Written questions by Race.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the long-term conservation of Dartmoor's hill ponies.

Defra supports the long-term conservation of livestock and equines, including the Dartmoor Hill pony, by monitoring populations of pedigree livestock including native breeds which are published in an annual UK National Breed inventory and by protecting eligible native breeds at risk from culling during notifiable disease outbreaks. Through the expanded offer for Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024, keepers of Dartmoor Hill Ponies on Dartmoor can also claim payment for grazing under the native breeds at risk supplement and pony/cattle grazing supplement.

What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the report by the Defence Safety Authority entitled Service Inquiry into the alleged exposure of UK Defence Personnel to asbestos during overseas exercises and training since 2018, published on 18 August 2022.

Significant progress has been made against the implementation of the recommendations made in the Service Inquiry. The Ministry of Defence's Directorate of Defence Safety has provided further guidance to reinforce managers responsibilities for controlling asbestos risks and protecting our people in its policy - Management of Health and Safety in Defence. Further work is underway to ensure that the intent of the recommendations is also applied to encompass any other potential environmental and industrial hazards, which are not addressed by the updated guidance. This activity will further strengthen Defence safety policy to ensure the safety of our personnel while deployed on exercise both within the UK and overseas. The safety and welfare of our people continues to be of the utmost importance.

What steps he is taking to increase solar power generation.

The Government recently announced the re-establishment of the Solar Taskforce and publication of the Solar Roadmap will follow shortly, setting out recommendations on how we and industry will work together to achieve our ambition to radically increase deployment by 2030. Alongside that, Government recently concluded its latest Contracts for Difference round, where a record 3.3GW of solar capacity was secured.