argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Domestic Food Market — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of its support to British farmers in increasing their share of the domestic food market.; Will the Minister join me in celebrating the success of Wight Marque on the Isle of Wight? There are now more than 450 food and drink products on the Isle of Wight, and Wight Marque is being used to promote the island as a speciality food destination.
Roger James Gale (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend share the view expressed by the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation that leaving the EU can both help farmers increase their share of domestic products and improve animal welfare by preventing the import of goods produced under circumstances not permitted in the UK?
Domestic Food Market — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What recent assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of its support to British farmers in increasing their share of the domestic food market.; Will the Minister join me in celebrating the success of Wight Marque on the Isle of Wight? There are now more than 450 food and drink products on the Isle of Wight, and Wight Marque is being used to promote the island as a speciality food destination.
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend is aware, the Government have a manifesto commitment to place a stronger recognition of animal welfare issues in the design of future agriculture policy and to promote higher standards of animal welfare in international trade deals. We intend to implement those manifesto commitments.
Seasonal Agricultural Workers — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): Growers in my constituency are worried about fruit going unpicked not only after we leave the EU, but this year. Can my hon. Friend assure me that he will continue to press the Home Office on this issue, and not only on seasonal agricultural workers after we leave the EU, but between now and then?
Seasonal Agricultural Workers — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend may know, I spent 10 years working in the soft fruit industry; indeed, I will know many of the strawberry farmers she represents. I am also aware that the Secretary of State has taken up a kind offer from my hon. Friend to visit and meet some of the farmers there to discuss their concerns. As somebody who ran a soft fruit enterprise employing several hundred people, I can tell my hon. Friend that I do understand the challenges the industry faces.
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): At the recent National Farmers Union conference, I set out five principles that will support a prosperous future farming industry: trade, productivity, sustainability, trust and resilience. We are now in the process of a broad consultation ranging right across farmers, food producers and non-governmental organisations to hear their views as we build a policy that will achieve our twin ambitions of having a thriving farming sector and an environment that is in a better state than we found it in.
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): Like my right hon. Friend, I meet farmers regularly—mainly through Staffordshire and Lichfield NFU—and they are actually very positive about Brexit and see the opportunities. But I know we export about £20 billion-worth a year overseas and into Europe, so what efforts is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that we continue to have access after Brexit?
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): We are working very hard right across Government to make sure that we get the best possible deal on market access for our agri-food sector when we leave the EU. There are huge global opportunities for Staffordshire farmers and food producers, and later today I will visit Harper Adams University in neighbouring Shropshire and the chamber of agriculture to hear from the next generation, as well as current farmers, about how we can seize those opportunities.
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): In the great repeal Bill we will be bringing all the acquis communautaire into UK law. We in the United Kingdom will then be in a position to look at what works best for the UK. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that I am working very closely with our colleagues in the devolved Administrations to make sure that we get the best possible deal that works for all parts of the United Kingdom, and I will continue to do so.
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.; Does the Secretary of State share my view that the need to accommodate the views of 28 different countries has led to the common agricultural policy becoming overtly bureaucratic in a way that has harmed the interests of British farmers?
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is exactly right. The complexity and bureaucracy associated with the CAP cost the industry £5 million a year and 300,000 man hours, so reducing burdens will help our farmers to grow more, sell more and export more of our great British food.
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.; Does the Secretary of State share my view that the need to accommodate the views of 28 different countries has led to the common agricultural policy becoming overtly bureaucratic in a way that has harmed the interests of British farmers?; Recent EU regulations such as the three crop rule have tied farmers up in red tape but not delivered for the environment. As crop rotation has been around in Lincolnshire for rather longer than the EU, does my right hon. Friend agree that the first thing we do when we leave the EU should be to get rid of burdensome regulation on farmers?
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with my hon. Friend. The three crop rule is exactly the sort of measure we should change once we have left the EU. Of course, we want farmers to manage sustainable rotations, to optimise yields and to protect soil, but we can do that without forcing them to grow a specific number of crops on a specific acreage of land.
Leaving the EU: Farming — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Questions: What plans her Department has to strengthen the British farming sector after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.; Does the Secretary of State share my view that the need to accommodate the views of 28 different countries has led to the common agricultural policy becoming overtly bureaucratic in a way that has harmed the interests of British farmers?; Recent EU regulations such as the three crop rule have tied farmers up in red tape but not delivered for the environment. As crop rotation has been around in Lincolnshire for rather longer than the EU, does my right hon. Friend agree that the first thing we do when we leave the EU should be to get rid of burdensome regulation on farmers?
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister has made it clear that our ambition is to have an all-encompassing free trade agreement with the European Union and to retain free and fair access to the European single market. As we have already discussed, we are looking closely at the need for a workforce now and in the future, and we are looking carefully at what more we can do around the world to make a huge success of leaving the European Union.
Trees and Woodland: Carbon Target — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): We recognise the important role that forestry plays in the United Kingdom as a carbon sink. In 2015, forestry contributed an annual emissions reduction of 17.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to our carbon reduction targets.
Trees and Woodland: Carbon Target — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): During last week’s Storm Doris, many trees were felled by the force of nature, and we could see that many of them were diseased. What is the Department doing to ensure that threats to tree health are factored into the carbon reduction strategy?
Trees and Woodland: Carbon Target — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government take tree health extremely seriously. That is why we promote biosecurity internationally, at UK borders and inland to ensure that pest and disease risks are effectively managed, so that we can continue to actively manage our woodlands and forests and contribute to the carbon reduction targets.
Trees and Woodland: Carbon Target — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): I do think that they are sufficiently ambitious. We are absolutely confident that we will hit our target of planting 11 million new trees during the lifetime of this Parliament. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will speak to his former right hon. Friend the Mayor of London to ensure that he plants the 2 million trees that he pledged to plant, before he was elected.
Leaving the EU: Food Prices — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Macroeconomics
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): As I said, the facts do not bear out what the hon. Gentleman says. Food prices have fallen by 0.5% over the past year and by 6% since 2014. We monitor the situation closely. The annual living costs and food survey closely measures the poorest households in particular and how much they spend on food, and the situation has remained remarkably stable over the past decade.
Leaving the EU: Food Prices — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Foreign Trade
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend makes an important point. We have some preferential trade agreements in place with some developing countries, particularly to buy sugar from the Caribbean. We want to maintain and secure such arrangements so that we can support developing countries.
Leaving the EU: Food Prices — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I simply say to the hon. Lady that the Department is doing a vast amount of analysis and research to inform future policy. We received a specific parliamentary question about whether we have commissioned direct scientific research on the effects of leaving the European Union, and she is right that we have not, but we do not need to. All our environmental policies are regularly evaluated for their strengths and weaknesses.
Leaving the EU: Fisheries — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): There is already a degree of self-management of the fishing regime by producer organisations in the fishing industry through our system of trading quotas and markets in both the leasing and exchanging of quotas among producer organisations. However, leaving the EU does create the opportunity to consider how we manage our fisheries and to look at the approach taken by other countries.
Leaving the EU: Fisheries — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: International Affairs
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, I have consistently made it clear that leaving the EU means that we will take back control of our exclusive economic zone—the area out to 200 nautical miles or the median line—and that will allow us to look afresh at mutual access agreements and shares of the total allowable catch in shared waters.
Leaving the EU: Fisheries — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: As the Minister will know, current EU regulations prevent farmers from trimming hedges in August. Does he agree that Brexit therefore offers a great opportunity for trimming the regulations and rules that prevent hedge cutting at that time?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): They have in common the fact that they are policies that originate in the EU. Leaving the EU obviously gives us an opportunity to review some of those things, but we already have a derogation so that farmers who grow winter crops are able to trim their hedges a little earlier. Certain species are very vulnerable—particularly the yellowhammer, which breeds late—and we want to protect them.
Leaving the EU: Fisheries — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: As the Minister will know, current EU regulations prevent farmers from trimming hedges in August. Does he agree that Brexit therefore offers a great opportunity for trimming the regulations and rules that prevent hedge cutting at that time?; Scottish farmed salmon has experienced a significant increase in exports to Canada. However, why did this Government not propose any Scottish geographical indicators in the comprehensive economic and trade agreement, despite indicating that not doing so would put the Scottish food industry at a commercial disadvantage?; The chief executive of National Farmers Union Scotland, Scott Walker, has come up with a worthwhile idea on framing a post-Brexit support regime for agriculture and fishing. His suggestion is that the devolved Administrations should be allowed to choose from a menu of policies that are best applicable in their jurisdiction. Will the Minister look at that proposal?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I specifically discussed proposals along those lines with NFU Scotland at the beginning of this year. A consensus is emerging that there needs to be some kind of UK framework, within which we obviously want to ensure that the devolved Administrations can pursue the policies that are right for them. We will work closely with all the devolved Administrations to ensure that, after we leave the European Union, policy works for Scotland and other parts of the UK.
Leaving the EU: Fisheries — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: As the Minister will know, current EU regulations prevent farmers from trimming hedges in August. Does he agree that Brexit therefore offers a great opportunity for trimming the regulations and rules that prevent hedge cutting at that time?; Scottish farmed salmon has experienced a significant increase in exports to Canada. However, why did this Government not propose any Scottish geographical indicators in the comprehensive economic and trade agreement, despite indicating that not doing so would put the Scottish food industry at a commercial disadvantage?; The chief executive of National Farmers Union Scotland, Scott Walker, has come up with a worthwhile idea on framing a post-Brexit support regime for agriculture and fishing. His suggestion is that the devolved Administrations should be allowed to choose from a menu of policies that are best applicable in their jurisdiction. Will the Minister look at that proposal?; Not only can this Government not confirm where powers on our rural economy will lie after Brexit, but they cannot say how financial support for farmers will work, either. Why are the interests of Scottish farmers such a low priority for this Government?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): I do not accept what the hon. Lady says. The truth is that we have guaranteed payments up until 2020. We have ensured that the budget is still there, and we have made it clear that, well in advance of that date, we will be able to give farmers throughout the UK a very clear picture of what future support arrangements will look like.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): I will update the House on the delivery of the basic payment scheme. As of today, 95.5% of eligible farmers have received their payment, which is good progress but there is still more to be done. Last week I secured agreement from the Treasury that a 75% bridging payment will be available to any farmer with an outstanding claim at the end of March. The window for 2017 applications opened yesterday.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): It is absolutely the case that we will keep all regulations when we leave the EU so that regulations look the same the day after we leave as they did the day before. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that we are looking very carefully at the whole issue of air quality. We have spent more than £2 billion since 2010 on ultra-low emission vehicles and on trying to reduce the impact of poor air quality. There is more to be done, and we are looking closely at that.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to poultry producers across Norfolk who set the highest animal welfare and biosecurity standards? There has obviously been concern about the recent avian flu outburst, but can she confirm that no poultry producers in Norfolk will lose their free-range status?
Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (Conservative, Centre-right): We are determined to hold this terrible disease at bay for the sake of our entire poultry sector, and our robust actions so far have included an amended avian influenza prevention zone from 28 February, which covers all of England and requires mandatory biosecurity for all keepers and the compulsory housing or netting of poultry and captive birds in defined higher-risk areas. That is very important for the entire sector.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to poultry producers across Norfolk who set the highest animal welfare and biosecurity standards? There has obviously been concern about the recent avian flu outburst, but can she confirm that no poultry producers in Norfolk will lose their free-range status?; I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are concerned about the welfare of puppies, particularly in the context of puppy farming and puppies being bred for sale. Will my hon. Friend the Minister set out what action he is taking to tackle so-called backstreet breeding and to ensure the highest welfare standards for puppies bred for sale?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an important point about an issue I championed while I was responsible for this part of the portfolio. The Government have recently published proposals for improving the laws on the breeding and selling of dogs, among which are proposals that anyone breeding and selling three litters in a 12-month period will need a licence and that no puppies will be sold under the age of eight weeks.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to poultry producers across Norfolk who set the highest animal welfare and biosecurity standards? There has obviously been concern about the recent avian flu outburst, but can she confirm that no poultry producers in Norfolk will lose their free-range status?; I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are concerned about the welfare of puppies, particularly in the context of puppy farming and puppies being bred for sale. Will my hon. Friend the Minister set out what action he is taking to tackle so-called backstreet breeding and to ensure the highest welfare standards for puppies bred for sale?; Tendring District Council recently did a superb job dealing with a flood threat, calmly overseeing a mass evacuation. Is any extra funding available to support local councils when they are putting in place flood contingency plans?
Robert Alexander Courts (Conservative, Centre-right): The Prime Minister recently laid out plans to invest £4.7 billion in innovation by 2021. Will the Minister please explain how the food and farming communities of rural West Oxfordshire can look forward to benefiting from such measures?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Agriculture
Questions: Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to poultry producers across Norfolk who set the highest animal welfare and biosecurity standards? There has obviously been concern about the recent avian flu outburst, but can she confirm that no poultry producers in Norfolk will lose their free-range status?; I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are concerned about the welfare of puppies, particularly in the context of puppy farming and puppies being bred for sale. Will my hon. Friend the Minister set out what action he is taking to tackle so-called backstreet breeding and to ensure the highest welfare standards for puppies bred for sale?; Tendring District Council recently did a superb job dealing with a flood threat, calmly overseeing a mass evacuation. Is any extra funding available to support local councils when they are putting in place flood contingency plans?
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend will know, we already have in place an agri-tech strategy worth £160 million, which has supported more than 100 different projects to support science and technology transfer in food and farming. In addition, we have food information networks to try to create clusters of innovation in the food sector.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2017-03-02
Topic: Environment
Questions: Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to poultry producers across Norfolk who set the highest animal welfare and biosecurity standards? There has obviously been concern about the recent avian flu outburst, but can she confirm that no poultry producers in Norfolk will lose their free-range status?; I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are concerned about the welfare of puppies, particularly in the context of puppy farming and puppies being bred for sale. Will my hon. Friend the Minister set out what action he is taking to tackle so-called backstreet breeding and to ensure the highest welfare standards for puppies bred for sale?; Tendring District Council recently did a superb job dealing with a flood threat, calmly overseeing a mass evacuation. Is any extra funding available to support local councils when they are putting in place flood contingency plans?; Will the Secretary of State go back to her office and think seriously about how we will protect the maritime environment when we come out of the EU? Where are the protections that will save the future of fish and the maritime environment?
Thérèse Anne Coffey (Conservative, Centre-right): We take the marine environment very seriously, which is why we said in our manifesto that we would extend the blue belt, and that is what we have done, not only around this country’s shoreline but around those of our overseas territories. I assure the hon. Gentleman that we will continue to play a leading role through OSPAR, as well as through our role on the Council of Europe and the related Bern convention.