Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Offord of Garvel on 14 February (HL2130), whether the Government were informed of any action by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman resulting from the sub-postmaster's complaint.

Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) reports to Parliament directly and is held to account through the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Therefore, the Department for Business and Trade is unable to respond on their behalf.

The Ombudsman’s officials have indicated to my Department that they will take no further action on the complaint, at least until the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and the GLO compensation scheme have run their course.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic sugar beet production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller

For around 2,300 growers in the East of England sugar beet plays a vital role in soil and crop health in the arable farm rotation, allowing a season of “rest” from cereal production. Farmers consider a range of factors, including global market developments in price, their soil type and their long-term agronomic strategy, when deciding which crops they should include in their crop rotation. Domestic disease and pest pressures and the weather will also impact the quality of the crop and resulting sugar production levels.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic beef production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller

The British beef sector is highly resilient and plays a significant role in the production of high- quality meat for both the domestic market and for export. It operates in an open market and the value of commodities is established by those in the supply chain. The government continues to work closely with the beef industry and to monitor the impacts of the range of commercial, environmental and market related factors which influence a farmer’s decision to rear beef.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK.  UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic wheat production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic barley production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic lamb production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic milk production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fall in overall domestic food production resulting from the proposed changes in agricultural policies and payments.

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. These figures have changed little over the last 20 years: historical production figures, including for the commodities you reference, can be found in “Agriculture in the United Kingdom”, a publication of annual statistics about agriculture in the United Kingdom at GOV.UK. UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.

Domestically, the Government has committed to broadly maintain the current level of food we produce. This includes sustainably boosting production in sectors where there are post-Brexit opportunities, including horticulture and seafood, and the Agriculture Act imposes a duty on the Secretary of State to have regard to the need to encourage environmentally sustainable food production. Our farming reforms aim to support a highly productive food producing sector by supporting farmers to manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable, and by paying farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

Speaking at the recent National Farmers Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index, which will capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, and announced plans to hold the Farm to Fork Summit annually.

Found: HC Deb 20 May 2024 | PQ 26115 Sheep Meat Asked by: Lord Framlingham To ask His Majesty's Government