Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the Pollack compensation scheme; and how his Department plans to fund this scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Using MMO landings data from 2023, approximately 50 vessels would be eligible for the scheme. In 2023 these vessels landed around 220 tonnes of pollack, with a value of around £800,000. Compensating for 50% of the 2023 value would cost around £400,000. This data is being verified by MMO.
Funding for the compensation will be found from Defra’s existing budget.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of recent flooding on (a) food production and (b) the health of livestock.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK agricultural sector is highly resilient and adaptable and operates in an open market with the value of commodities established by those in the supply chain.
The recent prolonged period of wet weather has impacted the UK arable and livestock sectors in several ways. These include late/limited planting opportunities for arable and horticulture crops; delayed turn out of grazing animals and the associated risk of diseases in keeping animals housed indoors for longer periods than usual, concerns about the potential scarcity and cost of straw; a build-up of stored slurry and reduced application opportunities; and wider concerns about the impact on mental health of farmers. Yields and productivity will also vary depending on individual farmer decisions, region, area and in the case of the arable sector, crop and soil type amongst other factors.
A number of individual farms have clearly been affected by the wet weather. While the current market assessment is that there may be implications over the coming months for certain commodities, particularly in the expected yield and quality of several arable crops this summer/autumn, it is still too early to predict the full impact on domestic food production, especially if the weather improves in the coming weeks.
We continue to monitor the on-going situation, working closely with the industry and through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG). The UK AMMG held an interim meeting on 16 April to specifically consider the impacts of the weather on each commodity sector.
The Farming Recovery Fund has been opened to provide farmers support to recover from uninsurable damage with grants of between £500 and £25,000 to return their land to the condition it was before exceptional flooding of Storm Henk. The fund was initially opened in nine English local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has been activated to help farms which have experienced the highest levels of flooding. Eligibility for the Fund is actively under review.
This forms part of a package of support available to farmers through the Flood Recovery Framework, including a grant of up to £2,500 through the Business Recovery Grant Scheme.
The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) sets out an analysis of statistical data relating to food security, fulfilling the duty in the Agriculture Act 2020 to present a report on food security to Parliament at least once every three years. It examines trends relevant to food security to present the best available understanding. The report was last published in December 2021 and will next be published by December 2024.
Starting this year, we are strengthening our food security monitoring by producing the Annual Food Security Index. This will complement the UKFSR with a shorter and more regular report. The first version will be published at the Farm to Fork Summit in the Spring.
The next UKFSR, which will be published later this year, will include analysis on the risk of flooding to food security as part of its assessment of longer-term climate-related trends.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the guidance entitled Designate a bathing water: guidance on how to apply, published on 3 July 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The updated bathing water guidance for England, published in July 2023, makes applying for bathing water designation clearer and more streamlined for applicants.
The main changes to the designation guidance were:
Defra engages with a range of stakeholders on bathing waters and welcomes views on the application guidance.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the ministerial department figures in his Department's workforce management information data for February and March 2023, for what reason the payroll staff numbers are different between the two months but the payroll staff costs are identical.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
March 2023 payroll costs were not available in time for inclusion in the March 2023 monthly workforce management information update, so February 2023 data was re-used as an estimate to be revised when the data had been received.
Payroll staff costs for March 2023 have now been revised in the Defra workforce management information collection on GOV.UK to reflect the correct payroll staff costs.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of new wildlife habitats have been (a) created and (b) restored since 31 January 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We do not currently have an estimate for habitat created and restored in 2023, the first year of the target.
Data on habitat created and restored is not usually available by year end. We expect there to be a two-year lag before having a 'complete' count due to the time taken for data to be reported and the quality assurance process.
In April, we published information about actions that will count toward our statutory habitat target, the list of wildlife rich habitats, and definitions of restoration and creation (available here).
We are currently working with Natural England to set up a formal reporting system for monitoring progress towards our statutory habitat target.
While we establish this formal reporting system, we are looking at whether we can collect a subset of data from Defra Group delivery mechanisms for ad hoc interim reporting.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of providing support to small scale fleets that follow a seasonal fishery and will not achieve the 30 per cent of landings value required by the Pollack compensation scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The direction given was to support those businesses that have been most impacted by the bycatch-only TAC this year. As there is finite funding available, the pollack compensation scheme is focused on providing funding to vessel owners whose income is mainly derived from pollack and who made at least 30% of their reported landings income in 2023 from pollack.
Pollack fishers who are not eligible for compensation are still able to apply for grant funding from the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme, which provides funding on a first come first served basis.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Ministerial Direction in relation to a pollack compensation scheme, published on 10 April 2024, whether he received legal advice on the potential for this scheme to set a precedent.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Legal advice was sought ahead of the Direction to provide support to commercially registered vessel owners who were reliant on pollack for at least 30% of their reported landings income in 2023.
This is a unique situation; unlike other zero TAC stocks, there are some vessels that only target pollack, for whom a bycatch-only TAC could not help and whom are in some cases, highly dependent on pollack for their living.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the responses to the call for evidence on The Fur Market in Great Britain which closed on 28 June 2021.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At this stage we do not have a confirmed date for publication of a summary of responses to the call for evidence on the fur market in Great Britain. In the meantime, we are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee into the issue of what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.
Asked by: John Penrose (Conservative - Weston-super-Mare)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of (a) 29 January and (b) 4 March 2024 from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare relating to haggis exports.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A reply to the hon. Member is being prepared and will be issued in due course. I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of his Department’s (a) advertising and (b) marketing expenditure was on (i) local newspapers in print and online, (ii) national newspapers in print and online, (iii) social media, (iv) search engines, (v) broadcast and on-demand television and (vi) other channels in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Attached is a breakdown of the Department’s advertising and marketing expenditure broken down by channels for 2023/24.
Marketing/advertising is an important part of delivering some of the Department’s policies. Advertising spend allows us to reach audiences in places and ways that ensure they are more responsive and open to hearing about our work and hopefully changing their attitudes and behaviours towards positive action.