Telephone Services
Environment Food and Rural Affairs
John Spellar (Warley, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many call centres provide services for her Department and the bodies for which she is responsible; and how many such call centres are based abroad.
Richard Benyon (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Natural Environment and Fisheries), Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Newbury, Conservative)
DEFRA and its arm’s-length bodies provide the following helplines, none of which is based abroad.
Core DEFRA
The General DEFRA Helpline provides a single point of contact for all general queries from the public.
The DEFRA Farming Advice Service provides advice on cross compliance, nutrient management, climate change mitigation and adaptation and competitiveness.
Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency
The PETS Helpline provides advice and guidance on pet passports and travelling with pets.
The TSE Helpline provides general and technical advice to the disposal industry and farmers relating to BSE and scrapie testing requirements.
The Rural Payments Agency Helpline provides information and guidance on the rules, regulations and requirements in respect of the Rural Land Register, Customer Registration and the Single Payment scheme (SPS).
The British Cattle Movement Service Helpline provides information and guidance on the rules, regulations and requirements in respect of cattle passports and the reporting of birth, death and movement of cattle to cattle keepers of Great Britain.
The Environment Agency Floodline provides information on flood warnings and advice on what to do before, during and after flooding in England, Wales and Scotland.
The Environment Agency's National Customer Contact Centre (NCCC) has three helplines: General Enquiries, Hazardous Waste and Agricultural Waste.