Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support farmers to implement crate-free farrowing for pigs.
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 Animal Health and Welfare Pathway supports farmers to improve their animals’ health and welfare through funded vet visits as well as targeted grants. We continue to work with the industry on how the Pathway can encourage improvements in indoor pigs’ welfare.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (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 level of male chick culling in the UK egg industry; and what steps they are taking to support producers to reduce that practice.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The legislation sets out strict requirements to protect the welfare of animals at the time of killing, including male chicks from the egg production sector.
Permitted killing methods for chicks, such as gas stunning and maceration, are based on scientific research and assessment to ensure birds are spared any avoidable pain, distress, or suffering. All laying hen hatcheries in the UK use argon gas mixtures as their stunning method.
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. In recent years there has been rapid global progress in the development of technologies that allow chicks to be sexed in-ovo (within the egg). We welcome the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they will give to flooding, drought, healthy soil, and clean water in their 25-year farming roadmap.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The food and farming sector is operating in an increasingly complex environment. Climate change is causing weather variability leading to more floods, droughts and other extreme events. These challenges are contributing to declining biodiversity, soil degradation, water quality pressures and increasing risks to land productivity.
The Farming Roadmap will be a long-term strategy setting out this Government’s vision for a thriving sector that delivers for the economy, nature, food security and the environment. It will provide a vision for our farming sector and set the direction for how we get there, with a focus on delivering our food security and environmental objectives, whilst supporting farms to be resilient and profitable. The roadmap will be published later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (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 mandatory animal welfare labelling on consumer purchasing decisions.
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. The consultation sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling and was accompanied by an impact assessment which assessed the potential costs and benefits. Research was also commissioned to explore animal welfare considerations in consumer purchasing decisions, which will be published in due course.
We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the key performance indicators of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and how these have been met.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is monitoring the Sustainable Farming Incentive and tracking contributions to outcomes. We recently published statistics on the area within agri-environment schemes, which showed that 64% of England’s farmed area is in a scheme. 3.3 million hectares are in SFI 2023 and over 380,000 hectares are in the SFI expanded offer.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the National Farmers Union on 25 February, when the requirements to favour high-welfare products in government catering contracts will come into effect, and what sectors other than hospitals and schools are being targeted.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced at the National Farmers Union Conference, the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), which sets out the Government’s strategic priorities for public procurement, came into effect alongside the Procurement Act on 24 February. The NPPS underscores the Government's commitment to increasing the procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards, supporting local suppliers and upholding ethical sourcing practises across public sector contracts, including catering contracts. Defra officials are currently exploring the options for any future changes to public sector food and catering policy.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announcement on 25 February that they will invest £208 million in a new national biosecurity centre, whether those funds were previously committed to go directly to farmers as payments for 'public goods'.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Biosecurity Centre is the new name for the facility delivered at APHA Weybridge, previously known as the Science Capability in Animal Health programme. This funding has not been previously committed to other purposes.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many licences to release beavers they have granted since beavers were classified as a native species in October 2022.
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.
Since October 2022 Natural England has issued 13 beaver enclosure licences, 1 genetic reinforcement licence, and 1 wild release licence.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - 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 any veterinary agreement with the EU includes a carve-out protecting the UK's ability to implement mandatory method-of-production animal welfare labelling, including imports.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government was elected on a mandate to improve animal welfare.
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.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to begin phasing out the use of cages for hens and pigs; and if so, when.
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 closed confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.