Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what statutory responsibilities ensure that the remediation of contaminated land is achieved safely for adjacent residents, those working on site, and future residents.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of managing land contamination to protect human health and the environment. Under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities have a statutory duty to inspect their areas to identify contaminated land and, where necessary, require its remediation. A risk-based approach is used to define contaminated land, with regulators required to intervene in cases where land poses an unacceptable risk to human health, property or the environment.
The Contaminated Land Statutory Guidance sets out the legal framework for risk assessment and decision-making under Part 2A, and the Land Contamination Risk Management framework, recently updated by the Environment Agency, provides technical guidance on assessing, managing and remediating land contamination in line with current best practice.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Animal and Plant Health Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For desk-based Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) staff, APHA Directors have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service in line with departmental policies.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 4 November 2024 (HL2037), what further progress they have made towards implementing the UK's Forest Risk Commodity regime.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working across Government to agree the most effective way to reduce the impact of the UK’s consumption of forest risk commodities on deforestation.
The Government will set out its approach to addressing UK consumption of forest risk commodities in due course.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to consult with allergy charities, consumer groups, and the food industry on introducing mandatory front-of-pack labelling to alert consumers when a new allergen has been added to a product, and on setting a minimum period of time for which such notices should remain visible.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy.
For prepacked food, a range of mandatory information must be provided, and this includes a complete list of ingredients. If a prepacked food contains one of the 14 major allergens as an ingredient then this must be emphasised in the ingredients list so that it clearly stands out from the other ingredients.
Food businesses should provide a straightforward means for consumers to contact them (e.g., telephone, or email), on the product label or on their website, about any food allergen labelling changes. Consumers should receive meaningful and accurate responses, explaining the reason for any allergen labelling changes.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is a legal requirement for food manufacturers to indicate clearly on the front of packaging, and for a specified period of time, when an allergen previously labelled as "may contain" is subsequently relabelled an ingredient; and what plans they have to introduce clearer legal requirements in this area.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy.
For prepacked food, a range of mandatory information must be provided, and this includes a complete list of ingredients. Additionally, if a prepacked food contains one of the 14 major allergens as an ingredient then this must be emphasised in the ingredients list so that it clearly stands out from the other ingredients.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of levels of digital connectivity on farmer's ability to use animal health monitoring systems.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra continues to work closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on connectivity issues facing the rural and farming communities. DSIT’s Shared Rural Network has already delivered 4G coverage to over 95% of UK landmass, enabling rural businesses and communities to thrive. However, there are still rural parts of the UK where there is either limited or no mobile coverage, and DSIT will continue to work with the industry to deliver new coverage to these communities. This Government wants to ensure there is high quality mobile connectivity across the UK, including in rural areas. This is why our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030.
Furthermore, to improve connectivity in rural areas, Project Gigabit is the Government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. This includes farms and other rural businesses. The improved broadband connectivity delivered through Project Gigabit will benefit the farming community through boosting productivity, optimising farming processes, monitoring livestock and improving communications with consumers and suppliers.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to protect badger populations in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is not taking action specific to Surrey Heath. However, nationally we are taking action to protect badgers. Badger persecution is one of the seven UK wildlife crime priorities. The UK Badger Persecution Priority Delivery Group, of which Defra is a member, recently re-launched its Operation Badger initiative. This aims to increase awareness of criminal activity such as illegal trapping, poisoning, and sett disturbance that threaten badgers and to educate and encourage reporting of suspected crimes against badgers.
The Government has also acted quickly to start work on a comprehensive new bovine TB strategy for England, to continue to drive down disease rates to save cattle and farmers’ livelihoods and end the badger cull by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to allocate adequate resources to support households at risk of flooding in Ribble Valley constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency, Lead Local Flood Authorities and other stakeholders continue to work in partnership with local communities to deliver innovative and alternative flood risk management practices. This includes Natural Flood Management measures, demonstrated most notably in Ribchester with an £80,000 investment. Advice and support are given to flood action groups, and the Environment Agency continue to issue flood warnings to residents. Collectively, all these measures serve to reduce the risk of flooding for households within the Ribble Valley.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to enact species-specific slaughter legislation to protect farmed fish.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to any protected animal, including fish, or to fail to provide for the welfare needs of a protected animal, for which that person is responsible. Legislation on the protection of animals at the time of killing also requires that farmed fish are spared avoidable pain, distress or suffering during their killing and related operations.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many days the Union Flag was flown on his Department's main sites in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra follows Government guidance which sees a Union Flag flying daily at the main sites which have the facility to do so.