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 16 April (HL6809) on food prices and the removal of external import tariffs, whether they will now answer the question.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has and continues to undertake a wide range of analysis looking at the implications of UK withdrawal from the EU. Our programme of analysis is constantly developing and evolving, and includes sectoral analysis. The Government has published 14 detailed papers on the negotiations to date, and will continue to be as open as possible subject to the overwhelming national interest of preserving our negotiating position
Ministers have a specific responsibility, endorsed by Parliament, not to release information that would undermine our negotiating position. It would therefore not be appropriate for the Government to commit to publishing a sector by sector analysis.
The impact on food prices as a result of any future changes to import tariffs will depend on the result of EU withdrawal negotiations and the trading scenario that follows. Many external researchers have analysed the impact of both a World Trade Organisation Most Favourable Nation scenario and a unilateral liberalisation scenario. Neither of these extreme scenarios represent Government policy. The Government is pursuing a unique and ambitious economic partnership that provides the greatest possible tariff free and frictionless trade with the EU. This is a mutually beneficial choice and we are confident we can achieve this. We are also pursuing new trade deals with countries outside the EU.
The most important drivers of change in the cost of food are commodity prices, exchange rates and oil prices. These drivers will continue to apply in any trading agreement we reach with 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 estimate they have made of how much food prices would decrease if the current external import tariffs were removed.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Currently the most important drivers of change in the cost of food are commodity prices, exchange rates and oil prices. These will continue to apply when we leave the EU.
Economic models attempt to predict the impact of food prices of changes in our trading relationships with the EU and the rest of the world. Defra economists continue to monitor this work.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the statement in their response to the report by the European Union Committee, Brexit: agriculture (20th Report, Session 2016–17, HL Paper 169) published on 3 May 2017, that "The UK will seek a new customs arrangement with the EU", remains Government policy.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Yes. The Government set out its preferred approach to the future customs relationship with the EU in the Future Partnership Paper published on 15 August 2017.
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 30 October (HL2090), whether their intention is that farm products will continue to move without restriction between the UK and the remaining EU–27 after the UK's exit.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has been clear that it seeks a new partnership with the EU and a comprehensive customs agreement.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the scientific study commissioned by the European Commission in the 1980s on the possible threat to the public from the implantation of growth-promoting hormones in cattle, which was not published at the time when the EU ban on the practice was imposed, has ever been made publicly available.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The report does not appear to have been made publicly available.
The European Commission published a study in 2002 by the EU Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures relating to public health in 2002. This Opinion, and other recent scientific literature was considered by the UK independent Veterinary Products Committee, which consulted on the report and published it in 2006.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of land in the Lake District National Park is in the ownership of (1) the National Trust, (2) the Lake District National Park Authority, and (3) private owners.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
We do not hold this information. However, the following indicative figures have been provided by the Lake District National Park Authority from its 2008 Landscape Character Assessment:
1) National Trust own approximately 25 per cent of the total land area of the Lake District National Park.
2) The Lake District National Park Authority own approximately 3.8 per cent of the total land area.
3) Approximately 66 per cent of the total land area is in private ownership.