Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that a veterinary agreement with the European Union includes protections to ensure that the UK can implement mandatory animal welfare method-of-production labelling, including on imports.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to resetting our EU relationship, including by seeking to negotiate an SPS agreement. We have been clear that an SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. It’s too early to discuss any specific areas in detail and we will not be providing a running commentary on discussions with the EU.
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation.
A public consultation on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to phase out the use of cages for farmed animals and to explore introducing animal welfare labelling, following the European Commission's recent announcement on these measures.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that any veterinary agreement concluded with the European Union will not undermine the United Kingdom's existing animal welfare protections or limit the ability of the United Kingdom to introduce new animal welfare protections, including on imports, in the future.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to resetting relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU). As part of this, the government is seeking to negotiate a veterinary/ sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers on both sides. The UK and EU are like-minded partners with similarly high standards.
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. That is exactly what the Government will do, and we will be outlining more detail in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the results of the call for evidence to the consultation on the fur market in Great Britain, which opened on 31 May 2021.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers are reviewing policies, which will be announced in due course, including the consultation on the Fur Market in Great Britain. Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The report that they produce will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.
This Labour Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the decision by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs to amend retained Council Regulation 1/2005, which prohibits lifting chickens by the legs in such a way as to cause them unnecessary pain or suffering, what legislative measures they intend to advance to improve the welfare of layer hens and broiler chickens.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are carefully considering the recommendations in the Animal Welfare Committee’s report on the welfare implications of carrying methods for poultry to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare and will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to (1) assess case for the phasing-out of cages for layer hens, and (2) launch a consultation on phasing out such cages.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of enriched ‘colony’ cages for laying hens is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend (1) to respond to the consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on fairer food labelling that closed on 7 May, and (2) to bring forward the proposals to improve transparency in method-of-production welfare labelling for pork, chicken and eggs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers are carefully considering all responses provided to a public consultation on fairer food labelling before deciding on next steps.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide targeted financial support for people with long-term conditions such as Parkinson’s disease during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, including people with Parkinson’s disease. Over recent years, the government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022- 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion – an average of £3,800 per UK household.
We provided a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in June/July 2023 to people in receipt of certain disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is in addition to the £150 payment paid in September 2022.
We estimate that nearly 60 per cent of individuals who received an extra costs disability benefit would have received the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900. Over 85 per cent would have received either or both of the means-tested and the £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment.
We also increased extra costs disability benefits by 10.1 per cent from April 2023 and by 6.7% from April 2024 in line with the Consumer Price Index.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the Household Support Fund meets the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme run by Upper Tier Local Authorities in England to provide support to those most in need towards the cost of essentials. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination set out for them by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The Household Support Fund is an intentionally flexible scheme, designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need. Local Authorities have the ties and knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided to their local communities.
We encourage Local Authorities to consider a wide range of households who are potentially in need of support, including families with children, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people. Local Authorities have the flexibility to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes, including offering vouchers to households, directly providing food, or issuing grants to third parties. It is for each local council to decide how, where and when they distribute their funding and to ensure that it is accessible to those who need it.
Asked by: Baroness Gale (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the impact of the NHS long-term workforce plan upon the number of specialists such as Parkinson’s nurses in the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
In June 2023, we published the Long Term Workforce Plan which sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years.
The Plan commits to double the number of medical places, taking the total number of places to 15,000 by 2031/32 and including a commensurate increase in specialty training places that meets the demands of the NHS in the future. It also commits to increasing adult nursing places by 92%, taking the number of total places up to nearly 38,000 by 2031/32.
There are a record number of nurses working in the NHS and we have reached our target of 50,000 additional nurses, meaning we have delivered on our commitment six months early. In January 2024 there are over 363,000 nurses working across the NHS, representing over 62,000 more than in September 2019.