to establish fora to take forward further discussion on identifying further action.
• The Slovak Presidency explained that the Commission had issued a guidance note expressing a preference for the use of the Plant Breeders’ Rights framework, rather than the Patent Legislation to register new strains. This was welcomed by a range of other Member States.

On 23 June, the EU referendum took place and the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation. Leaving the EU will present us with opportunities to better manage fisheries in our waters and become global champions for sustainable fishing, while protecting the marine environment.

Retaining market access between the UK and the EU will be a significant benefit to the food and farming sectors in both the UK and Europe. In 2015, the UK exported £11 billion of agri-food and drink products to the EU, and imported £28 billion. We aim to secure a mutually beneficial deal that delivers market access for the benefit of food and drink producers both in the UK and the EU.

Since Defra was created in June 2001, there have been 39 instances covering 9 Senior Civil Servants who have taken sickness absence for mental health reasons which amounts to 535 days. However, for reasons of anonymity it is not possible to provide a monthly breakdown in the answer as the numbers are too small to report.

Defra is committed to reducing work related absence due to mental illness. We have an active Wellbeing network (Break the Stigma) which shares best practice, activities and events relating to all aspects of wellbeing. Mental health has been a key priority since the network was established. Defra’s Wellbeing Advisors work closely with the network’s organisers to support events and develop group communications including a series of inspiring blogs by staff.

Our Employee Assistance Provider can be contacted 24/7, 365 days a year and employees can receive up to 6 sessions of free counselling. The Charity for Civil Servants which is another superb source of support, also offers advice on a wide range of issues.

The number of additional staff the Department has employed on both fixed term and a permanent basis since 23 June 2016 until 23 January 2017 is 215.

This figure includes internal transfers and Civil Servants from Other Government Departments.

We have been able to provide early certainty on payments to 2020 with the guarantees of funding. No decisions have yet been taken about future support beyond 2020. Before issuing detailed proposals, we will shortly be publishing for consultation two Green Papers setting out our ambitions for food, farming, and the environment. We look forward to working with industry, rural communities, and the public to shape our plans for the future outside the EU.