Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Questions House of Commons

both houses of parliament at 11 o'clock tonight. First it is

questioned to the Environment Secretary, Ms truss and her

ministerial team. Order. Order. Motion relating to the

Faversham Oyster fishery company Bill Lord's. The question is as on

the order paper. Motion relating to the Haberdashers' Aske's Charity

Bill (Lords). The question is as on the order paper. The ayes have it.

Motion relating to the new Southgate Cemetery Bill Lord's. The question

is as on the order paper. The ayes have it. Questions to the Secretary

of State for food and rural affairs. We set up the Great British Food

unit to drive export growth and help companies identify new

opportunities. The British brand is world renowned for our heritage and

quality and in April I was in the US championing products from the great

British Teret teaching and British beef and lamb. I thank my right

honourable friend further response. As we know, Britain is famous for

its seafood. In my constituency, or troops are world-renowned. It is

nice to know the government is doing all it can to ensure that these

dishes are on dinner plates. Could she elaborate on what she is doing

to make sure these dishes are internationally renowned Jamaat I

think my honourable friend and I agreed that Morecambe Bay shrimps

are a fine product. Could I suggest that Yorkshire has three protected

food names were as Lancashire only has one. We would be very keen to

help Lancashire producers get the protected status so they can become

world renowned two. My honourable friend will know that Weetabix,

which is based in my constituency, is a great British breakfast cereal

because she launched the Great British Food unit at its

headquarters. Will she ensure that all Department breakfast meetings

and symposiums that are Department organises that Weetabix is always

served at these meetings? Well, my honourable friend is right that

Weetabix is a fantastic product. Not only is it exported around the

world, all of the wheat grown is from 50 miles of the factory. It is

a real example of leading farm through to Fort. I proudly display

Mike Dunn box of Weetabix on my desk at the Department for all visitors

to see. It is always useful to have that information. We have learnt

more about domestic arrangements. The government is taking action to

deliver a strategy to eliminate bovine TB and protect the future of

the dairy and beef industries. That includes strengthening movement

controls, improving bio-security on farms and badger control in areas

where TB is rife. There is no example in the world of the country

successfully eradicating TB without also tackling the reservoir of the

disease in the wild population. The badger cull in England cost around

?700 per badger killed. In Wales the badger vaccination programme cost

around ?700 per badger vaccination. The scientific adviser, the renowned

scientific adviser on this subject, has continually said that rolling

out: as a national policy to eradicate TB in cattle is not really

credible. So why does the government persist with a policy which is

stupid, costly and also ineffective? First of all, on the cost, the cost

of doing nothing will be ?1 billion in ten years. The reality is, in

terms of the cost there were one-off costs initially but those have

fallen in half in the most recent calls. When it comes to Wales, she

will be aware that they have suspended their vaccination

programme because of a lack of availability of vaccine and advice

from the World Health Organisation. It is also the case that the

vaccination was on a pilot area of 1.5% of wills. Wales has had success

with cattle movement controls and that is why they have been able to

bear down on the disease. My honourable friend has pointed out

the issues regarding bovine TB, but can I also say that The Member For

Plymouth, who is not here, and I shared a love of hedgehogs. I

remember once bringing a hedgehog into the chamber which was

completely out of order. May I say... Bid did something terrible in

my hand and I dropped it and it scurried off. Anyway. We are of the

point. The point at which to make is that the number of hedgehogs is

fallen and it is partly because they are part of the food chain of

badgers. I simply want to say, the badgers are cuddly, hedgehogs have

spikes but they are currently too. We need to remember that they are

being attacked or badgers aren't being called. He is a real advocate

for hedgehogs. There are many members of the House supporting the

cause of hedgehogs including our honourable friend, The Member For

Plymouth. It is the case and some research suggests that the badgers

to compete with hedgehogs for some food, but there are many other

pressures on the hedgehog, including people not having their gardens

hedgehog friendly. Everyone can play a role in terms of helping for

hedgehogs recover. It is national hedgehog week and we need to do all

we can to protect their habitats, rather than blaming the badgers.

Reconnect the badgers, when experts tell you something isn't working,

the sensible thing is to stop. Why come when the own government expert

said the effort last year were ineffective and inhumane, when

bovine TB increased by 34% and Somerset is the Department is

determined to push ahead with yet more culling? Can we have a

moratorium on the granting of licences this year until we have had

a full public debate with all the information in the public domain so

we can decide if it is proceeding with Colin? The leading expert on

tackling bovine DP are in their effort, it includes our chief vet

and his team. Their advice is clear that we will not eradicate this

disease unless we tackle the reservoir of the disease in the

wider population and that is what we are committed to a roll-out of the

Colin where the disease is rife. Can he give us the figures for the

increase in coal bricks of bovine TB? Then he pulled out the col and

do as much as he can rather than punishing producers with testing?

People be aware that we slaughter around 28,000 cattle a year. Last

year there was a slight increase in the prevalence of the disease but

these things do tend to move in cycles. In the previous year we saw

a slight reduction in the disease. I understand that the cattle movement

controls are frustrating for some farmers but they are also a

necessary part of eradicating this disease. We have to do all of these

things. We have today with the reservoir of the disease in the

wild, we had to improve bio-security and health to improve cattle

movement controls so we can reduce transmission of the disease. Could

the minister tell us when he will be able to give us the figures of the

badger cull areas to show the production has been and the amount

of disease in cattle which mark when will we be able to seek those

scientific features? Is he knows, during the trials a decade or so

ago, what they found was that the benefits of the col in badgers were

only seen around for years after those corals had concluded. It would

be several years before we can see the impacts. What we now is that the

issue of perturbation, which has been highlighted to me, was far less

of an issue in the first two years of the col. Their quality is

improving. Since 2010, emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen by 17%

and we will further improve our quality through a new programme of

clean power zones alongside investment in clean technologies. My

constituency has the worst air quality in south London. Air

pollution has an impact on life expectancy. In now and a thousand

people die each year in London Judy Potter our quality is why our

candidate for London mayor is consulting on

It is the member for Richmond Park who has made cleaner air a priority

of his mayoral campaign. He has got a long-standing record of talking

about environmental issues, unlike his opponent. This Government has

set out a clear plan for clean air zones right across the country to

deal with this issue, and we are prepared to mandate those to make

sure we are in line with WHO limits. DEFRA's plan says that local

authority action is critical to achieving improvements in air

quality. On this day, can she tell us what resources she will provide

to struggling councils to do this, even that her department has cut

payments to councils under the grand scheme by nearly 80% since 2010?

Does she give councils the powers they need to tackle this problem,

not just in the five cities but wherever people are suffering and

dying because the air is not clean enough? We have given powers to all

cities who want to implement a clean air zone. They are fully able to do

that. We are also, for those five cities that are projected to be

above the WHO limits of 40 mg of nitrogen oxide, assisting them with

funding, we are working with them, we need to make sure those zones are

in the right place, so that the problem does not get moved from one

part of the city to another. Resources will be available for

those local authorities to put that in place. Questionable for. Data and

pathology have essential role to play in increasing the productivity

and competitiveness of British farming. Last October I launched the

first of our tech centres of excellence, the metric centre at

Wrotham is dead. They will develop new models that improve our ability

to utilise the volume of data that exists. We are on track to open up

8000 datasets to the public, which can help food and achieve its

potential. As a software engineer I welcome his response, but will he

agreed that the implementation burden of vast changes like this

year's Common agricultural policy make it difficult to realise these

benefits? There is a simple solution, to vote to leave the EU.

The Government position is we should remain in the EU. He will also be

aware that I have exercised the option granted by the PM to disagree

with the Government on this issue. I would simply say that the vast

majority of problems that farmers complain to me about the consequence

of functional EU legislation. Questionable five. -- question

number five. I would like to take this question with number eight.

These are very difficult times for many dairy farmers, a combination of

oversupply coupled with a weakening of the manned in major markets like

China has led to a depressed commodity price. We secured a ?26

million support fund last November to alleviate short-term cash flow

pressures. We also introduced a supply chain code to improve

dealings between processors and farmers, and we are working on a

project to introduce a futures market to help farmers manage future

risks. We are exploring the potential to facilitate investment

in new dairy processing capacity so we can add value to our production.

We need British farmers to make a living and with milk prices

plummeting, in March we saw them at the lowest level I have been since

2009, with some prices as low as 16p per litre. This is when British

dairy incomes are dropping and forecast to fall by almost half this

year. I was disappointed there was nothing for dairy farmers in the

Budget. What action will he take now, working with supermarkets and

retailers and farmers to ensure a future for the dairy industry? We

have introduced tax averaging across five years to help farmers who might

have faced a tax bill averaged out against difficult years. HMRC have

been clear they will take a generous approach when it comes to the time

to pay provisions they had to help farmers who may be under pressure

with a tax bill. This is an incredibly difficult time for many

farmers, some of them are still on land contracts and receiving a fair

price, but we are meeting retailers to improve the contracts they offer,

to encourage them to do more aligned contracts and saw small dairy

production. Many are offering those contracts or higher prices. Can he

tell the house and Britain's farmers why the UK Government failed to

support EU efforts to improve the school milk scheme, which provides a

valuable market for our struggling dairy farmers? Can he confirmed they

will be rolling it out in our schools, and what benefit it will

bring for British farmers. It is not the case that we did not support the

scheme. The European scheme is small, worth around ?4 million a

year, it is taught by our own domestic schemes, the one funded by

the DfT, around ?60 million a year for infant age children. The issue

that we had was the bureaucracy and administration that the European

Commission were trying to add. We were keen to pair that out, but we

supported the scheme, it is not true to say we didn't. In North Yorkshire

in the last 15 years we have lost 50% of our dairy farmers and 90% of

those in business are losing money, despite subsidies. Does he agree now

is the time for the supermarkets to start paying a fair price to British

farmers of four British milk? I understand his point. These are

difficult times for farmers. Some people often lay the blame at

supermarkets, but we have to recognise at the root of this

problem is a worldwide issue of low commodity prices. Very low prices in

New Zealand, lower than we have got here, and many have been driven out

of business there. It is a global challenge. Some supermarkets have

stepped up to the plate and offered a lined contracts, and many of them

are selling their milk at a loss. We should give credit where credit is

due. But we are always trying to improve the position of farmers in

the supply chain. Perhaps the honourable member's suggestion on

Weetabix, if we advocate British milk income donation, it might offer

solace. Will he confirm, he has spoken about a commitment to

strengthen the voluntary code of practice for the dairy sector, but

will he tell me when it will be in place? When it comes to the

voluntary code of practice for the dairy industry, I have had this

discussion already with NFU Scotland and I have offered to meet them to

discuss some of their concerns. The reality of the code we have is it

does tend to help farmers more in a rising market when prices are

firming than in a difficult time when you have oversupply. The

crucial element is it gives farmers the ability to walk away at

three-month notice and the ability to extract a better price. It only

works with a market that is going up in price, but I have offered to meet

with NFU Scotland to discuss their concerns, and we will review the

code again with a view to strengthening it and improving it

where we can. Question number six. The Government is determined to use

all available measures necessary to eradicate this devastating disease

as quickly as possible. We have good to be to make improvements to cattle

movement controls are most recently introducing a requirement for

post-movement testing with cattle travelling from high risk area to

the low risk area. We also launched a new project to promote better

on-farm security to reduce cattle to badger contact. We also started a

cautious roll-out of the badger cull to an additional area in Dorset last

year, which was successful. I urge the Government to do all it can to

ensure bovine TB is checked in Cheshire to ensure it does not take

further hold. It is because of extreme concern. She makes a very

important point, I recognise the specific challenge imparts of the

area in Cheshire. We have reduced much more frequent testing in

Cheshire to get on top of the disease, which has been a success.

We have increased the use of the more sensitive blood test as a

supplement to the skin test to ensure we can remove infected cattle

from herds more quickly. Question number seven. All farmers in England

have received their full payment or a bridging payment of half of their

expected claim. 90% of eligible farmers have received a full

payment. I am sure that colleagues in the

house with rural constituencies would have numerous examples of

problems with the late. I wanted to raise the case of my constituent Mrs

muscle. She has been left in severe financial difficulties due to her

payment being delayed and has difficulty in contacting the RPA

herself, the response I had what the payment would come in due course,

and she should call them for hardship assistance, but that is

what she has been unable to do. What assurances can she give me and my

constituent that farmers will not be left in such dire straits in the

future and that the relevant help will be more easily available and

the RPA more easily contactable? In the case of his constituent, all

eligible farmers should now have received a bridging payment by the

end of April. If that is an ongoing issue with his constituent, I would

be happy to assist him directly on that. This has been the first year

of implementation of the new system. All payments need to be made within

the payment window between December and June. All payments will be made

within that window. I appreciate farmers are struggling with cash

flow because of low commodity prices, that is why we have put in

place the bridging payment for those final few farmers who had not yet

received payment. That data is now on the system, so 2016 will be more

straightforward, and we should be able to pay farmers much earlier in

the payment window. I would like to thank the Secretary of State for

listening to the concerns of my constituent farmers around basic

payments, but to move forward, can she reassure us of three things,

these problems across the piste have been heard, solutions are being

considered and sought, and as we move into the 2016 registration

period that the system really is going to be fit for purpose? I am

happy to assist with any constituents who still have

outstanding issues are. We have paid over 90% of farmers. The payment

window ends at the end of June, so all payments will be made by them.

The data is on the system now, so next year will be much more

straightforward. Both Wales and Scotland have paid fewer full

payment than England. We are on track to do what we need to do by

the end of June. As my honourable friend will know, the farming

community of Lincolnshire will gather on the 22nd and 23rd of June

for the Lincolnshire show. If he is not doing anything on those days, if

she could find the time to come, I could introduce her to a group of

farmers who oppose membership of the EU. The chief find time to do that?

I could not possibly imagine what anybody might be doing on the 23rd

of June, but what I would say, and this is for all farmers, the EU and

the single market has brought massive benefits for food and

farming. If you look at exports of beef and lamb, 97% of lamb exports

go into the EU, 92% of beef exports go to the EU. There would be a real

risk to the future livelihood of those industries if we were to leave

and we were not able to export our fine products to those European

countries anymore. Question number nine.

Broadband is absolutely essential to farmers so they can access the

latest precision farming techniques, two children so that they can access

educational tools, and for small rural businesses to overcome

distance and reach markets they would not otherwise be able to

reach. That is why we have provided a guarantee of a minimum of two meg

with Government backing for it, and an aspiration to reach ten through

an obligation by 2020. The Public Accounts Committee

concluded that digital focus for the capital programme was inappropriate

because of fraud can service into many rural areas. The chair said the

programme was a fiasco which should have focused on the needs of farmers

and not ended up as a digital testing ground which caused payments

to farmers to be severely delayed. What commitments when the minister

and give it to make sure farmers get the service they deserve from

broadband providers and the government? Some of these relate

directly to issues of farming. If I can take the issues within my

Department, which is for -- broadband. To commitments, if any

farmer in your constituency or any constituency who wishes to access

aim two meg commitment which will give them that access, the

government has a grand scheme in place to provide the infrastructure

and, of course, this commitment to the ten meg service to the universal

service obligation. The Church of England representatives had a

constructive meeting with the Secretary of State with the offered

the use of church towers and spiders in order to extend broadband

coverage in rural areas and a mobile phone coverage. If the Minister

could update the House and progress? As a house would be aware, Church

spires are ideally located in rural areas allowing you to get .2 point

coverage from broadband, allowing you to get a good cellular coverage.

The offer from the Church Commissioners is appreciated and we

are working closely with colleagues to take advantage of the

technological opportunities. Number ten, Mr Speaker. We have some of the

best native breeds of cattle and sheep in the world and we wanted to

promote quality British meat. We secured improved labelling

legislation so there is no mandatory country of origin labelling on a

range of products. The Secretary of State visited the years working to

open the market there for British beef and I went to Japan to make the

same case. We are exploring ways to use regional settings to encourage

more people to choose British products. Make I welcome this. I

recall last November, we were festooned with banners reminding us

about vegetarian wig and urging us to try a vegan meal. In the

interests of fairness, can I suggest we have something similar to

encourage people to try British meat, perhaps British meat May. If

we launch such an event, could we ensure members of the opposition

front bench are also invited? I am sure the honourable gentleman will

enjoy cross-party support. If he makes a good point, we do need to

promote our top-quality meat. The gay age TB perform an important role

in this area. Recently I signed off on a campaign on TV they are running

to promote good work. There is a campaign on beef and lamb marketing

to increase the consumption of underutilised lamb and beef cuts

through the promotion of their TV campaign. There is good work going

on but the honourable gentleman has made a good suggestion that I am

happy to explore. The answer is we have consulted for a closely with a

range of people on hedge cutting that extends to different

environmental organisations and that is why we have come up with the date

on hedge which provides protection for birds and derogations for

specific agricultural activities. I thank the Minister for that answer

but my constituent is a contract who specialises in hedge cutting and the

extension of the hedge trimming ban has cost them thousands of pounds in

revenue. He has no intention of harming wildlife but his practice is

seriously affected. Will the Minister engage with contractors and

farmers to ensure conditions on the ground are considered and work for

both the contracting industry and conservationists at the same time? I

am very happy to engage with the honourable member and farmers on

this issue. It is important to understand that certain birds,

blackbirds, turtledoves, Goldfinch, Bulfinch, White throat, all of these

birds have longer breeding and veering seasons that take them

through into the beginning of September. There are two derogations

which can affect his constituent. One of them relate to the planting

of only seed and the other disease and grass to get his equipment in. I

am happy to discuss the details with the honourable member. The Minister

is it mine of information, is he not? We are obliged to him. Number

12, sir. 60% of our food and drink exports go to the EU, which is what

the ?11 billion to the economy. This is vital income from our farmers and

fishermen. If we were to leave, exporters would face crippling

tariffs to sell their goods to Europe such as up to 70% for beef

products which would cost ?240 million per year. I agree with the

Secretary of State and the food and drink Federation about how vital the

EU is to order food and farming industry. She has given quite a fool

and but when she put a figure on how much lost trade would prosper for

each year if we didn't leave the single market? I thank the

honourable gentleman for his question. What we know is there is

no country that is not a food member of the EU that has food access to

the agricultural market. Whether it is Norway, Canada at any other of

the models the campaign have talked about, none of them have food access

without quotas and tariffs. I have given the example of beef, ?240

million a year, the sheep industry would be harder because 40% of all

of the sheep we produce here in the UK is exploited to the EU. Topical

questions. Question number one. This government is taking action to help

farmers manage low prices and market volatility. That is why we have

ensured that all eligible farmers have now been paid their full basic

payment or abridging payment for 2015. This will help farmers and we

will extend the period of tax averaging from two to five years and

this month and am convening farmers, food producers and the European

investment bank to seek further investment in improved productivity

and processing capacity. I thank the Secretary of State for response.

Will the Secretary of State confirm that any money from the EU

Solidarity fund will be additional money to be spent in the communities

that have been affected by floods and can she confirm that it will not

be swallowed up by the Treasury as payback for money already spent? I

thank the honourable lady for her question. I can confirm that is

additional money being applied for through my colleague the Communities

Secretary. In a written answer to me today, the public Health Minister

has told me that in infant hygiene scores are encouraged to be shown on

restaurant goers. The truth of the matter is that those who score very

low with one or two out of five do not displayed whereas in Wales it is

mandatory to show hygiene scores on the doors. What can I read

honourable friend do to encourage the Department of Health to make it

mandatory, as it is in Wales, but scores on the doors have two be

shown question mark in Wales it has been shown it raises hygiene

standards in restaurants. I congratulate my honourable friend on

his campaign and I think food safety standards are one of the reasons

that British food is so respected around the world and our exports are

growing because people respect the work of the Food Standards Agency. I

think it is very important that consumers have confidence and

transparency in the safety of food and I look forward to hearing more

from his discussions with the Department of Health. The Secretary

of State will be aware that... Water companies made a ?2 billion profit

in 2015 and paid out 1.8 billion in dividends but fell short of paying

food corporation tax. She will be aware of the copper kidded structure

is operated by the companies which can bamboozle us all. Does she agree

that the expected water Bill to introduce competition in the

domestic market could be used to ensure that companies are more open

and transparent and need more tax in the UK? -- pay more tax. We are

introducing further measures to improve competition and drive

efficiencies. Under the Labour government, we saw a rise of water

bills of 20%, whereas under the most recent decision of the regulator, we

will see a fall of 5%, reducing water bills for customers. Thank

you. I had hoped the Minister would prove a greater water and consumer

champions as well. A second chance. We heard at the weekend that water

companies are providing more help than ever before for customers in

vulnerable circumstances, including social tariffs and other schemes to

reduce bills. The Minister will know that such schemes are arbitrary and

variable. Bush she agreed the next water Bill could provide an

opportunity for legislation to introduce a fair scheme for all

vulnerable customers? We are seeing more social tariffs introduced

across the country but I think the key point is that we are seeing a

reduction in water bills for everybody across the country and the

overall rate, because we have got a good regulator, have an efficient

industry and we are introducing further competition. The dairy

farmers are suffering very low prices. There is a lot of milk in

the market. What more could we cannot get into is Russia. What is

happening, is there any chance we could get back into the Russian

market because European and British dairy farmers are paying a high

price for this ban on imports into Russia. My honourable friend X and

important point which is that the Russian trade embargo has

exacerbated the challenges we face in the dairy sector and others. The

point I would eat is the reason we put in place sanctions against

Russia was because of their unacceptable conduct against Ukraine

and their incursions into Ukrainian territory. It is important that we

shall Solidarity with other European countries and nature we do not

accept the way that Russia has behaved towards Ukraine. We have

heard of the ?1.6 billion profit by water companies. These are rich

organisations, some of whom are already living wage accredited. Does

the Secretary of State back the campaign by Unison for the current

living wage to be paid out of the industry? Thank you very much. These

are issues to tackle directly. It is important for this industry to make

sure that there is a predictable future where politicians are not

micromanaging this. There is a process we are going through, it

price review process. We did closely with the regulator would be happy to

be sure that neither I or the Secretary of State is attractive

micromanage an independent regulator. The recent groceries code

adjudicator report showed that Tesco was reaching the code of practice by

delaying payments to suppliers and demanding extra fees, an issue

raised with me by farmers in my constituency. What is the government

doing to nature that further such creatures do not occur? As my

honourable friend will be aware, we introduced the regulations at the

end of the last Parliament that made it possible for the grocery code

adjudicator to levy fines against retailers who breached the code. The

action she took against Tesco was evidence that this is starting to

work and she is starting to pick up and deal with bad practices. We will

shortly be reviewing the road and our approach to the GCA. As part of

that, we will look at ways we might be able to improve it. Two of my

constituents were sentenced to just six months electronic tag for the

brutal and horrific abuse of their pet dog. The community has been

outraged by the leniency of this sentence because the videoed it and

were laughing as they didn't. I have written to the Secretary of State

for Justice but perhaps I could ask the Secretary of State to chase my

letter with them and have a review of animal sentencing given the

maximum sentence for cruelty is just one year. We have looked at the

issue of animal sentencing and they can have an unlimited fine and my

understanding it is up to five years for animal cruelty, but I can check

that point and write to the honourable lady if that is

incorrect. In most cases, the courts are not

using the maximum required. We have looked at fighting dogs and

organised dogfights, where there is evidence that the courts are being

restricted by the guidelines, but this is an issue for the OJ. The

Minister will want to discuss this with her. As a keen rambler, he will

be familiar with the coast-to-coast walk, which runs across both our

constituencies. This is one of England's most popular walks but it

is not an official National Trail. With him it with me to discuss my

campaign to give it the formal recognition it deserves? I would be

delighted to meet with him. I propose that we meet by walking the

National Trail together. Marvellous! Growing concern about the

environmental impact of the tiny pieces of plastic that are found in

many consumer products and swelling around in our oceans. The Americans

and Canadians are moving to ban them, what is the UK Government

doing? They do pose potentially a threat, because it does not

biodegrade, it can collect toxic material. We have been working hard

to make sure the full 500 billion members of the EU sign up to a

common position. If we cannot get it, we are open to the possibility

of the UK acting unilaterally. Part of the fantastically successful

National Forest falls within my constituency. It's benefits to the

community are clear, just the benefits of woodlands and trees are

more broadly. What steps is the Government take it to encourage the

planting of water is across the UK, building on its success? I was in

the national forest, it is an extraordinary project. It has

regenerated 200 square miles of brutalised countryside and created

one of the great New Forest in the country. We will take forward ideas

like this in the 25 year plan, and we are committed to planting another

11 million trees between now and 2020 as a minimum. Would he tell the

house when the Government will deliver on its promise to ban wild

animals in circuses? That is a manifesto commitment, and I can

reassure her that we are committed to doing that. Log burning stoves

are one of the pleasures of living in the countryside and form or

fashion conscious town dwellers as well. They are produced by family

owned businesses, all must all in the UK and in ruble areas, but the

industry are concerned that this way of life might be under threat

because they are needlessly brought into a quality regulations. For the

sake of everybody who enjoys them and who manufactures them, would the

minister meet with the industry and try to protect them? We would be

very happy to meet with the industry to discuss this issue. I am clear

that making sure that we have cleaner air is a vital priority for

this Government. Questions to the Right Honourable member for Meriden,

representing the Church Commissioners. Question number one.

I should first of all declare my position, which is that I've voted

in favour of same-sex marriage when the decision was before Parliament,

but I recognise it is difficult for the Anglican church. The community

extends over many different cultures