Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Enforcement Regulations 2024.

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Grand Committee

[Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (UUP)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for giving me the opportunity to speak here. I welcome the Minister to her place. I declare an interest as a farmer in Northern Ireland; we heard some mention of Northern Ireland. I suppose I have a few queries around these regulations.

One of my concerns is how it will be managed, with animal welfare being a devolved issue in both Scotland and Wales. Will that cause any complications with these regulations, because quite often we find that devolved institutions are very precious and protective of their own rights? I am just concerned that it will fall between two stools.

The noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, has already asked whether the farmer or haulier will be responsible when there is a check and an inspector looks at the issues.

I am also curious about journey log records. The regulations mention applicable guidance that will focus on changes to the application process for journey logs, especially the need to provide corroborating evidence on the purpose of the export. I am wondering what level of evidence will be required to corroborate that with the journey log, because quite often that can be manipulated. We have heard some instances of concern around export to Northern Ireland and how that may provide extended journeys that are not covered within the legislation.

The next point I am curious about is animals that are being transported from Northern Ireland to Great Britain; will they be required to have exactly the same journey logs? Will the same record-keeping system be required for them and will the corroborating evidence be the same as that required in other parts of Great Britain?

Those are just a few of the queries that I have on these regulations; I know that the debate on the main legislation has already taken place. I just have some concerns that we may find that some issues drop through loopholes and may not be fully accountable to the authorities that look over the regulations.

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, I also welcome this statutory instrument and the detail of it. A lot of my points have already been expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, and the noble Lord, Lord Trees. It is certainly very important from a farming point of view—I represent vets who work with farmers—and on the ability to export breeding stock in the long run, and with all respect to the bluetongue outbreak.

I also note that the equestrian side of it needs to be addressed in due course. We welcome that, so I will not go into any more detail on that.

Live exports to Northern Ireland were just addressed by the noble Lord. The time limit for exports of sheep et cetera from Scotland to Northern Ireland has been extended, because there is no direct ferry route from Scotland to Northern Ireland due to the ferry regulations. Is Defra going to monitor the number of live exports from England to Northern Ireland, and likewise from Northern Ireland back to England? That is important to ensure the numbers are tracked correctly.

Furthermore, when animals arrive in Northern Ireland, who is going to monitor what is in place, as requested by the RSPCA? Is Defra going to monitor that, as well as the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland?

I will further emphasise the final point of the noble Lord, Lord Trees: we would welcome, for improved animal welfare, a review of the current journey times within Great Britain.

[Baroness Rawlings (Con)]

My Lords, following the very good speech of my noble friend Lady McIntosh, I will say that animal welfare was the most debated subject when we were both in the European Parliament together. I wonder whether we are still abiding by all EU rules now.

Rural Communities

Lord de Clifford Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, on securing a debate in the Chamber on this important subject. I remind your Lordships of my interests as listed in the register: I live in a rural area and run an SME, a veterinary practice, in a rural town in Wiltshire. I express my belated congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, on her ministerial appointment and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, on his maiden speech—I will not attempt to pronounce the name of his home village.

In the veterinary business I run, a challenge has arisen in the past six months. For our ambulatory vets, there has been a deterioration in mobile coverage for voice calls, text messages and data services. This is hampering the ability to communicate, to increase business efficiency and to receive emergency messages. It also raises safety issues, as many of my vets are lone workers who work throughout the day and night.

The probable cause of this decline has been the switch-off by the mobile network providers of the 3G network. The 3G network had significantly more range from telecom masts of up to six miles, whereas the higher-speed 4G and 5G spectrums have ranges of three to four miles, and as little as two miles for 5G. Can the Minister say whether Ofcom could review mobile phone coverage, especially in rural areas, and what impact this is having on rural communities?

Internet connection is, as mentioned by many of your Lordships, a vital part for businesses and homes, especially with the recent trend in encouraging us all to use more data services. This is reflected today in the closure of bank services and all of us being forced to use online services for our daily banking. The continued need for good broadband connectivity is essential for rural communities to continue to prosper, as with similar services in urban areas. We welcome the Government’s manifesto promise to

“make a renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit and national 5G coverage”.

Rural areas need more government support to ensure that most rural towns and villages get gigabit services at an affordable cost as the number of providers is limited due to high installation costs, thereby reducing competition and opportunity for price competition.

Farming businesses are at the heart of the rural business community and support many secondary businesses such as the veterinary business I work in. Over the past year, dairy farmers in particular have found it hard to invest and make profits due to the low milk price. This has been reflected in our business in that some farmers are using only veterinary services that maintain herd health and other essential veterinary services.

The full range of skills and value that veterinary surgeons can bring to a farming business for the long term cannot be implemented as margins are so tight for farmers. They do not have the confidence to invest in such things as herd health planning for long-term productivity gains, and in the time and infrastructure projects needed to make farms more profitable and to adapt to the current and new challenges from the environment and changing weather patterns.

I am sure that the Minister is well informed on the NFU’s manifesto for certainty regarding agriculture support. It is not just about financial support but about safeguarding our food security and our farming environment. The protection of biosecurity of our national plants, herds and flocks is also particularly important, as we debated earlier this year. To continue to improve biosecurity in the UK, I ask the Minister what additional plans there are to further improve border surveillance and checks to protect the country from illegal imports of disease-infected meat products and plants.

I am sure this Government will support ensuring we have a level playing field with regard to animal health standards and will look to take on the challenge to ensure that all imported animals related to food are reared to the same animal health standards as farmers in the UK must adhere to. This is not only to create a level playing field for our farmers to trade in but, more importantly, to protect animals throughout the world so that they can have the same living conditions as those farmed in the UK.

Affordable housing is essential in rural villages. This is reflected across the employees that I work with in our business. Very few of our low-paid employees live in the market town of Malmesbury in Wiltshire. The majority commute using their cars, as public transport does not fit their working patterns, or is extremely slow. Can the Minister say what the Government have planned with regard to trying to address, again, the challenging issue of affordable housing in rural areas? Could the Minister also pass a message to the Treasury that increasing fuel duty has a disproportionate effect on rural communities and the low paid, as they need their cars to commute to work.

As a result of the high cost of living, there is a lack of childcare places for young parents to enable them to return to work to further their own prospects, and to further enhance rural communities. I have recently heard of a new parent having to put their child’s name down for a place at a nursery before their child is even born to ensure that they have a place when they return to work at the end of maternity leave. So any additional support from the Government for the childcare sector in the rural community across the nation would be welcome.