asked Her Majesty’s Government:

How many new regulations the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has introduced since 2001.

My Lords, since 2001, the department has introduced 846 statutory instruments, which includes those introduced by the former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food up to June 2001.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that response. However, in response to a Question for Written Answer I was told that there have been some 750 general and local statutory instruments since 2001. Is he not concerned that the department does not have a central base so that it can tell how many of those statutory instruments were revoked, how many were new, and how many were just abandoned? Is it simply because, as I understand it, the different technologies do not talk to each other? I presume that the information was held manually in the past.

My Lords, I shall look again at the Question for Written Answer. I did not realise that there had been a problem. There is no difficulty finding the answer. Some of the 846 statutory instruments are general operating instruments governing things such as fees. Some actually abolish dozens of statutory instruments. For example, the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2005 abolished and repealed 49 separate statutory instruments. There is no difficulty getting the information.

My Lords, do the Government intend to revoke the regulation governing the protection of badgers?

No, my Lords. The Government are not giving a detailed response today. We issued a Written Statement following the report of the independent scientific group this morning, and we will consider the matter in due course.

My Lords, is the Minister confident that the amount of information passed to farmers is sufficient, especially for those who are not online and therefore have difficulty in understanding some of the regulations?

My Lords, I know and fully accept that the regulations can get complicated. Farmers who are online gain from the whole-farm approach. Based on the current uptake, farmers will save £3 million by 2009-10. We are trying to simplify statutory instruments and a simplification programme is under way to look at 130 aspects. The Environmental Permitting Programme will replace 40 statutory instruments on waste with a single instrument which will be one-third of the length of the 40.

My Lords, the issue is not just the plethora of new rules but also the fragmentation and duplication of Defra’s administration. I farm in Norfolk. On my way here today, I counted at least 10 Defra offices with which we in Norfolk have to deal. Heaven help you if there is a marginal difference between your calculation of a field size and Defra’s. It will hold up your entire payment for months until it is resolved. With this fragmentation, getting a response out of Defra is like dealing with the Tower of Babel. Is it not high time that farmers had one point of contact with Defra in order to deal with all aspects of a farm’s activities? There then might be a chance of it becoming fit for purpose.

My Lords, I reject that. I was at the headquarters of the Rural Payments Agency in Reading this morning looking at exactly what happens in the service that is given to farmers. It is true that the culture is different. In the past, farmers went to Defra offices where Defra staff filled in their forms for them, which is where part of the cultural change comes about. I do not know about the 10 Defra offices. I invite the House, as I invite everyone who is either on the farm or in the office, to tell me of an order or a regulation that we should not do, we do not need to do or are not legally required to do and we will see whether we can get it abolished. No one ever comes back with a positive proposal.

If noble Lords go to the Printed Paper Office they will see another Defra reform, which is not on my list so it is additional. The Regulatory Reform (Game) Order abolishes nine items of the Game Act 1831, repeals the Game Licences Act 1860, reduces a lot of the burdens and effectively abolishes game licences for fishmongers, farmers and others who have had to go through that plethora of regulation. It is another success.

My Lords, I have been given an example by farmers in Cornwall recently. There are more regulations controlling the burial of a lamb than for the burial of a human being, which surely must be an eccentric position. Will the Minister comment on the fact that his department is notorious for gold-plating European regulations when they are introduced into this country in a way which other countries in Europe do not have? Is there still within the department any mechanism by which Ministers can take responsibility for that gold-plating? Is he aware that Mr Douglas Hogg, the former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, had such a mechanism and gave evidence about that to a committee of this House? However, it would seem that two days after he left office, that mechanism was removed.

My Lords, the same mechanism or the function is carried on. In November 2006, we published Maximising Outcomes, Minimising Burdens. It was a Defra simplification plan for a slash-and-burn policy. I have given evidence to a committee of this House that we do not seek to double-regulate. Indeed, we have to be very careful with our regulatory agencies that they do not over-regulate or double-regulate. That is not our intention. However, I fully appreciate that when you are the farmer and are on the receiving end of different regulations from different bodies that impinge on you, it looks incredibly complicated, and we have to do what we can to simplify that.

My Lords, will my noble friend confirm that the Liberals who have just called these regulations gold-plated are the same people who call for the regulations to be tightened when there is an outbreak of salmonella, E.coli or anything similar?

My Lords, we regulate not for the sake of it but to protect the environment, human and animal health. We do it sometimes on our own and at other times in conjunction with our European partners.

My Lords, have the Government taken any action to prevent the spread of bluetongue disease, which is prevalent on the Continent and is threatening to invade this country?

My Lords, the answer to that is yes. Procedures are in place and we are concerned about this disease. It would be very serious if it did come to this country. I can assure the noble Lord and others that the animal health section of the department is actively working on it.

My Lords, is there a simple way for a farmer who is not online and does not go through Hansard and Halsbury’s Statutes with a fine-tooth comb to know at a glance whether there is delegated legislation which might or might not affect his situation?

My Lords, yes, there is. If a farmer is farming, presumably he will be in touch with the relevant offices of Natural England and other bodies. Many farmers will be registered for the single farm payment, though not all. I met a farmer last week at the Three Counties Show who did not bother for his 14 acres, saying, “I don’t think we should have subsidies and it is not worth it”. On the other hand, this morning I saw maps of a farm that has had almost a motorway carved through it, cutting three fields in half, but the farmer has still put in a claim for whole fields. The case is necessarily being looked at, of course. Procedures are in place, and all farmers have to do is ask. My department is there to help, and plenty of free material is available to assist farmers in making sure that they are following the rules.