Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional measures they are taking to protect consumers from inflated supermarket food prices; and what further assistance they will give to farmers to ensure food security.
Answered by Lord Benyon
Tackling inflation is this Government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year, and we are monitoring all key agricultural commodities so that we can work with the food industry to address the challenges they face.
Defra is taking action to maintain an efficient food supply chain by mitigating against any potential burdens or frictions which could otherwise drive up consumer food prices. We continue to use regular engagement to work with retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food, for example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.
Furthermore, on 16 May 2023, the Prime Minister and Defra Secretary met representatives from across the whole UK supply chain, from farm to fork, for a Summit on how the Government and industry can work together to support a thriving UK food industry.
With regard to support for farmers, we are backing British farmers with £2.4 billion of investment per year. We recently updated our new schemes based on farmer feedback to make them easier to apply for, and to support tenant and upland farmers in particular. We recently increased payment rates for upland farmers.
We are committed to ensuring payment rates mean as many farmers as possible can benefit from our offers. The Sustainable Farming Incentive focuses on supporting farmers to undertake activities to grow food while improving the environment and animal health and welfare. The Landscape Recovery scheme allows landowners and managers to take a more large-scale, long-term approach to producing environmental and climate goods on their land. We have expanded and enhanced the existing Countryside Stewardship scheme. This has been simplified and improved this year to include wildlife, upland wood pasture and lowland peat offers, more efficient administration and fairer controls. Through Countryside Stewardship Plus we will pay farmers extra for taking coordinated action, working with neighbouring farms and landowners to support climate and nature aims.
We are providing tailored business advice to all farmers, we have cut red tape and brought in a fairer enforcement regime. We have helped the sector access the seasonal labour they need, and we are looking closely at the Shropshire Review we commissioned to go further. We are reviewing supply chain fairness sector by sector and unlocking the opportunities of genetic technologies.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they will take to support farmers with increased fertiliser and fuel costs.
Answered by Lord Benyon
We are very aware of the significant turbulence in international commodity markets following Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and are closely monitoring the market situation.
Agricultural commodity prices have always been strongly correlated to the price of energy. Farmers face the challenge of rising inputs costs, particularly fertiliser costs, due to the sharp increase in the price of gas. The solution will require us to pioneer new technologies to manufacture more organic based fertiliser products, and to rediscover traditional, more established techniques such as using nitrogen fixing legumes and clovers as an alternative to fertiliser.
The Government has recently announced steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers for the coming growing season to help address uncertainty amongst growers and keep costs down for farmers. These include delays to changes to the use of urea; revised and improved statutory guidance on the use of slurry; and the publication of further details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The Government has announced that it will pay farmers to help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures to reduce dependence on manufactured fertilisers, and that farmers will be further supported through new slurry storage grants.
We recognise that fertiliser pressures on the livestock and arable sectors may differ, particularly over the farming seasons. On the 31 March, Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Roundtable with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further fertiliser round-table sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks
Further support in the form of guidance from fertiliser suppliers and agricultural organisations such as National Farmers Union can be found from various public sources. Defra is aware that AHDB have published many helpful public pieces of guidance, advice and webinar recordings on mitigating high fertiliser prices. They can be found on the AHDB website.
We are also seeing high costs for red diesel and we are working with the industry to identify where mitigations are available. We continue to keep the market situation under review through UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We are increasing our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (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 support farmers that face rising prices for fertiliser products.
Answered by Lord Benyon
Agricultural commodities are closely correlated to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs, including fuel and fertiliser prices. We continue to monitor the situation, including through the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group. Defra is in regular contact with key industry figures including the National Farmers Union, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and key sector representatives.
The Government announced on the 30 March a number of actions to address current fertiliser issues. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs; increased grants funding to help farmers and growers boost research and development; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of ammonia inhibitors rather than a complete ban.
We recognise that fertiliser pressures on the livestock and arable sectors may differ, particularly over the farming seasons. On the 31, Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Roundtable with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further fertiliser round-table sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (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, if any, of the impact of the shortage of lorry drivers on food prices.
Answered by Lord Benyon
The Government monitors consumer food prices using the Consumer Prices Index (including Housing Costs) CPIH. The latest published statistics show annual food and drink inflation as 0.8 per cent in the year to September 2021, up from 0.3 per cent in the year to August 2021. The CPIH month-on-month food and drink inflation rate was -0.2 per cent between August 2021 and September 2021, down from 1.1 per cent between July 2021 and August 2021. The month-on-month rate is generally more variable than the annual rate.
This small increase in the annual rate will have been driven by a number of factors. Our research shows that the main drivers of consumer food prices are domestic farmgate prices; domestic manufacturing costs; domestic labour costs, import prices and currency exchange rates. Transport and distribution costs are a relatively small factor in influencing consumer food prices, so the shortage of lorry drivers and any consequential increase in the pay of lorry drivers alone, would not be expected to significantly increase food prices.
Most food sectors are accustomed to fluctuations in supply chain costs from these factors and food retailers also compete on price so these increases in supply chain costs do not necessarily translate into consumer price rises.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what further steps they are taking to discourage plastic packaging.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Our 2018 Resources and Waste Strategy for England sets out our ambitions of doubling resource productivity and eliminating avoidable waste by 2050. To help us achieve this we are working with the devolved administrations to jointly reform the packaging producer responsibility regulations and introduce a UK-wide extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme for packaging.
Our second consultation on Packaging EPR closed on the 4 June. This will see packaging producers paying for the management of the packaging that they place on the market, including at end of life. This will ensure producers think carefully about the necessity of any packaging they use. Producer’s fees would also be varied to account for certain criteria, including recyclability, so that producers who use easily recyclable packaging will pay less than those who use packaging that is not. Producers will also be required to achieve ambitious recycling targets for packaging obligated under the scheme. This will include plastic packaging. In addition, the consultation sought views on the introduction of obligations to encourage the use of re-useable and re-fillable packaging
Aside from Packaging EPR, we have seen progress in the reduction in the use of single-use carrier bags. Their use by the main supermarket retailers in England has reduced by 95% since the introduction of the 5p charge. To drive further progress we have increased this charge to 10p and extended to all retailers on 21 May 2021.
The Government is also working with retailers and Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to encourage efforts to reduce waste and to explore the introduction of plastic-free supermarket initiatives in which fresh food is sold loose, giving consumers the choice.
The UK Plastics Pact is jointly founded between WRAP and the Ellen McArthur Foundation and is supported by the Government. The Pact brings together organisations from across the plastics supply chain with four key targets for 2025 that aim to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated. Our proposed reforms will support The Pact in achieving these targets.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to assist the dairy industry; and what discussions she has had with the devolved administrations on that matter.
Answered by George Eustice
The dairy sector is a vital part of the food and farming sector. Long term prospects are good but current prices are causing some of our farmers to struggle. Government is doing all it can to help during this difficult period. We are working with HMRC to allow farmers to access “Time to Pay” arrangements, urging banks to treat dairy farmers sympathetically, and giving the Groceries Code Adjudicator powers to fine retailers if necessary.
We want a competitive and resilient dairy industry that can take advantage of opportunities. We are helping the dairy industry to take advantage of opportunities such as opening new export markets and pushing for better country of origin labelling for British dairy products.
The Secretary of State chairs regular meetings with the Devolved Administrations (DAs) on issues of mutual interest. Defra officials maintain regular contact with their counterparts in the DAs on a range of dairy issues.
I discussed the current position in the dairy industry with colleagues from Devolved Administrations at an Agrifish Council of Ministers in Brussels on 16 March.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect seas and fish stock quotas for (a) Northern Ireland and (b) other UK fishermen.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK secured a legally binding commitment to manage fish stocks at Maximum Sustainable Yield, and end the discarding of fish in the reformed Common Fisheries Policy. Defra is working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive on its implementation.
We are consulting on proposals for 23 Marine Conservation Zones, extending the wide range of protected areas and other measures already in place to manage our seas.
Protection of Northern Irish inshore waters is a devolved matter.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with insurance companies on affordable insurance cover after incidents of flooding.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
At visits to Somerset in December 2014, and Canvey Island in February, I met householders and the insurance industry to discuss recent experiences.
Government and the insurance industry are working closely together to deliver Flood Re, which will ensure access to affordable flood insurance for people at highest risk of flooding.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the devolved administrations on bovine TB.
Answered by George Eustice
I have frequent meetings with the Devolved Administrations (DA) on a wide range of matters. Defra officials have monthly meetings on bovine TB involving all the DAs which are normally attended by Chief Veterinary Officers as well as policy and veterinary staff.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she last met the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister for Northern Ireland to discuss the volatility of prices in the dairy industry.
Answered by George Eustice
The Secretary of State chairs regular meetings with Ministers in the Devolved Administrations on issues of mutual interest. The next meeting is currently being arranged and will provide an opportunity to discuss the dairy industry. I also regularly meet representatives of the dairy industry from across the UK, including from Northern Ireland.
Defra officials maintain regular contact with their counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on a range of dairy issues.