Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether talks relating to future international trade agreements will include possible reductions of current requirements for clear labelling of food to support people in making healthy choices in respect of the sugar, salt and fat content of foods.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Whilst food labelling is a devolved matter, the same labelling rules currently apply across the UK. Under Article 30 of our Food Information to Consumers Regulations it is a requirement to provide a nutritional declaration on the label of pre-packed foods placed on the UK market. This declaration must include a range of information including details of sugar, fat and salt content. These regulations and requirements will continue to apply across the UK when the Transition Period ends on 31 December 2020. After the Transition Period we will work with the devolved administrations to ensure consumers remain well informed about their food.
We have been clear that in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards. In trade negotiations we will ensure our right to regulate in this area is preserved, including the ability to set our own mandatory labelling requirements to be met for both food produced domestically and food which is imported. Of course, our rules will also continue to be in line with our international obligations. The Government has committed to a rapid review and consultation on the role of labelling to promote high standards and animal welfare, and remains committed to delivering informative food and drink labelling and marketing standards to protect consumer interests, ensuring that consumers can have confidence in the food and drink they buy.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether talks relating to future international trade agreements will include possible reductions of current requirements for animal welfare and environmental standards.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government is committed to upholding our manifesto commitment that in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety standards. We remain firmly committed to upholding our standards outside the EU, and at the end of the Transition Period the EU Withdrawal Act will transfer all existing EU provisions on environmental protection, animal welfare, and food safety, including existing import requirements, onto the UK statute book.
We have also been clear in our approach to negotiating new trade deals that the UK will decide how we set and maintain our own standards and regulations and operate our own autonomous sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regime. Any future trade deal must work for consumers, farmers, and businesses in the UK, and as with all negotiations, we will be prepared to walk away if that is in the national interest.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cloud services contracts that were previously delivered by British cloud services providers for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are now delivered by multinational cloud service providers; what is the value of those contracts; and what are the names of the previous providers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There are no Defra contracts that were previously delivered by British cloud services that are now delivered by multinational cloud service providers.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' data is hosted (1) in the UK, and (2) overseas.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
95% of Defra’s data is hosted in the UK.
5% of Defra’s data is hosted overseas (predominantly in Dublin, Republic of Ireland).