Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government by what date the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will reopen its capital grants scheme following its closure in November 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra announced on 24 February that the Environmental Land Management standalone Capital Grants scheme will re-open in summer 2025. We will confirm the date that it will re-open in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what grants have been made since 4 July 2024 to fund research into alternative proteins for human consumption.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of innovative approaches and novel technologies to boosting productivity sustainably.
In August 2024, the Government’s UK Research and Innovation body (UKRI) invested £15 million in the new National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC). This National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre will drive research and innovation bolstering the alternative proteins sector in the UK, fostering innovation across a variety of protein sources, including plant-based proteins, cultivated meat and protein-rich algae.
Innovate UK and BBSRC have also invested £15.6 million to support innovation funding (32 projects) as part of the Novel Low Emission Food Production Systems competition to address sustainable agriculture. These industry-led, collaborative projects include development of alternative proteins such as plant-based and cultivated meat.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what impact they expect their proposed Land Use Framework to have on livestock production.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Land Use Consultation and its analytical annex clarify the land use change implied by the Environment Act Targets and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry sector contributions to Net Zero.
The Land Use Framework will not prescribe changes in agricultural management. There are opportunities for grazing on grassland to contribute to target delivery, such as peat restoration in the uplands and restoration of species-rich grassland in other parts of the country. The Framework will provide guiding principles and tools for land managers to make informed decisions about their land and businesses.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the UK Deep-Sea Mining Environmental Science Network last met.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is a world leader on tackling climate change and an international advocate for the highest possible environmental standards. We recognise the growing pressure to extract deep-sea resources and are concerned about the potential impacts of mining activities on the fragile marine environment.
This is why the UK supports a moratorium on the granting of exploitation licenses for deep sea mining projects by the International Seabed Authority (ISA). We will not sponsor or support the issuing of any such exploitation licences for deep sea mining by the ISA until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems. This is why the UK has been driving the need for strong enforceable environmental regulations, standards and guidelines to be developed by the ISA and put in place before any mining commences.
To support this, the UK successfully launched a new multi-disciplinary UK deep sea mining environmental expert network to champion UK expertise in environmental sciences, leading on filling gaps in knowledge in order to provide sufficient scientific evidence to fully understand the potential environmental impacts of deep sea mining. The Network has gained 75 members who are multidisciplinary across environmental sciences, and plans are underway for the Networks inaugural meeting to take place early in 2025.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to make any changes to their policy regarding the permanent closure of sandeel fisheries in English waters of the North Sea.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Both the UK and Scottish Governments closed English Waters of the North Sea and all Scottish Waters to fishing for sandeel in March 2024. The closure is in place to shield sandeel as an essential food source for threatened seabird populations, commercially valuable fish and for marine mammals. The EU has raised a dispute that the UK’s decision to prohibit fishing for sandeel within UK waters is not compliant with the Trade and Cooperation agreement (TCA). The dispute proceedings are confidential therefore there is little more I can say at this time.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to make secondary legislation to implement the UK’s Forest Risk Commodity regime.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the need to take action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation, and we will set out our approach to addressing this in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many farm visits the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has undertaken in an official capacity since his appointment on 5 July.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State attended the Great Yorkshire Agriculture Show on 10 July 2024 and visited a farm and met with local farmers in Essex on 25 September 2024.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to continue to publish an annual food security index.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is looking at options to strengthen food security reporting, including the possibility of enhanced annual reporting.
The Government’s UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security. The next edition of the UKFSR will be published later this year, as required by the 2020 Agriculture Act.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to distribute in full the £75 million of funding to support internal drainage boards announced in February, and if so, by what date.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government, and that is why we have launched a Flood Resilience Taskforce. It will provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season. It met for the first time on 12 September to discuss preparation for the winter ahead.
The Internal Drainage Board (IDB) Fund, announced in February 2024, will support our farmers and rural communities from the impacts of flooding by providing grants to IDBs. The Environment Agency has confirmed Tranche 1 allocations, which provides financial support for storm recovery following the wet weather and flooding during winder 2023/24. They are in the process of making payments to the successful IDBs. We will update the IDBs on Tranche 2 in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Welsh Government's Sustainable Farming Scheme; and what consideration they have given to the introduction of a similar scheme in England.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Agriculture is a devolved area, and Wales’s Sustainable Farming Scheme is therefore a matter for the Welsh Government.
Defra and devolved administration officials meet routinely to share experiences and insight regarding our respective agricultural policies.