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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to replace the bearskin caps worn by the King's Guards with faux bearskins.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There have been four synthetic furs tested by accredited testing houses since 2015. The artificial fur tested in 2018 failed in all five of the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) basic requirements necessary in order to be considered further as a viable alternative for ceremonial caps areas.
Tests conducted in 2019 and 2020 on another two samples showed that, while the water penetration was reduced, it still did not meet the necessary standard. It also performed poorly in the remaining basic requirements areas. The most recent test results, provided by PETA from an accredited testing house, have also been analysed by the MOD. The analysis concluded that the fabric only met one of the five basic requirements.
This means that, to date, there is no faux fur alternative that meets the required standard for the King's Guards ceremonial caps.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have tested the faux bearskins produced by the firm Ecopel; and if so, with what result.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There have been four synthetic furs tested by accredited testing houses since 2015. The artificial fur tested in 2018 failed in all five of the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) basic requirements necessary in order to be considered further as a viable alternative for ceremonial caps areas.
Tests conducted in 2019 and 2020 on another two samples showed that, while the water penetration was reduced, it still did not meet the necessary standard. It also performed poorly in the remaining basic requirements areas. The most recent test results, provided by PETA from an accredited testing house, have also been analysed by the MOD. The analysis concluded that the fabric only met one of the five basic requirements.
This means that, to date, there is no faux fur alternative that meets the required standard for the King's Guards ceremonial caps.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will provide additional financial assistance to the charity Hourglass to ensure it can continue to support older victims of domestic abuse and neglect.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know that domestic abuse affects a wide and disparate group and that a “one size fits all” approach is not appropriate to support all victims. Whilst anyone can suffer from domestic abuse, for older victims, abuse may be more hidden and disguised, or compounded by other age-related factors such as ill health.
Specialist and ‘by and for’ services (specialist services that are designed and delivered by and for the users and communities they aim to serve) are vital in providing the tailored support that victims and survivors of domestic abuse need. We work closely with and fund organisations providing this support, including Hourglass. In 2021/22, the Home Office provided Hourglass funding to support their work in enhancing their helpline, providing casework support, and training specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisers. This financial year we have continued to provide Hourglass with funding to continue their activity supporting older victims of domestic abuse. In 2021/22 Hourglass supported over 3,000 cases.
Our Tackling VAWG Strategy commits £1.5 million to increase provision for ‘by and for’ services and to increase funding for specialist services. Alongside this, our Domestic Abuse Plan commits to, where possible, offering multi-year awards to funding to organisations supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse. This means that smaller organisations, including ‘by and for’ services, can offer a stable service to victims and survivors.
To deliver against these strategic commitments, later this year, we plan to run an open commercial competition for ‘by and for’ and specialist VAWG services, including those providing domestic abuse services for older victims.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of unfilled vacancies for horticultural jobs at the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the noble Baroness’ Parliamentary Question of 21 June is below and attached.
Letter from the National Statistician
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
27 June 2022
Dear Lady Fookes,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the number of unfilled vacancies for horticultural jobs at the latest date for which figures are available (HL1150).
The Office for National Statistics produces statistics on vacancies as part of the Vacancies and Jobs statistical publication [1]. Within this publication, vacancy estimates are produced by industry [2], according to the Standard Industrial Classification 2007. Horticultural business are not specifically identified in one area of the classification, but are spread across multiple areas.
Unfortunately, with the data available it is not possible to provide estimates of the number of vacancies held by horticultural businesses.
There are broadly two reasons for this. Firstly, the vacancy survey excludes businesses within the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry where some horticultural businesses are likely to be classified. This industry is excluded due to the disproportionate costs involved as it mainly consists of very small businesses with few vacancies.
Secondly, other horticultural businesses could only be identified at highly detailed levels of the classification, levels at which the survey cannot produce reliable estimates given its overall sample size.
However, we are currently exploring the use of online job advert data to provide better insights into labour demand by occupation, and we are hoping to publish these insights later this year.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the main routes through which horticultural qualifications may be obtained.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Qualifications in horticulture can be obtained through apprenticeships, vocational and technical qualifications, and through higher education (HE), including at degree level. T Levels in Agriculture, Land Management and Production, designed by relevant employers, will be available from September 2023. New higher technical qualifications in horticulture are also expected to be available from September 2025.
Employers in the horticultural sector have developed high-quality apprenticeship standards ranging from level 2 Horticulture or Landscape Operative, level 4 Arboriculturist, up to level 6 Professional Arboriculturist.
The government’s free courses for jobs offer at level 3 includes several qualifications in horticulture.
As autonomous institutions, HE providers are free to decide which courses they provide, depending on a number of factors including student demand.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many acres of land are occupied by (1) private gardens, and (2) public parks and gardens, in England.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
633,400 hectares (1,565,100 acres) of land in England is classified as private residential gardens: this equates to approximately 5 per cent of England's total land area
Source: Live Table P400b, Land Use in England 2018 statistics attached (DLUHC): https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-land-use
The Ordnance Survey’s OS Open Greenspace spatial data product provides information on the number of hectares of land occupied by open greenspace, including public parks and gardens, within Great Britain (attached): https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-government/products/open-map-greenspace
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reported problems faced by British horticultural firms unable to complete export orders to the EU involving the use of topiary created from Ligustrum delavayanum.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.