Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the risk of African Swine Fever entering the UK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s latest assessment for African Swine Fever (ASF) dated 1 December 2025, considers that the risk of the virus entering the UK remains at medium.
We have strict measures in place to mitigate this risk. These include the listing of countries and regions eligible to export pigs and porcine products to Great Britain commercially, prohibitions on importing pigs, fresh pig meat, porcine semen and untreated porcine meat products from areas with ASF, veterinary health certification, and import checks at the border. Personal imports of pork and pork products are not permitted. It is also illegal to feed catering waste to livestock.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many consignments of pork meat and associated products originating from Spain have been seized at UK borders since 28 November 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The seizure data for detained consignments associated with a specific disease outbreak is recorded locally by Port Health Authorities. Defra does not record this information centrally.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what biosecurity procedures are in place for (a) detained and (b) uncollected meat consignments at UK border control posts to prevent the transmission of African Swine Fever.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All consignments of pork and pork products are checked at bio-secure border control posts to ensure that they have been effectively treated to mitigate the risk of African Swine Fever or they originate from a region declared free of the disease. Border Force with the support of Port Health Authorities carry out checks at the border to identify, seize and destroy illegally smuggled meat.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many seizures of illegal pork imports have been recorded at UK ports and airports in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not record this information. Border Force, supported by port health and local authorities, is responsible for seizing illegal imports of pork at UK ports and airports.
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 support younger people into agricultural careers in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Young farmers are essential to the long-term resilience of UK agriculture and DEFRA works closely with the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, alongside other industry bodies, to understand the challenges facing new entrants and how best to support them. During my recent visit to Harper Adams University, we explored how this partnership approach can help equip the next generation with the skills and opportunities they need.
Through our agricultural reform programme, we are investing £2.7 billion a year in the sector. This includes measures designed to improve business resilience, productivity and skills development, all of which help make agriculture a more accessible and attractive career option for young people, including those in Surrey and Surrey Heath.
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, how many consignments of agri-food products were exported from the UK to the European Union in each (a) week, (b) month and (c) year since July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Data on the number of export health certificates issued for Great Britain to EU exports is available at: Export Health Certificates (Live Animals and Animal Product Origins) Issued between Great Britain and European Union by APHA - data.gov.uk. This data includes the exports of live animals and the products of animal origin.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to adapt existing farming subsidy schemes to incentivise the (a) housing of (i) pigs and (ii) poultry in woodland and (b) the planting of woodland in permanent pasture to support (A) animal welfare, (B) climate and (C) biodiversity objectives.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our in-field agroforestry offers under the Environmental Land Management schemes include support for establishing and maintaining silvopastoral systems, where trees are planted in pasture to realise their multiple benefits such as enhanced animal welfare and supporting biodiversity. Under Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, land managers can plant and maintain in-field agroforestry systems up to an average of 400 trees her hectare, as well as create, manage and restore Wood Pasture and Parkland systems. Land managers can be supported to design agroforestry in a way that meets their objectives through the Agroforestry Plan capital item.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of water infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A record £104 billion of investment is planned for the water sector in the next investment cycle. This will provide the water supply and wastewater capacity to secure future water supplies, including nine new reservoirs and several large-scale water transfer schemes.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her department monitors the impact of highway runoff on rivers and lakes.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) has a monitoring regime that sets out to identify pressures on rivers and lakes as well as estuaries and coasts and groundwaters. This involves monitoring (of water quality, chemicals and ecology) to determine reasons for not achieving good ecological or chemical status. This includes understanding the risk posed by the category ‘Urban and transport’, which road runoff is a key component of.
Monitoring undertaken is not designed to specifically monitor the impact of highway runoff on rivers and lakes. The EA is working with National Highways under the Department for Transport, to evolve its monitoring strategy that is to be focused on highways outfalls, where highway runoff enters watercourses.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues about the adequacy of government funding for the Environment Agency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
The Department works closely with the Environment Agency (EA) at every level to closely monitor funding to ensure it can carry out its duties effectively and deliver for the public and the environment.