Food & Farming Group Input
College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) Update
Following the additional Covid-19 restrictions announced by the NI Executive on 14 October 2020, the Minister agreed that face-to-face delivery of CAFRE’s Education programmes and Knowledge Transfer and Innovation schemes would be temporarily suspended from Friday 16 October 2020.
Education programmes are continuing with online delivery for a period of two weeks, with students scheduled to return to College, following the mid-term break, on 2 November 2020 for delivery of the essential practical skills elements of the programmes, combined with remote learning for lectures, using digital learning technologies.
The majority of the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation programmes, including Business Development Groups Scheme and Farm Family Key Skills Scheme training events have been developed to facilitate remote delivery and moved online from Monday 19 October 2020 to comply with the current Public Health Agency (PHA) advice and Government guidance.
CAFRE’s Advisers and Technologists continue to be available to provide essential business and environmental advisory support to assist farmers, growers and food manufacturing businesses with advice to help maintain the agri-food supply chain and ensure the health and welfare of livestock.
CAFRE are holding a series of virtual Open Day student recruitment events, to be delivered remotely on their social media platforms, for each of the discipline areas during October and November 2020.
Update on Sector Support Schemes
The Agricultural Commodities (Coronavirus, Income Support) Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2020 for dairy, beef and sheep sectors opened on the 7th September and closes on the 23 September 2020. There were 11,177 applications representing a commitment of £18.18 M. Payments of approx. £17.6 M was issued within 2 days of scheme closure and to date £18m has been paid to 98% of the applicants. The scheme was opened to the potato sector on the 9 September and closed on the 30 September 2020, with 68 applications and work is ongoing to assess and process these claims.
The Ornamental Horticulture Industry (Coronavirus, Financial Assistance) Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2020 opened on the 15 October and closes on the 15 November 2020. Applications have been received and work is ongoing to encourage as many eligible businesses to submit their applications.
The residual funding from the £25M (£3.6M) and the £3.6M that was reprioritised from within the Department is being held for potential allocations of support should COVID-19 present future challenges in the weeks ahead.
Update on Essential Legislation
The UKG Agriculture Bill completed its Third Reading, at the House of Lords, and was returned to the House of Commons with amendments. The House of Commons disagreed to the amendments, and the Bill was returned to the Lords with the Commons reasons for their disagreement. The House of Lords have since returned the Bill to the House of Commons with further amendments, to be considered on 4 November 2020. The Bill will remain in ‘Ping Pong’ until both Houses reach agreement.
Once the Commons and Lords agree the final version of the Bill, it can receive Royal Assent and become an Act of Parliament.
Update on Secondary legislation
DAERA continues to work with Whitehall Departments, primarily Defra, to ensure the essential Statutory Instruments can be laid and made at Westminster by the end of the Transition Period. The aim is to ensure there is a functioning Rule Book. Currently 13 UK Wide SIs with devolved content remain to be laid by the 31 December 2020 with 5 now rescheduled for laying in January 2021. There are 11 reserved SIs which impact on NI, 6 of which will be laid before the 31 December 2020.
A need has also been identified to lay 32 Statutory Rules at the Assembly under EU Exit and the Executive’s legislation programme. Due to this significant volume of legislation to be laid within challenging deadlines a prioritisation exercise is underway to identify the essential SRs.
Update on Essential Finance or Budget information
None
Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme (NIRDP)
As advised several weeks ago, The European Commission recently approved a Regulation providing for a lump sum single payment for eligible farmers of up to €7k and up to €50k for eligible SMEs to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19. Following careful consideration the Minister has decided that the regulation is not the most appropriate vehicle for providing support to Farmers and SMEs in the face of COVID.
The significant conditions attached to the measure would mean that only a very small number of beneficiaries would be eligible. In addition the European audit requirements would be considerable. Nationally funded support has been provided to farmers through the Agricultural Commodities Coronavirus Income Support Scheme and the SMEs through a number of Business Support
Direct Payments for 2020
Payments began to issue on Friday 16 October 2020 with 94% of payments totalling £265.7million going out on the first day. By the end of the first week of payments this had increased to 97% and £275.5 million. For the past number of years Northern Ireland has had the best payment performance in the United Kingdom. By making full payments in October we continue to be ahead of every other part of the UK and also ahead of all EU Member States. DAERA staff are working hard to verify the remaining claims and issue payments as quickly as possible.
Veterinary Service & Animal Health Group
Testing for bovine Tuberculosis
From 1 December 2020, movement restrictions relating to overdue bTB tests will return to being applied seven days after the test is overdue.
From 5 January 2021 herds with a bTB test that is 37 days overdue will no longer be permitted to purchase new bovines or move cattle to slaughter.
To facilitate social distancing during a bTB test, calves under 180 days of age continue to be temporarily exempt from bTB testing, where testing these bovines cannot take place safely.
Animal By-Products
All animal by-product inspections and on farm feed sampling for processed animal protein have recommenced and are being delivered in line with the relevant COVID-19 advice and guidance. Additionally the 3 TSE sampling sites have signed a new contract for the provision of TSE sampling of over 48 month fallen cattle, and over 18 month fallen sheep where sampling is required.
Delivery of Official Controls and Other Official Activities
The delivery of veterinary public health official controls, that is, ante mortem and post mortem inspections, verification of food business operators’ compliance with hygiene, animal health and welfare requirements continues in all slaughterhouses. All slaughterhouses are working normally.
The new contract with an agency in GB to supply meat inspectors to VSAHG Veterinary Public Health Programme (VPHP) commences in November and will provide additional capacity.
VSAHG officials continue to actively engage with the Public Health Agency (PHA), Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) and the industry to ensure adherence with PHA advice and guidance in all food processing establishments.
The majority of statutory animal health and welfare surveillance/testing/inspections have recommenced.
Agri food Inspection Branch (AfIB) has resumed most on–farm official control inspection work on a pre-notified basis. These inspections, including dairy hygiene and primary production hygiene, are being carried out in line with PHA guidance on COVID-19.
Announced on-site inspections and remote inspections for official controls on traceability and food and feed safety are taking place at non-farm premises on a risk basis and in line with Health and Safety requirements.
Current position
VSAHG officials are engaged with industry to assist development of their contingency plans in the event of a covid-19 outbreak within slaughterhouses.
Update on Essential Legislation
Work on essential legislation continues. Given the potential for COVID related absences, there remains a risk to the progress of that legislation.
Update on Essential Finance or Budget information
None.
Environment, Marine & Fisheries Group
Environment update
Waste Management Collection, Storage and Processing
As of the 28 October 2020, there are 94 (of the 96) Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) open across Northern Ireland. The 2 sites that remain closed are Eglinton and Killen, both within the Derry City & Strabane Council area although temporary waste disposal facilities are in place at Spamount Playing Fields, Castlederg (twice weekly) to assist people in the area to dispose of additional waste while Killen Recycling Centre remains closed. All local Councils have resumed bulky waste collections and municipal litter and street cleansing operations, although some of these services are on a restricted basis in some areas. Many HWRC sites have now moved to winter opening hours.
Feedback from councils is that they are putting in place contingency plans to ensure HWRCs and waste services continue through various different scenarios, e.g. local lockdowns, national lockdown or a second wave of the virus resulting in staff shortages.
A further phase of waste and recycling communications will be delivered by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) throughout Northern Ireland later this year. The campaign will target a number of actions as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and will deliver messages in three key areas, namely:
- The correct disposal of PPE;
- Managing user expectations and behaviours at HWRCs e.g., booking systems, bring ID, practice social distancing.
- Wash your hands, keep your distance, clean handles of containers/bins.
Maintaining Drinking Water Quality
Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and NIEA have been working closely with NI Water to monitor and assess how the analytical services have been impacted by the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the current restrictions in place. The NI Water Analytical Services management measures are responding well to the rising pressures. However, whilst regulatory monitoring had returned under their Rollback Plan for both drinking water (back to 90% of the previous monitoring levels) and waste water (back to 100%), NI Water may be required to implement their Contingency Plan again if the impact escalates. NIEA have agreed to extend the Wastewater Sampling Regulatory Position Statement until January 2021 and this can be used by NI Water if required.
Following the introduction of recent restrictions on a number of commercial premises, DWI is required to continually review the monitoring programme for private water supply sites in consultation with councils to ensure as many sites as possible are sampled for continued public health protection.
DWI have provided four training events to council staff (approx. 70 staff in total) in support of sampling the private water supplies in their area. This will help to build resilience within Councils to meet the sampling requirements of private water supplies (e.g. cafes, etc.) under the DWI Service Level Agreement.
Virus in Waste Water
DAERA have been engaged with DEFRA and other UK regulators on a UK wide programme on Virus Testing in Wastewater. Queens University Belfast (QUB) and University College Dublin (UCD) have submitted a joint R&D application to the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) COVID-19 Rapid Response programme, which DAERA is co-funding. The QUB-UCD collaborative project has proposed the establishment of an integrated system for all-island SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance and reporting. If successful, DAERA will fund QUB’s eligible research costs for this project over a 5 month period (November 2020 to end of March 2021). In brief the QUB-UCD project will provide the analysis of sampling data and linkages to the Public Health Agency to inform the response to the prevalence of the virus in the community.
Furthermore, NIEA are currently scoping the extension of this virus surveillance research to include an additional 5-6 sites (8 sites in total) in NI over a 12 month monitoring programme. NI Water and NIEA have been involved in technical discussions with QUB ensuring logistics are in place to allow for the collection of samples at the Wastewater Treatment Works.
Bathing Waters and Other Marine Monitoring Programmes
The Bathing Water programme has been run at a reduced level due to COVID-19 related restrictions (lab capacity, shielding requirements and childcare). This represents a 75% reduction on the usual annual programme which may have an impact on overall compliance, which is calculated on a 4 yearly rolling assessment. This is currently being considered.
Future Viability of Environmental NGOs
In June the Minister launched an environmental fund challenge fund competition to enable eNGOs and councils to bid to deliver priority natural environmental projects for nature recovery and connecting people to the environment. In September an initial £645,000 was allocated to environmental projects across Northern Ireland through various strands of the Environment Fund (EF) including the challenge fund competition. This was in addition to the £145k that had already been allocated to recipients of the Strategic Environment Fund for COVID-19 contingency measures. - Further EF allocations are scheduled for late October / early November.
Country Parks and Nature Reserves
All facilities are open except for those that are restricted by The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (Amendment No. 9) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020. Indoor visitor attractions and museums in Country Parks are closed (except to facilitate access to toilet facilities in Crawfordsburn Country Park). Cafes are closed to consumption on its premises, however the Department is facilitating concession holders to operate take-away services if they wish to do so.
Update on Essential Legislation: Environment Bill
Westminster Committee Stage will resume on 3 November 2020 and is due to conclude on 1 December 2020. This will be followed by the remaining Common Stages in due course before proceeding to the House of Lords.
Update on Essential Finance or Budget Information
In addition to the Executive’s previous allocation of £3.8m to help cover the additional waste costs incurred by Councils for the period March to end June, a further bid for £11.4m for the period July through to March 2021 was approved in September. To date 70% advance payments totalling £2.66m from the first tranche of funding have been made to councils.
Fisheries update
Fisheries - Sea Fishing Sector
On 3 April 2020 the Minister announced that the Department would proceed with a scheme of financial support for the sea fish catching sector.
Letters of Invitation to apply for the scheme were issued to 172 vessel owners, with 81 licensed fishing vessels considered ineligible against the scheme’s qualifying criteria.
After all appeals were considered, a total of 172 Letters of Offer and claim forms were issued and, at the close of the Scheme, 171 payments have been made to vessel owners totalling £1.32m.
On 5th October, the Minister announced a further scheme of support for the sea-fish catching sector as a result of continuing depressed markets and prices for landings as a result of Covid-19. The package includes a temporary cessation of fishing activity element for the trawl/dredge fleet that will see vessels offered support to tie-up for a six week period to enhance market price but at the same time, allowing current market demands to be satisfied. This element of the scheme, supported through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, has a total project cost estimated at up to £1.3m and will involve around 70 fishing vessels.
A scheme tailored to the needs of the potting fleet (generally smaller vessels that fish for crab and lobster) will also be launched during November to offer fixed cost support to vessel owners, who will be permitted to continue to fish under the scheme. It is anticipated that up to 80 vessels will receive financial assistance with the scheme projected to cost £390k.
Aquaculture Sector
The Aquaculture Financial Assistance Scheme was announced by the Minister on 26 May. This funding is to be delivered through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Programme.
On 29 May, letters of Invitation to apply to the Scheme were issued to 19 potential eligible businesses. A further 38 letters were issued to potential ineligible businesses to advise of the appeal mechanism.
Fourteen payments totalling £113.5k have been made to date. Two appeals were received, both of which were upheld, and payments have been made in both these cases. One further grant payment is outstanding. We currently await the applicant’s acceptance before payment is made. The total awarded grant is likely to be in the region of £126.4 k.
Lough Neagh Fishery
Fishing has resumed at Lough Neagh since the summer, however there is less demand for eels in the European market.
A financial support scheme has been developed to alleviate the loss of income for Lough Neagh’s commercial fishermen due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme will be funded under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Minister is currently considering the details of the scheme.
Update on Essential Legislation
The Bill completed its Report Stage and Third Reading in the House of Commons (Second House) on 13 October 2020. It is on target to achieve Royal Assent by the end of November 2020.
Necessary amendments to aquatic animal health regulations are being scheduled for Committee scrutiny.
Work to scope the implications of new EU Animal Health Law for the sector has commenced. This must be implemented in full in NI by 21 April 2021 under the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Update on Essential Finance or Budget Information
Nothing new to report.
Rural Affairs, Forestry Service & Estate Transformations Group
Rural Affairs Division
DAERA Direct Offices
CSB staff continue to work in the 12 DAERA Direct offices on essential services, whilst maintaining social distancing, on a rota basis. The remainder are working from home with secure access to the relevant DAERA databases such as APHIS, NIFAIS and CIS. Perspex screens have been erected in the reception areas and recovery plans have been developed to allow more staff to return to the offices. Specific arrangements have also been put in place to facilitate pre-booked appointments at the front counter.
Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation (TRPSI)
Spring Social Prescribing
SPRING Project Management Team undertook an exercise to consider how to transition the project back to its original format bearing in mind continuing Covid-19 regulations and guidance.
Some impacts of the Covid include; Face to face contact with primary health care providers had stopped. These were recommencing again but would be at a much lower level; The 1 to 1 contact between Social Prescriber and client was considerably reduced, and whilst the flexibility of the programme was vital, reduced 1 to 1 contact was a concern; The community sector, the providers of SPRING, have been massively impacted. How they recover from Covid and begin to resume services will be a major factor in the delivery of SPRING for at least the remainder of 20/21. To address these factors SPRING ‘Transitioning’ document has been developed and DAERA are working closely with SPRING to develop the proposals.
Farm Families Health Check Programme (FFHCP) - COVID-19 response
At the onset of Covid all FFHC’s ceased. In September checks recommenced at a small number of Marts. These checks were particularly welcomed by those in attendance at the marts, citing their inability to be unable presently to attend GP appointments as an issue the FFHCP was helping to address. Officials plan to continue visits to marts, carefully managed, and to monitor the COVID-19 Crisis situation closely to recommence visits to Community settings when permitted.
Rural Business Development Grant Scheme
The Rural Business Development Grant Scheme closed for applications on Friday 11th September 2020.
Over 1500 applications received across the 11 local Councils and these are being checking for eligibility and assessed by an independent panel before demand assessed.
COVID-19 Revitilation Programme
Some £2m has been provided through TRPSI to support DfC’s Covid-19 Revitalisation Programme. Tranche 1, £6m funding (£5m DfC and £1m DAERA) focused on short term needs as identified by Councils through their respective Revitalisation Plans. Tranche 2, £11m (£1m DAERA, £5m DfC and £5m DfI) will address medium term needs identified by Councils.
All Councils are working on delivering their Tranche 1 Actions Plans. They have recently submitted Tranche 2 Revitalisation Actions Plans to DfC. An Inter-departmental Board involving DAERA, DfC and DfI has been established and has met three times to date.
Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme
The 2020 Rural Micro Capital Grant Scheme (RMCGS) closed for applications on 2 October. Some 706 applications were received. Work is underway to access these applications with Letters of Offer projected to issue by the end of November 2020.
Rural Policy - recovery
The new ‘Rural Policy Framework’ is under development following extensive stakeholder consultation and we are preparing to go out to public consultation.
A number of pilot schemes have been progressed to assist the evidence base for the framework, test initial findings and support Covid recovery.
Rural Micro Business Growth Scheme (£1m)
Overview: Open to non-food producing and non-tourism micro businesses (less than 10 FTE employees) wishing to grow through investment in innovation and new technologies.
RAD received 337 Expressions of Interest and the eligibility assessment process is now complete. As this was a pilot with a capped budget of £1m only 37 businesses that best met the funding priorities have been invited to submit a full application. The intention is to issue Letters of Offer to successful applications by Christmas.
Grant type: Capital
Delivery: DAERA.
Website Development Programme
Overview: The Programme is aimed at tourism experience providers across Northern Ireland to either create a new, or enhance an existing, website improving their online presence, allowing them to engage with both the domestic and international markets and produce immersive content to attract customers to visit Northern Ireland. Interest in the Programme has been high resulting in 153 Expressions of Interest being received (78 of these from rural businesses), with 50 applications submitted by the closing date of 25 September.
Grant type: Capital
Delivery: Managed jointly by DAERA/Tourism NI
Rural Tourism Collaborative Experiences Scheme
Overview: The aim of the pilot scheme is to bring together a small number (cluster) of rural businesses and other partners who will work closely together to develop a range of products/experiences which can be promoted as a combined experience to offer the local or international visitor an end-to-end holistic experience that meets the visitor’s needs, increasing dwell time in the area and thereby driving economic growth. The Scheme opened on 1 October to applications from Councils with up to £50k of resource grant available.
Grant type: Resource
Delivery: DAERA
EU LEADER Programme
Delivery of the £70m LEADER programme delivered by 10 Local Actions Groups (LAGS) across Northern Ireland was severely restricted due to the COVID19 Pandemic. The programme is back on track for completion by March 2022. Some £61m (98%) of the capital budget is allocated benefiting rural businesses, the Community Voluntary Sector and to Councils. Expenditure to date of just over £38m is just over 62% of the overall project funding allocated to LAGs.
To date under the Rural Business Investment Scheme 611 Letters of Offer worth over £21m has been issued by LAGs. This is a considerable investment in rural areas which also has an economic benefit to supply chains. A broad range of sectors have been funded with manufacturing making up just over 50% of the businesses funded.
Rural Tourism Scheme
To date 15 projects have been approved, under the Scheme, to receive funding totalling £7.35m. A further five potential applications are being developed.
Over the last few weeks 10 Task and Finish Groups with representation taken from the tourism and hospitality industry have developed a draft Tourism Recovery Action Plan which sets out the ‘industry asks’ for government intervention under the following themes:
- Creating Consumer Confidence
- Stimulating Demand
- Business Survival
- Safeguarding Connectivity
- Enhancing the Capability of Businesses
- Enhancing the Competitiveness of the Region
- Creating a Supportive Policy Environment
The DAERA Advisory Group provided input to DfE on this draft. The draft Action Plan is now undergoing due diligence by DfE to consider its affordability, deliverability and value for money; and the outcome of the COVID-19 bids made to the Executive. Tourism NI has also been tasked with carrying out additional analysis regarding the viability of the industry following the summer season. The Action Plan will be further refined once these outcomes are known and will be presented to the Executive.
Forest Service
- New Covid Regulations (The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2)
(Amendment No. 9) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020) commenced at 10.30pm on 16 October 2020 for a period of 4 weeks which affect the DAERA operation of its Country and Forest Parks.
The new regulations do not restrict the opening of Country and Forest Parks except for:
- Campsites and caravan parks for touring caravans
- Cafes (allowed to open for take away)
- Indoor visitor attractions - Countryside/visitor centres
Forest and Country Parks remain open, including car parks, toilets, playparks and trails.
All DAERA operated campsites and caravan parks are closed in line with the updated COVID-19 regulations. This closure period effectively extends beyond the normal seasonal closure date of 31 October 2020.
Cafés are permitted to sell or provide food or drink (not including intoxicating liquor) for consumption off the premises in response to orders placed between the hours of 05:00 and 23:00. DAERA will facilitate cafes concession holders in Country and Forest Parks to provide this service if they wish to do so.
Countryside/visitor centres will be closed – officials have considered that these would fall under the category of either “museums and galleries” or “indoor visitor attractions”. Access to toilets within these centres will be maintained where possible.
Central Services & Contingency Planning
Update on Essential Finance or Budget information
The Executive allocated a further £11.4m to DAERA to help cover higher waste collection, treatment and disposal costs in Councils. This funding will help support the additional costs of implementing social distancing measures and ensure that staff across councils are able to fulfil these crucial waste management roles in a safe manner. This allocation was announced by the Minister of Finance on 24 September as part of the Executive’s COVID-19 Allocations of £165 million which will see a funding injection for business, infrastructure, culture, schools and local councils.