Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 27 April (HL7223), whether they will now answer the questions asked.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in our previous response, the UK has a robust process in place to ensure that prohibited medicinal products are not used during the production of meat imported into the UK. This includes the use of hormone implants.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) whether they have a reliable test to check whether beef imported from outside the European Union has been previously subjected to hormone implants, and if so, (2) when this test was introduced, and (3) where and by whom the test was developed.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All UK imports for products of animal origin from outside the EU currently require health certificates, including bovine meat products. The GB health certificates contain information on animal health status and human health risk. These health attestations confirms that the farmer has not used any prohibited medicinal products during production and that maximum residue levels for veterinary medicines have been respected. This information is confirmed, and the health certificate signed by, an official veterinarian in the exporting country.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter sent to peers by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 29 June, how much money will be needed to fulfil their pledge to guarantee the current annual budget for financial support for farmers in every year of this Parliament.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK Government’s election manifesto guaranteed the current annual budget in every year of the new Parliament, giving significant certainty on funding for the coming years. In England this will enable the Government to provide financial support for the purposes set out in the Agriculture Bill. Funding for future years, including delivering the government’s manifesto commitment to guarantee the current annual budget to farmers in every year of the new Parliament, will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble n 15 May (HL3775), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, why they have adopted the EU's legislation on the use of growth hormones in food production; and what caused the change in policy held by previous governments on that legislation within the Council of European Agricultural Ministers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As a Member State, the UK fulfilled its obligations of EU membership and implemented EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into domestic law. UK policy was always to implement EU law as required.
Although the UK expressed some concerns with the robustness of the scientific evidence underpinning the EU ban at the time, it has always been fully implemented in the UK and this will continue, now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 5 March (HL1872), why they have adopted the EU's legislation on the use of growth hormones in food production; and what caused the change in policy held by previous governments on that legislation within the Council of European Agricultural Ministers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As a Member State, the UK transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into domestic law ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland.
The law reflects UK Government policy on the use of growth hormones in food production and remains in force now we have left the EU.
The UK is committed to maintaining our current high food safety and animal welfare standards and these protections will continue now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether beef from hormone-implanted cattle can be identified if there are higher levels of such hormones present in bull beef than beef from hormone-implanted steers.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There are prototype analytical methods that give a good indication of whether a substance is naturally occurring. However, these need further refinement before they can be considered suitably robust and reliable for regulatory use.
Furthermore, the UK has transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into national law ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland. This legislation prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported products as well as provides for the monitoring of residues of substances. This protection will continue now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether new evidence has appeared since the European Economic Community imposed a ban on sales of hormone-implanted beef in 1989 about the safety of such beef; and if so, (1) whether that evidence has changed the UK's view that the practice of hormone implantation is safe, and (2) what is the nature of that evidence.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
No new evidence in relation to the use of hormones as growth promotors has been reviewed by the UK Government’s independent Veterinary Products Committee since 2007.
The UK has transposed EU Council Directive 96/22/EC (as amended) into national law ‘Animals and Animal Products (Examination for Residues and Maximum Residue Limits) (England and Scotland) Regulations 2015', with similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland. This legislation prohibits the use of artificial growth hormones in both domestic production and imported products as well as provides for the monitoring of residues of substances. This protection will continue now we have left the EU.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will list (1) the involvement of overseas companies in UK-based fishing companies, and (2) the percentage of overseas involvement in all the quotas and total allowable catch allocations applied to the UK under the Common Fisheries Policy.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK’s quota is currently allocated on the basis of Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) units which are attached to UK vessel licences. These can only be allocated to vessels registered and licensed in the UK.
A decision by a British fisher to sell a licence to, or buy a licence from, another fisher or company is a commercial one, and one for fishers alone to make.
An economic link condition was introduced to UK licences in 1999 to make sure a genuine economic benefit is accrued to the UK from the fishing of UK quota. The Government is considering reform of the economic link condition after the transition period as part of the development of our future fisheries management arrangements.
The FQA Register is a list of fishing vessel licences, the FQA units linked to them and the owners. The FQA Register can be found online at: www.fqaregister.service.gov.uk
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether it is possible to use scientific analysis techniques to establish whether beef has been produced using hormone implants when the amount of hormones in implanted steer beef is lower than the amount of those hormones in non-implanted bull beef.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There are prototype methods that give a good indication of whether a substance is naturally occurring. However, these need further refinement before they can be considered suitably robust and reliable for regulatory use.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the percentage of fish caught within the UK's territorial waters that is caught by British registered fishing boats.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In 2015, British registered vessels landed approximately 35% of the total weight of landings from the UK’s territorial waters (0-12 nautical miles) and the UK’s EEZ (12 -200 nautical miles or the median line with other Coastal States) combined. Estimated total landings from this area include those by UK, EU, Norwegian and Faroese vessels.