Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 December 2017.
Edward Leigh
Conservative, Gainsborough
12:00,
7 December 2017
What steps his Department is taking to prepare for the UK’s departure from the EU.
Michael Gove
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
My right hon. Friend Andrea Leadsom put in place a major programme of work to prepare for the UK’s departure from the European Union, planning for a number of scenarios, and we in DEFRA keep the effectiveness of that work under continual review. It is led by outstanding civil servants, to whom I wish to pay tribute now.
Edward Leigh
Conservative, Gainsborough
We know that, in several areas, EU rules have prevented us from improving standards of animal welfare. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that he is now doing the detailed preparation so that on day one of our freedom, he will be ready to take action, including to ban the trade in the export of live animals?
Michael Gove
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. That work is being undertaken now, not just in the area to which he rightly alludes but in other areas of animal welfare as well.
Mary Creagh
Chair, Environmental Audit Committee, Chair, Environmental Audit Committee
By next summer, the UK chemical industry will have spent £250 million registering its chemicals. It is united in wanting to remain within the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH—scheme and to avoid EU tariffs of between 4% and 6% on its goods, so why is the Secretary of State proposing to double its regulatory burden by setting up a new agency here? Why is he playing politics with our second largest manufacturing sector?
Michael Gove
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The hon. Lady has been a consistent champion of the work that is done in our world-leading chemicals industry. We are seeking to find the right regulatory framework to ensure that we can continue to do good work.
John Bercow
Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chair, Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Chair, Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion Committee, Chair, Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Chair, Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion Committee
I think that David T. C. Davies is now conscious. He has a question on the Order Paper that is not entirely unadjacent to the subject of which we are now treating.
David Davies
Chair, Welsh Affairs Committee, Chair, Welsh Affairs Committee
On this very point, sir, does my right hon. Friend agree that we absolutely have to continue our support for glyphosate, which protects the environment by reducing the need for excess tillage and the need to use other herbicides? With he continue to support this safe herbicide once Brexit has taken place?
Michael Gove
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. I am delighted that Phil Hogan, the outstanding Commissioner for Agriculture, has secured assent for the reauthorisation of glyphosate for five more years. It is, as my hon. Friend makes clear, a valuable tool for ensuring that we can move towards no till or min till agriculture, which in itself is an environmental gain.
John Bercow
Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chair, Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Chair, Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion Committee, Chair, Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Chair, Commons Reference Group on Representation and Inclusion Committee
The Secretary of State clearly knows all this jargon very well. Listening to him this morning is quite an educational experience.
Gregory Campbell
Shadow DUP Spokesperson (International Development), Shadow DUP Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
My colleagues and I are working hard to try to get the Northern Ireland Executive restored, but in the absence of an Executive will the Secretary of State ensure that he has discussions with the permanent Secretary at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development in Northern Ireland to ensure that our sector and its niche markets are protected beyond March 2019?
Michael Gove
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Absolutely. I am looking forward to representatives from DAERA coming to DEFRA next Thursday for the latest in our series of talks. I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman and his Democratic Unionist party colleagues, who ensure that my ministerial colleagues and I are kept up to the mark with the policies that need to be shaped in the interests of Northern Ireland’s farmers and fisherman, who do so much to ensure that there is healthy food on all our plates.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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A Permanent Secretary is a top civil servant- there is a permanent secretary in each Office/Dept./Ministry Permanent Secretaries are always Knights, (I.E. "Sir" or "Dame"). BBC Sitcom "Yes Minster" portrays Sir Humprey Appelby as a Permanent Secretary, steretypically spouting lots of red tape and bureacracy.
