Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to encourage the setting up of small local abattoirs or the provision of local abattoirs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Defra recognises the important role a sustainable smaller abattoir network plays in supporting the rural economy and food security.
Defra continues to work closely with the smaller abattoir sector and to provide support and advice to those wishing to establish new abattoirs.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - 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 improve conditions for farm animals being transported for slaughter or further fattening.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is considering its priorities for improving welfare for all animals, including those that are transported to slaughter or further fattening.
We are putting in place regulations to ensure the ban on exports of livestock and horses for slaughter is implemented and enforced effectively. The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Enforcement Regulations 2024 were laid before Parliament on 12 September, debated and approved in both Houses on 5 November and will come into force on 1 January 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to encourage the Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture to include the ornamental sector of horticulture within its remit.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH) is an independent industry led organisation. Although ornamental horticulture is not within TIAH’s initial scope, through the Environmental Horticulture Group, they have been working with the sector in areas where there are common issues and working towards longer term inclusion.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to provide longer-term core funding to some research and development institutions for advances in edible and ornamental horticulture.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Farming and food production are at the heart of the Government’s agenda and an important part of our mission-driven government approach.
Building on our long-standing R&D investment in crop breeding, in July 2024, Defra awarded a further £15 million over the next five years to fund five crop Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs). This includes £9 million for horticulture (soft fruit; vegetables; and pulse crops).
The GINs will be delivered by consortia comprised of research institutes and universities; to deliver collaborative R&D to deliver breeding benefits for key UK crops.
For the first time, the GINs will incorporate research into underutilised and novel crops, helping to diversify the resources available to breeders and farmers. It will also harness the latest innovations in crop breeding, including the opportunities offered by the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act, to help farmers and breeders produce stronger, more sustainable and resilient crops for the future.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to develop a National Strategy for Horticulture in England.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We appreciate the vital work of the horticulture industry with its potential for growth and recognise that a long-term vision would recognise the specific needs and huge diversity of the sector.
As part of our mission-driven government, and in partnership with the sector, we are considering a number of ways to achieve our ambitious, measurable and long-term goals for the sector.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce regulations to ban the use of electronic collars for animals.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation and will bring forward plans in due course. The Government is considering available evidence around the use of electronic collars and their effects on the welfare of animals.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to ban the import of trophies taken from endangered species.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The government committed in its manifesto to banning the import of hunting trophies.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the horticulture strategy for England as set out in the Government Food Strategy, published on 13 June 2022.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The domestic horticulture sector is crucial to the resilience of our food system as well as an important part of our wider economy and we are committed to supporting it. We are delivering for the sector, investing more than £168 million to drive innovation and support food production, and have passed the new Genetic Technology Act to reduce the regulatory burden and unlock the potential of new technologies. Defra regularly engages with the horticulture industry to understand what support they need to continue to produce great British food.
I discussed this and other issues at the Farm to Fork Summit in No.10. We will build on this and set out an action plan for the horticulture sector in the Autumn, when we will also respond to the Labour Review.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there are health checks in place for plants from outside the UK available for purchase on outlets such as eBay; and if not, what plans they have to avoid the spread of dangerous pests and diseases as a result of such purchases.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
All regulated plants entering Great Britain must meet our risk based import requirements. This includes being accompanied by a Phytosanitary Certificate and being subject to risk based physical inspections. These requirements apply to goods purchased through online sites.
The plant health inspectorate has an Internet Trading Unit which conducts regular checks on this pathway. Online trading will continue to feature as a significant means of selling plants and we are working with relevant organisations to raise awareness with sellers and customers of the legal requirements and the need for increased biosecurity.
Since Brexit we have identified consignments arriving from the EU that don’t comply with our biosecurity requirements – the number of interceptions is steadily rising – ballpark figures are around the 1000 mark for interceptions, this figure is expected to continue to rise as our intelligence and data gathering becomes increasingly extensive and sophisticated, e.g., by employing web-scraping tools.
In the new Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain, we have announced plans to enhance APHA’s Internet Trading Unit to increase monitoring of internet trading and social media sites and raise awareness of biosecurity requirements on these platforms. This will continue to focus on commodities which are prohibited entry into the UK, and consignments that are considered of particular high risk.
Additionally, the unit has a programme of engagement with other government agencies and the public, in order to inform people of UK biosecurity requirements and handle queries relating to online and distance sales from businesses and the public.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to speed up the consideration by the European Commission of a dossier which has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Agency on the safety of Ligustrum delavayanum.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK has not been listed for export of all of the genera of plants/trees covered by the EU High Risk Plants legislation (Regulation 2018/2019). This has meant that since 1January 2021 these genera, which include Ligustrum, are subject to prohibitions pending individual risk assessments conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The UK made a case in February 2020 that a number of otherwise prohibited items, including the tree and shrub species regarded as High Risk Plants, should be recognized and exempt from such a prohibition through EU legislation, so as to allow imports to continue. This case was rejected by the Commission in late 2020.
The rejection of this request means that we are required to use the same process for seeking listing which is followed by all non-EU countries. The listing process involves submitting technical dossiers to EFSA for individual species within each of the prohibited genera. Defra has been working closely with trade associations and individual businesses on priorities for such dossiers, including certain Ligustrum species.
Once a dossier has been accepted by EFSA and their review commences, based on experience to date, it is likely to take in excess of 18 months for the EU commission to introduce new import conditions in legislation. There is no guarantee that the outcome of a review will be that trade can commence and only a small number of submissions made by third countries have resulted in new import conditions since the initiation of this process in 2019.
In June 2021, in an attempt to speed up the listing process, we sought agreement from the EU Commission for a more streamlined approach be applied to the assessment of dossiers submitted by the UK to EFSA. This request was rejected and EFSA confirmed that requests from the UK will need to follow the same process which applies to other non-EU countries.
Defra and Fera Science Ltd. have worked with the trade to develop a dossier for Ligustrum delavayanum and this was submitted to EFSA on 03/12/21. EFSA acknowledged receipt of the dossier in April 2022 but requested further information be provided. We believe the request for additional information goes beyond EFSA’s own guidelines and their approach to applications from other countries and we are challenging their request on the basis of fairness and proportionality.
Unfortunately, now that the dossier is with EFSA we have no control over how long it will take them to consider it and we are therefore unable to give an indication of when the EU commission will make a final decision on this application. However, we will continue to press them and to seek regular updates on progress.