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Farming: Methane Reductions

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to help UK farmers to reduce emissions of methane through (a) increasing milk yields, (b) promoting advanced food types and feeding regimes and (c) aiding research into (i) the use of probiotics...

Asked by

Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Tabled on

18 December 2006

For answer on

8 January 2007

Answered on

9 January 2007

DEFRA announced a £750,000 investment in research on ruminant nutrition regimes to reduce methane and nitrogen emissions in December 2006. This research project will build on our knowledge base and take an integrated approach to the development of ruminant nutrition regimes to deliver reductions in total greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane, per animal and per unit of meat and milk output. Approaches for consideration include the modification of forage based diets, alterations to concentrate feed formulation and ingredients, and feed supplements. All options and solutions will be looked at.This research builds on a wealth of past work, where MAFF and DEFRA have invested in research to improve the productivity of dairy cattle. The resulting increases in individual cow milk yields can reduce methane emissions per unit of milk produced. The DEFRA research has included for example developing grass varieties that are high in sugar and lead indirectly to a reduction in methane emissions. Complementary private sector research, including research sponsored by DEFRA through our Sustainable Livestock LINK Programme, has raised the efficiency of dairy production.The Government are also developing a strategy on anaerobic digestion (AD), a system that can be used to capture and utilise methane emissions from livestock wastes, thereby helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. AD is particularly applicable and effective on dairy units, and provides a potential source of renewable energy and heat.

Subjects

Air pollution; Livestock; Pollution control; Methane

Date

9 January 2007

Reference

112857; 455 c480W;455 c478W

House

House of Commons

Slavery

asked Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to efforts to eradicate contemporary slavery. The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who will contribute to this debate. I am also grateful that it takes place today, for it isa fitting advent for next year’s...

Member

Baroness Cox (Crossbench)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

19 December 2006

Reference

687 c1959-62

House

House of Lords

Christmas Adjournment

I do not doubt the hon. Gentleman’s patriotism, but it was the Labour council in Romford at the time that voted against a motion to fly the flag of our country. That is recorded as having happened and it is undeniable. It was the market traders, local councillors, local people...

Member

Andrew Rosindell (Conservative)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

19 December 2006

Reference

454 c1368-70

House

House of Commons

Tetanus

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral funding was provided by the UK to tackle tetanus in the developing world in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Asked by

Mark Simmonds (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for International Development

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Tabled on

4 December 2006

For answer on

6 December 2006

Answered on

18 December 2006

Tetanus spores enter the body via deep wounds. In addition to wounds caused by accidents, mothers are susceptible to tetanus infection immediately following childbirth. Similarly, new born babies are at risk of tetanus infection where a non-sterile instrument is used to cut the umbilical cord (for example an un-trained traditional birth attendant using a piece of bamboo) and where traditional practices involve placing unclean ““dressing’s”” over the exposed area (such as dried and powdered cow dung used to help dry the cord in parts of South Asia). Without urgent treatment tetanus is fatal, causing an estimated 200,000 newborn child deaths a year.Tetanus is preventable through good hygiene and vaccination. The tetanus toxoid (TT) injection is part of a package of immunisation given to children under five and to pregnant women. Children have three doses of TT which is typically administered in the same syringe as diphtheria and whooping cough (pertussis), and given at the same time as polio immunisation (drops on the tongue). As in the UK, this is known as ‘DPT and polio’. Because preventing tetanus is an integral part of overall immunisation policy and practice, DFID funding for tetanus immunisation in developing countries is contained within our overall spending on immunisation for children and pregnant women and cannot be separated out.DFID works to support developing countries efforts to strengthen the health services through which immunisation is provided. In 2005-06 DFID provided £453.1 million as direct support to health. DFID also provided £12.5 million core support to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and £19 million to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2005-06. Both WHO and UNICEF are key global actors in vaccine preventable diseases.In addition, DFID supports the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) to introduce new vaccines (such as hepatitis B and haemophilius influenza) into country immunisation schedules. In some cases these new vaccines are administered in combination with diptheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT). In these cases, GAVI also supports tetanus immunisation. In some of the world’s poorest countries, GAVI provides support to improve the health systems which deliver immunisation and this support has recently been linked to improvements in the rates of DPT immunisation coverage in these countries. DFID has contributed over £43 million to GAVI since 2000.The UK is also committed to developing innovative financing mechanisms such as the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFm) which was launched in September 2005. So far this has raised US $1 billion which will be channelled through GAVI, allowing a significant scaling-up of their immunisation work. The UK has committed a total of £1.38 billion for IFFm over the next 20 years.The European Commission and World Bank are also major recipients of UK multilateral aid. They both provide substantial support to improve health services in developing countries. Budget support and sector specific programmes help finance the implementation of immunisation programmes including those which combat tetanus.

Subjects

Developing countries; Tetanus

Date

18 December 2006

Reference

104960; 454 c1467-8W;454 c1469-70W

House

House of Commons

Tetanus

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps are being taken by his Department to tackle tetanus in developing countries.

Asked by

John Bercow (Conservative)

Answering body

Department for International Development

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Tabled on

4 December 2006

For answer on

6 December 2006

Answered on

11 December 2006

Tetanus spores enter the body via deep wounds. In addition to wounds caused by accidents, mothers are susceptible to tetanus infection immediately following childbirth. Similarly, new born babies are at risk of tetanus infection where a non-sterile instrument is used to cut the umbilical cord (for example an un-trained traditional birth attendant using a piece of bamboo) and where traditional practices involve placing unclean ‘dressings’ over the exposed area (such as dried and powdered cow dung used to help dry the cord in parts of south Asia). Without urgent treatment tetanus is fatal, causing an estimated 200,000 newborn child deaths a year.Tetanus is preventable through good hygiene and vaccination. DFID supports developing countries’ efforts to strengthen the health services through which immunisation is provided, as well as to improve hygienic practices by skilled birth attendants. In 2005-06 DFID provided £453.1 million as direct support to the health sector. DFID also provided £12.5 million core support to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and £19 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in 2005-06. Both WHO and UNICEF are key global actors in vaccine preventable diseases.In addition, DFID supports the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) to introduce new vaccines (such as Hepatitis B and Haemophilius influenza) into country immunisation schedules. In some cases these new vaccines are administered in combination with diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT). In these cases, GAVI also supports tetanus immunisation. In some of the world's poorest countries GAVI provides support to improve the health systems which deliver immunisation and this support has recently been linked to improvements in the rates of DPT immunisation coverage in these countries. DFID has contributed over £43 million to GAVI since 2000.The UK is also committed to developing innovative financing mechanisms such as the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFm) which was launched in September 2005. So far this has raised US$ 1 billion which will be channelled through GAVI, allowing a major scaling-up of their immunisation work. The UK has committed a total of £1.38 billion for IFFm over the next 20 years.

Subjects

Developing countries; Tetanus

Date

11 December 2006

Reference

454 c761-2W;454 c763-4W; 105033

House

House of Commons

Suckler Cows Scheme

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on which date his Department first received guidance from (a) the European Commission and (b) other EU agencies on how to manage breaches of the 5 per cent. heifer rule under the Suckler Cow Scheme 2003.

Asked by

Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Date

5 December 2006

Reference

454 c222W;454 c224W; 106558

House

House of Commons

Suckler Cows Scheme

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what EU guidance his Department bases its policy for managing breaches of the 5 per cent. heifer rule under the Suckler Cow Scheme 2003.

Asked by

Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Date

5 December 2006

Reference

106557; 454 c221-2W;454 c223-4W

House

House of Commons

Bovine Emissions

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of greenhouse gas emissions came from cows in the last period for which figures are available; and what plans he has to reduce such emissions.

Asked by

David Drew (Labour; Cooperative Party)

Answering body

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Date

5 December 2006

Reference

106300; 454 c212-3W;454 c214-5W

House

House of Commons

EU: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that reply. He is probably aware that I will ask him about Harriet, the Jersey cow. For noble Lords who do not know, Harriet was born about nine years ago on a holding in Oxford where another cow, born six months later, suffered from BSE and has been slaughtered. Harriet never ate any of the food that the previous cow ate. In fact, she never even shared any of the accommodation. Harriet is now a pet cow whose owners have given the department an assurance that she will never go into the food chain. In any case, she would not be able to because Defra holds her passport. Would the Minister consider asking his right honourable friend the Prime Minister to give Harriet the same treatment that he gave Phoenix, the calf who was saved from foot and mouth slaughter?

Asked by

Countess of Mar (Crossbench)

Oral question - 1st Supplementary

Status

Answered

Date

29 November 2006

Reference

687 c752

House

House of Lords

EU: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

My Lords, with respect, those cases are not in any way comparable. The question of Harriet the cow has been looked at on several occasions and has been the subject of a special debate in the other place. All the evidence points to the fact that Harriet is a cohort. In the first year of her life, she was involved in eating the feed that a subsequent animal, designated as having BSE, ate. We have protected our beef chain through rigorous enforcement of BSE rules. We are now exporting 1,000 tonnes of beef a week because of that rigorous enforcement and confidence in our beef. That has been part of the process. There is no definition of pet cattle or a pet cow. If Harriet has been designated as a cohort by all the available evidence, which has been looked at on more than one occasion, she will have to go to slaughter.

Answered by

Lord Rooker (Labour)

Type

Oral answer to question

Date

29 November 2006

Reference

687 c752

House

House of Lords

EU: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

Yes, my Lords, I congratulate everyone involved in the beef chain—the Meat Hygiene Service, farmers, cattle producers, abattoirs and feed merchants—on rigorously enforcing the controls, which have virtually eradicated BSE, from 37,000 cases in 1992 to fewer than 100 cases so far this year. That has involved the slaughter of an enormous number of animals, including the cohorts. I accept the argument that sometimes we have slaughtered too many, but the fact remains that, in 2005, of 3,043 cohorts that were slaughtered, only six had a confirmation rate of BSE, which is 0.2 per cent. But the confirmation rate in normal, healthy cattle born after 1996 was 0.0007 per cent. That is why the rules require the immediate slaughter of cohort cattle when they are identified. It is also why we have the cattle tracing system, so that when a cow with BSE is identified, we can check the other cattle that it was with in the early years of its life. That has protected the beef chain and given enormous confidence in British beef.

Answered by

Lord Rooker (Labour)

Type

Oral answer to question

Date

29 November 2006

Reference

687 c753

House

House of Lords

International Arrest Warrants

During the past two years, two men from Cowes have been unjustly imprisoned abroad. Months have been taken out of their lives and a huge amount of time and expense have been devoted to securing their release. Both were eventually released without a stain on their character, but they and...

Member

Andrew Turner (Conservative)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

28 November 2006

Reference

453 c65-8WH

House

House of Commons

Debate on the Address

My Lords, I wish to draw attention to the needs of technology industry’s small business sector and the venture capital available to it. First, I congratulate our two maiden speakers today; it is a privilege to be taking part in a debate in which we have heard two such excellent...

Member

Lord Wade of Chorlton (Conservative)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

27 November 2006

Reference

687 c589-92

House

House of Lords

Treasury and Work and Pensions

Certainly not; I am very happy where I am. Leaving aside the small issue of the colossal cost of Iraq—I do not intend to address that this evening, having done so only recently—the Chancellor has been spared, as we have been spared, some of the big economic shocks that derailed...

Member

Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

27 November 2006

Reference

453 c878-80

House

House of Commons

Treasury and Work and Pensions

I entirely agree. I was not making the case that there should be no tax incentives, but the debate must go wider than tax. Coke sequestration is a good example. Mitsui Babcock, or Doosan Babcock as it is about to be, which is based in Renfrew, is a world leader...

Member

Mike Weir (Scottish National Party)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

27 November 2006

Reference

453 c894-6

House

House of Commons

Debate on the Address

Oh, unhappy debate—unhappy for the Government, as there has not been a single contribution to it that reflects the astonishing complacency that appears to surround those who sit on the Government Front Bench. The Gracious Speech gave us all the usual platitudes about commitment to peace in the middle east,...

Member

Bernard Jenkin (Conservative)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

22 November 2006

Reference

453 c611-3

House

House of Commons

Infant Formula Milk

To ask the Secretary of State for Health why goat milk proteins may not be used in infant formula milk; and what assessment she has made of the effects of goat milk proteins on the health of young babies.

Asked by

Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat)

Answering body

Department of Health

Type

Written question

Status

Answered

Date

21 November 2006

Reference

101465; 453 c75-6W

House

House of Commons

TREATMENT OF HINDUS IN KAZAKHSTAN

That this House, prior to the visit of the President of Kazakhstan, condemns the harassment of and discrimination against Hindu minorities in Kazakhstan; notes that Hindus in the Karasi district have had land, barns and cows confiscated, been threatened with demolition of their houses, and been denied the right to...

Primary sponsor

Ashok Kumar (Labour)

Type

Early day motion

Date

20 November 2006

Reference

140

House

House of Commons

Communities and Local Government/Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

I greatly enjoyed the contribution of the hon. Member for Sheffield, Attercliffe (Mr. Betts), as he quoted several aspects of Liberal Democrat policy. I welcome his conversion with regard to some of the debates that I have had with him over the years, especially when he was leader of Sheffield...

Member

Lord Willis of Knaresborough (Liberal Democrat)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

20 November 2006

Reference

453 c328-32

House

House of Commons

Debate on the Address

My Lords, I echo the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, in welcoming our maiden speakers. I extend the ambit of his remarks to those on the Benches on which I sit. I must confess that I was not in the Chamber when the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, was...

Member

Lord Inglewood (Conservative)

Type

Proceeding contribution

Date

16 November 2006

Reference

687 c73-7

House

House of Lords