Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to dismantle the border control posts at UK ports, following the publication of Safeguarding the Union in January (CP 1021).
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
SPS facilities have always been necessary under all scenarios, as the Government has made clear, in order to administer red lane checks on goods moving on into the EU. This is reflected in the fact that the plans were brought forward, and the business case for the facilities was being prepared, during the passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the UK fishing industry to ensure sustainable management of UK fishing waters and the livelihoods of British fishermen.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are ensuring the sustainable management of UK fishing waters and livelihoods of British fishers by developing Fisheries Management Plans and through the £100m UK Seafood Fund, which has provided £3.9m in grant funding to projects in Northern Ireland. This includes a £2.8m project at Portavogie Harbour that will replace and enhance the existing boat cradle and winch.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - 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 that the UK is actively enforcing its fishing rights.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As an independent coastal state, the UK has full responsibility over how it ensures compliance in its fisheries. All fishing vessels in UK waters are required to fish in accordance with UK laws and the conditions of their licences. As control and enforcement is a devolved matter, Defra, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive work together to share information and ensure a coordinated approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across UK waters.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - 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 that the UK is actively enforcing its fishing rights.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As an independent coastal state, the UK has full responsibility over how it ensures compliance in its fisheries. All fishing vessels in UK waters are required to fish in accordance with UK laws and the conditions of their licences. As control and enforcement is a devolved matter, Defra, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive work together to share information and ensure a coordinated approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across UK waters.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with representatives of (1) haulage companies, and (2) other organisations involved in the goods supply chain, about recent disruptions to the UK supply networks.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Over recent months the Government, predominantly through the Department for Transport and Defra, has had a sustained dialogue with haulage companies and other organisations involved in the goods supply chain, as well as ministers and officials in the Devolved Administrations. This has included ministerial and industry roundtables, industry summits and tailored workshops.
Through this dialogue, we have been able to strengthen communication between government and industry and discuss issues and solutions, on a range of matters that have the potential to cause disruption to UK supply networks, especially with regard to the supply of food. This includes logistics issues at ports of entry for goods entering the UK, labour shortages across the supply chain (particularly lorry drivers), and the domestic supply of carbon dioxide.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential bilateral fisheries agreement between the UK and Norway.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government's assessment following the conclusions of all fisheries negotiations for 2021 was delivered in a written ministerial statement to both Houses on 10 June.
The UK looks forward to bilateral discussions with Norway this autumn with a view to concluding fisheries arrangements for 2022. We will develop our negotiation priorities based on the scientific advice and will be engaging stakeholders over the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their most recent assessment of the proportion of goods consignments from the rest of the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland that contain agri-food products.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2018, external purchases of all goods (including agrifood) into Northern Ireland totalled approximately £17 billion. Of that total, £10.4 billion (approximately 60%) came from Great Britain.
At present, the Government estimates that agrifood trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland totals approximately £2.5–£3.4 billion per annum.
These two metrics cannot be directly compared, but the Government believes that by value, the proportion of goods consignments from the rest of the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland that contain agri-food products could range from approximately one quarter to one third.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enforce the UK's fishing rights.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As an independent coastal state, the UK has full responsibility over how it ensures compliance in its fisheries. All fishing vessels in UK waters are required to fish in accordance with UK laws and the conditions of their licences. As control and enforcement is a devolved matter, Defra, the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Irish Executive work together to share information and ensure a coordinated approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across UK waters.
In England, the Government has undertaken a significant increase in the number of personnel and surveillance assets relating to fisheries protection with a sizeable increase in personnel, an increase in the number of planes available for aerial surveillance and an increase in the level of at-sea surveillance. This strong presence will deter against fisheries infringements, while also enabling our agencies to take robust action where they may occur. In addition, the Joint Maritime Security Centre has been established to enhance joint working between maritime agencies, increase information sharing across Government and maximise benefit from surveillance assets. This enables a more efficient, effective and prioritised maritime patrol enforcement.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the Netherlands, (2) Sweden, and (3) Iceland, about future access to British fishing stocks.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Negotiations are ongoing for a fisheries framework agreement with the EU. To date there have been no direct discussions with the Netherlands or Sweden around future access to British fishing stocks.
In the negotiations, we have been clear throughout that we want a simple, separate fisheries framework agreement which reflects our rights under international law and which provides for annual negotiations over access and fishing opportunities. Any access negotiated with the EU will only cover the UK's exclusive economic zone and not the 0-12nm zone. This remains the case.
On 11 November, the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Iceland to enhance cooperation on fisheries matters. The MoU, which will come into effect on 1 January 2021, establishes a UK-Iceland Fisheries Dialogue whereby both countries can share best practice and cooperate on a range of issues, including product innovation and the traceability and marketing of seafood products. This MoU does not provide for fishing opportunities or access to either party's waters.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many fishing vessels, registered in England, are currently in operation in the UK.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As of 1 October 2020, Marine Management Organisation statistics show that there are 2,613 English registered and licenced fishing vessels.