Wine (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2024
Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Harlech
Lord Harlech (Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming and land management interests as set out in the register. These regulations were laid before this House on 4 December 2023.
The Government are making this legislation to fulfil obligations on the marketing of wine in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership—the CPTPP. This follows the UK signing the protocol of accession last year. This instrument will introduce rules that govern how products marketed as ice wine must be produced and marketed.
Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. Annual global production of ice wine is very small but can yield high-quality wines that sell at premium prices. It is therefore important to make sure that ice wine is marketed correctly to support consumers in their choices. Ice wine is currently not produced domestically but it is imported. The instrument inserts a restriction in Regulation 2019/33 for ice wine where the product can be marketed as ice wine or under similar terms only if the wine is made exclusively from grapes naturally frozen on the vine.
The instrument being debated today applies this restriction in England. For continuity, separate instruments applying to Scotland and Wales are also being made. This type of imported wine will continue to be able to move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland via the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme under the Windsor Framework.
This instrument will also update the list of oenological practices, processes and restrictions that may be used in the production and conservation of wine and other wine products. The changes are intended to improve the quality of wine and are highly technical in nature. For example, they include discontinuous high-pressure processes, which reduce yeast contamination in wine; they therefore reduce reliance on sulphites to preserve the wine and help improve its fermentation.
These changes align with those adopted by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine—the OIV—since 2019 and approved by the UK through our membership of that organisation. The Scottish Government have adopted the same changes and the Welsh Government are in the process of doing so. This will ensure that producers across Great Britain will benefit from the latest technological developments and winemaking practices. Broadly similar provisions already apply in Northern Ireland. This instrument was notified to the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade and no comments were received.
In summary, this instrument makes technical but necessary changes to the legislation. It will enable the UK to comply with CPTPP commitments and ensure that British wine-makers can use the most up-to-date winemaking techniques. I beg to move.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
My Lords, noble Lords have many impressive attributes, but being in two places at once in person is not one of them. So, because my noble friend Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville is moving an amendment in the Chamber, the Committee will have to put up with me.
I thank the Minister for his introduction to this statutory instrument. This is the second instrument on the provisions around wine in a short period of time. Is it a trend? Apparently, the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has had something to say about the SIs in both cases and has drawn them to the attention of the House.
These regulations prohibit the labelling and marketing of wine as ice wine unless the grapes used have been frozen on the vine as opposed to being subject to freezing afterwards. I had always thought that genuine ice wine was exactly that: wine made with grapes frozen naturally on the vine, concentrating the sugar and making the wine both delicious and very expensive.
I understand that these regulations are necessary to fulfil the obligations in the CPTPP, which was signed by the Government in July last year and debated in the Chamber earlier this afternoon. I also understand that Canada is a major producer of ice wine.
This SI applies to wine for the English market only. The Minister mentioned that Scotland and Wales are progressing their own SIs, which will fit in with this one. Can he say when it is likely that those SIs will be in place? There is likely to be considerable confusion if this is not done quickly, as a bottle of wine is easily transported across borders; confusion could result.
There are also likely to be issues around the labelling of ice wine in Northern Ireland, which is subject to the regulations that exist in Europe and not those that will pertain under the CPTPP. Perhaps the Minister can say something about that.
As a member of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine since 2019, the UK now has to abide by the regulations adopted by that organisation, which, according to the Explanatory Memorandum, change on a fairly regular basis. This SI is temporary and likely to change again in 2025 when it will be revoked. Can the Minister provide any clarification on whether Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will at that stage have the same regulations as England—or will all four nations be operating under separate arrangements on ice wine? The SLSC raised the issue of confusion around different rules on ice wine being applied across the devolved nations, including for methods of production.
The Explanatory Memorandum, at paragraph 11.1, indicates that the Government
“will put the necessary guidance regarding measures contained in the instrument on GOV.UK”
once Parliament has approved it. Is it therefore safe to assume that this instrument will be presented to the Chamber tomorrow for approval and that the guidance will appear on the website later tomorrow afternoon? Given the likelihood of confusion, I would like the Minister’s reassurance on this matter.
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association is concerned about the excise duty system and the need to make permanent the temporary easement mechanism. This is the single most important issue for the UK wine sector. The temporary easement taxes all wines in the 11.5% to 14.5% ABV range at a single rate of the mean, I suppose: 12.5%. This is due to end on 1 February 2025. If this is not made permanent, UK businesses will encounter increased bureaucracy and administrative burdens, and therefore increased costs, so will the Minister speak to his colleagues in the Treasury to make this easement permanent and thus support our flourishing wine industry?
This is a fairly straightforward SI which is linked to the CPTPP, and presumably ice wine will begin to appear on our supermarket shelves correctly labelled in the fairly near future, but I do not think I will be able to afford it.
Plant Protection Products (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023
Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Harlech
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
As to why it takes so long, is it because the UK is insisting on new field trials and new trials and tests, rather than accepting the ones that were deemed adequate when the products were first authorised?
Lord Harlech (Con)
That is a very fair question, and in order to answer the noble Baroness correctly, I think it is better if I go back to the department and write to her and all noble Lords with the reasoning behind this.
I have not been able to say exactly when the NAP is going to be published, but it will set out our ambitions across pesticides policy and regulation, with a key aim to minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment, while ensuring that farmers, growers and other land managers have the tools they need to grow our food safely. The work is wide-ranging and complex, which is reflected in the number of responses received. I know the noble Baroness is very keen on consultation. We have had more than 38,500 responses, so it is important that all of that is calculated into the plan. It is a UK-wide document. Harking back to the previous debate this evening, I am pleased to say we have worked closely and fruitfully with colleagues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure that the plan works across all our home nations.
Sustainable farming practices are very important to the Government, and we remain committed to the targets agreed in the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework and the global framework for chemicals. UK diplomatic leadership was critical to agreeing the frameworks, and we will continue to champion their implementation.
My noble friend Lady McIntosh mentioned biopesticides and asked what we will do to increase their availability. It is quite a technical area that I am not fully up to speed on, so, if it is okay with my noble friend, I will commit to write to her and all noble Lords on biopesticides specifically.
I will go back over Hansard, and I will write to noble Lords on any questions that I have not covered this evening. We realise that this is an important instrument to facilitate the work that our farmers do to bring food to our tables and, increasingly, energy to our homes. It is important in our role as the Government to make sure that they have the support to do that. This statutory instrument will extend or reinstate EU schemes to ensure that farmers have the tools they need going forward and that the industry has time to adjust. I commend these draft regulations to the House.
Motion agreed.
Cost of Living: Food Waste
Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Harlech(1 year, 3 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Baroness Walmsley
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the abandonment of mandatory food waste reporting on the cost of living.
Lord Harlech (Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming and land management interests, as set out in the register. This Government are committed to reducing the amount of food we waste. Measuring food waste can lead to action to reduce it, and result in cost savings. However, whether such efficiencies would be passed to consumers is unclear, and within the purview of businesses themselves. It would cost an estimated £26,000 on average for a large company to start measuring food waste. These costs could be passed on to customers.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
My Lords, food is wasted and yet people go hungry. The Government’s target to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030 cannot be achieved without data. Despite 80% of respondents to the consultation being in favour of mandatory reporting, the Government have decided to scrap it, saying it would add cost, as the Minister has just said. But 99% of companies that invest in reducing food waste actually benefit economically. Will the Government therefore give themselves the best chance of achieving their own target, and increase redistribution of surplus food to people who need it, by implementing mandatory reporting of food waste, to include the whole supply chain and medium-sized companies, not just a few big ones?
Lord Harlech (Con)
My Lords, nobody wants to see good food go to waste. It harms our environment and is bad for business. The UK is an international leader on tackling food waste; we are committed to meeting the target in UN sustainable development goal 12.3, which seeks to halve global food waste at consumer and retail levels by 2030. For unavoidable food waste, the Government’s Environment Act will introduce a requirement for all local authorities and businesses in England to arrange for the collection of food waste for recycling. This will ensure that food waste can be treated through aerobic digestion or composting, delivering significant carbon savings over sending food waste to landfill.