Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many organisations in receipt of grant funding awarded by her Department were found to have engaged in activity that (a) influenced or attempted to influence Parliament, Government or the European Commission and (b) attempted to influence legislative or regulatory action in each of the last five years.

George Eustice

Defra does provide grants to help fund certain bodies which are trying to achieve objectives that are aligned to those of the department. However, these primarily have a global focus in relation to protecting eco-systems, the environment and protecting wildlife and whilst their activities may include lobbying international bodies and governments, we do not have specific details on this.