Response rates for Freedom of Information requests received by Defra are published quarterly on GOV.UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

Information has been published up to September 2016 and subsequent figures will be published in due course.

The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), as with all European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), run on a seven year cycle. The predecessor to the EMFF was the European Fisheries Fund (EFF), which ran from 2007 – 2013. A breakdown of payments received by the UK, for each fund are given below. The EMFF did not open for applications until January 2016 and payments for projects did not commence until later that year. Therefore, the figure for 2015 and most of that for 2016 comprise of the pre-financing element that is provided by the European Commission.

UK European Fisheries Fund (EFF) payments 2008-2016

Payment Year

Sum of EFF Payments (£)

Sum of EFF Payments (€)

2008

16,454,572.42

19,295,904.46

2012

27,267,995.24

32,650,846.26

2013

8,964,246.85

10,392,606.72

2014

25,491,459.22

32,251,658.18

2015

20,712,212.30

28,563,761.14

Total

98,890,486.03

123,154,776.76

Payment Year

Sum of EMFF Payments (£)

Sum of EMFF Payments (€)

2015

3,573,295.44

4,571,021.42

2016

5,334,537.42

6,856,532.13

Total

8,907,832.86

11,427,553.55

Information on dog attacks on sheep and other livestock is not routinely collated by Defra. However, details of the number of people prosecuted under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 for each of the last four years for which details are available can be found in the attached table.

Defra and the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England (AHWBE) recently met police forces, farming and rural interests to discuss the situation. Under the auspices of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, five police forces are collaborating to pilot more systematic data collection of incidents and good response practices

Information on dog attacks on sheep and other livestock is not routinely collated by Defra. However, details of the number of people prosecuted under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 for each of the last four years for which details are available can be found in the attached table.

Defra and the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England (AHWBE) recently met police forces, farming and rural interests to discuss the situation. Under the auspices of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, five police forces are collaborating to pilot more systematic data collection of incidents and good response practices

In light of the comments made by Porthleven Town Council, Cornwall Council and objectors, the applicant for the Shipyard building has submitted amended plans.

The first question most will ask is ‘what has changed?’ According to the plans the building footprint has been reduced in size by 10% (from 855m2 to 770m2).  This has resulted in the rear elevation reducing to 14.4m in width and the length to 33.4m (for reference, the current blue building are 31m in length).

Amended plans

old plans

The building has also been moved nearer to the existing Origin Coffee building enabling the covered walkway and bus stop roof to be attached to the coffee house.  This has resulted in a larger gap between the river fence and the building from 7m to 7.9m. This is to address the issue of manoeuvring boats in and out of the shipyard.

The “look out” or staircase top has been removed from the top of the building.  Access will still exist using a sliding glass top to the stairs. Yet there is still no disabled wheelchair access to the roof.

Old position

I think the previous colour of Blue was universally disliked by commentators and in addressing that the colour of the building has been changed to silver grey.

There is a dedicated bus shelter as the previous scheme did not show clearly the enclosed dedicated space in the current bus shelter location. There will be a defined area with bench seats and a glass weather protective screen with the canopy roof covering the bus shelter.

The public toilets are still there and will be free to Porthleven people and the facilities will be cleaned and maintained by the owner.

The entrance shown on Methleigh Bottoms will be increased to 8.0m in width to ensure boats trailers, cars and HGVs will have improved manoeuvring. In a change to the access to the site the only entrance/exit to the site will be via the new entrance on Methleigh Bottoms. Only boats will be allowed to exit the current site

The lack of sufficient dedicated parking bays has also been addresses with 10 spaces dedicated to the new building

The proposed use of this building is to create jobs or potential work space.  At present almost no office space exists in Porthleven to provide small business with incubator work space / workshops.

These plans will again be discussed by Porthleven TC (date to be confirmed) where anyone for or against can make representations. I would also suggest people who have previously commented to update their view, or want to comment again due to the changes to the application.

Previous blogs can be found HERE

This control has been in place for some time for all pet and farmed mammals. Under the Tuberculosis (England) Order 2014 the detection of suspect TB lesions in carcases and the identification of Mycobacterium bovis from tissue or other samples (including dogs) is notifiable.

Bovine TB is a notifiable disease in all farmed and pet mammal species, including dogs. The disease has only very rarely been diagnosed in dogs, in this country and elsewhere, and investigations into bovine TB breakdowns in cattle herds have never identified the source of a breakdown as an infected dog.

An epidemiological investigation into this incident is underway.

We have no plans to do this.

TB in dogs, caused by Mycobacterium bovis (the bovine TB bacterium), is extremely rare and dogs pose a very low risk of transmitting the disease.

Bovine TB is a notifiable disease in all farmed and pet mammal species, including dogs. The disease has only very rarely been diagnosed in dogs, in this country and elsewhere, and investigations into bovine TB breakdowns in cattle herds have never identified the source of a breakdown as an infected dog.

Government veterinary experts have provided advice to the hunt kennels and hounds from the affected kennel have not been in contact with other hounds since the initial case was suspected. At this stage no further Government action is considered necessary in relation to other hunts.

We have robust engagement plans to inform and shape our future agriculture and land use policy options and take on board stakeholder views. Decisions on the timings of future legislation and consultation documents about agriculture and land use will be shared in due course. We want to ensure that everyone who is interested has the opportunity to have their say as we shape the vision for these vital industries, including through formal consultation and broader engagement opportunities.

The Government remains committed to banning the use of wild animals in travelling circuses. We support the Bill sponsored by the Member for Torbay, the Wild Animals in Circuses (Prohibition) Bill. If this Bill is not successful we will introduce legislation when Parliamentary time is available.

We have made no detailed assessment of the implications of bans introduced in other countries.

The number of cattle movements in the UK recorded on the Cattle Tracing System by the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) in each year from 2008 to 2016 is shown in the table below:

Year

Cattle Movements

2008

13,445,614

2009

13,194,912

2010

13,654,294

2011

14,570,411

2012

13,810,509

2013

13,736,427

2014

13,742,163

2015

13,783,821

2016

14,084,952

These figures include from April 2010 movements manually entered by BCMS, usually as a result of keeper contact. Where an animal moves off a location and then onto another that is classified in reporting as 2 movements.

Trials have shown that reducing the badger population can help reduce the spread of bovine TB. Tests carried out during the Randomised Badger Culling Trial showed that roughly a third of badgers in the high risk area were infected with TB.

TB cattle controls are the cornerstone of our TB eradication strategy and we continuously look for opportunities to enhance them. In April 2016, we introduced compulsory post-movement testing in the Low Risk Area (LRA) of England to reduce the risk of disease spread from cattle with undisclosed infection.

The table below shows apprenticeship starts in each year since 2010/11. This is based on the number of starts under the Food Manufacture, Agriculture and Horticulture frameworks. The Apprenticeships Levy, being introduced in April, is expected to drive a further increase in apprenticeship numbers.

In the next few years, frameworks are being replaced by employer-led standards. The food and farming industry is developing such standards which will better meet the needs of the industry.

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

Food, farming and agri-tech apprenticeship starts

4,870

7,280

7,180

6,200

5,890

7,160

The annual value of the Pillar 1 budget fluctuates with currency movements but the budget for the 2016 scheme year for the UK was circa £2.7bn. It is too early to calculate the equivalent value for the 2019/2020 scheme year.