Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the levels of non-assured grain being imported and undercutting the price of home-grown grain.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK Farm Assurance schemes are industry led and managed, therefore government has made no assessment on the level of assured grain in the UK supply chain.
British farmers are world-leaders and know their own land best - carefully planning their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy. In 2023, domestically produced wheat accounted for 83% of the wheat used in the milling grist.
Due to environmental and climate conditions the UK milling industry require a certain level of imports of high protein milling wheat year on year to meet con-sumer demand. Cereals are internationally traded commodities. Subsequently, their supply chains are dynamic and responsive to global market developments in price and availability.
This is a good example of food security, built as it is on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. The import part of this supplements domestic production and ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply. Due to environmental and climate conditions the UK milling industry require a certain level of imports of high protein milling wheat year on year to meet consumer demand.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the egg-laying hen population in the UK is; how many of those are kept in caged systems; what proportion of eggs laid in the UK come from caged hens; and what progress has been made on reducing the use of cages for hens.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
According to Defra’s official statistics on livestock populations in the United Kingdom, from June 2024 the total number of egg-laying hens (including breeding birds) was 54.6 million birds. Of these, 41.9 million were laying hens and pullets for table egg production.
Eggs produced from hens in enriched ‘colony’ cage systems accounted for 20% of the total egg throughput in Q4 2024. We do not hold figures on the number of egg-laying hens kept in caged systems.
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 for laying hens is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 3 February (HL4305 and HL4306), what is their timescale to decide the next steps and respond to the ‘Fairer food labelling’ consultation, which ran from 12 March to 7 May 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps. We recognise that this is an important matter and will respond to this consultation as soon as we are able to.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce mandatory labelling across meat and dairy products stating how animals were kept and, where appropriate, where animals were not stunned prior to slaughter.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to the ‘Fairer food labelling’ consultation, which ran from 12 March to 7 May 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that prime farmland is not downgraded to allow the construction of solar farms.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The Government has laid a written ministerial statement about our plans for solar power whilst protecting our food security and Best and Most Versatile (BMV) agricultural land (defined as land in grades 1, 2 and 3a of the Agricultural Land Classification). This can be found here.
In particular, it sets out that the Government has heard concerns about the perceived inaccuracy and unfairness of soil surveys undertaken as part of the planning process for solar development. The Government will address this by supporting independent certification by an appropriate certifying body, subject to relevant business case approval, to ensure Agricultural Land Classification Soil Surveys are of a high standard, requiring surveyors to demonstrate meeting an agreed minimum requirement of training/experience.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many acres of prime farmland have been used for solar farms, what assessment they have made of impact such practices, and what assessment they have made of the proportion of land used for solar farms in particular areas.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
While the Government does not currently publish the figures requested, the WMS laid before parliament on 15 May commits that the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will expand the Renewable Energy Planning Database to include additional information on the types of agricultural land used by existing projects and those in the planning pipeline. This will enable us to carefully monitor the use of land by renewable projects in all regions of the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of land use and food security, and what steps they are taking to ensure that farmland is reserved for the production of food.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The UK has a high degree of food security, built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year. In 2023, 69.7% of the UK’s land was used for agricultural production. The UK Food Security Index, the first edition of which was published at the Farm to Fork Summit earlier this month, includes indicators on self-sufficiency and agricultural land use. The relationship between land use and food security is complex and will be explored in more detail in the UK Food Security Report, which will be published later this year. Our Land Use Framework, due to be published before summer recess, will set out how we can use land more effectively to deliver our environmental targets, net zero and food security objectives.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when considering whether an area should be designated or retained as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, they take into account whether they wish more housing to be built there, or whether it is designated purely on environmental, nature and beauty considerations.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
To designate an Area of Natural Beauty, Natural England must issue an order under section 82 of the CROW Act for the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of that area. The area must meet a set of natural beauty criterion. Based upon the legislation, the designation process includes technical assessment against designation criteria and assessment of the desirability of designating the area. The desirability tests recognise that a designation may have an impact beyond the immediate statutory purpose. As such, consideration is also given to government policy which will influence how AONBs operate in relation to wider policy areas, such as housing, the economy and planning.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Surrey Hills has lost its Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Natural England, the responsible body for designating Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) in England, confirms that the Surrey Hills remain an AONB. There are no plans for it to be de-designated and, in fact, Natural England are currently considering potential extensions to the Surrey Hills AONB boundary. As part of a national rebranding of AONBs to ‘National Landscapes’, the Surrey Hills AONB is now referred to as the Surrey Hills National Landscape but, legally, it remains an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.