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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to fulfil their commitment to identify the children of prisoners and break the cycle of crime.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Government recently published the first official statistics to estimate the number of children affected by parental imprisonment using administrative government data. It is estimated that between 1 October 2021 and 1 October 2022 there were around 193,000 children with a parent in prison. We recognise the importance of being able to identify children with a parent in prison to make sure they receive the support they need, which is why our Family Support Workers help to re-establish family ties where appropriate, and help to facilitate visits from prisoners’ children.

The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Department for Education to determine how we can do more to effectively identify these children and provide support for both them and for the parent in prison. The support will be informed by learnings from previous interventions and pilots, and engagement both with those with lived experience and organisations from the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise sector.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to identify and support the children of prisoners.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Government recently published the first official statistics to estimate the number of children affected by parental imprisonment using administrative government data. It is estimated that between 1 October 2021 and 1 October 2022 there were around 193,000 children with a parent in prison. We recognise the importance of being able to identify children with a parent in prison to make sure they receive the support they need, which is why our Family Support Workers help to re-establish family ties where appropriate, and help to facilitate visits from prisoners’ children.

The Ministry of Justice is working closely with the Department for Education to determine how we can do more to effectively identify these children and provide support for both them and for the parent in prison. The support will be informed by learnings from previous interventions and pilots, and engagement both with those with lived experience and organisations from the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise sector.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued to schools relating to the safeguarding of the children of prisoners.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

All children, from whatever background and no matter what challenges they face, deserve a safe environment in which they can learn. The department recognises the impact that a parent going to prison can have on a child’s learning, behaviour, mental health and wellbeing.

The government’s ‘Keeping children safe in education 2024’ statutory guidance for schools and colleges outlines specific guidance concerning children with a family member in prison or who are affected by parental offending. The guidance asks schools to consider the additional needs of these children and highlights the risk of poor outcomes including poverty, stigma, isolation and poor mental health. It also signposts staff to the National Information Centre on Children of Offenders (NICCO) website, which provides specialist advice and resources to support professionals working with offenders’ children and their families to help mitigate negative consequences for those children. The NICCO website can be accessed here: https://www.nicco.org.uk/.

The government is committed to identifying and better supporting children of prisoners. The department will be working closely with the Ministry of Justice to deliver on this commitment.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the recent early release of some prisoners, whether they carried out a risk assessment in relation to the families of those who were released.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

This Government inherited a prison system in crisis and was forced to implement SDS40 to avoid complete collapse of the Criminal Justice System, a risk that would greatly affect victims, families, and the country. In designing the measure, and with thorough consideration of the families of those who were being released, we took every possible step to mitigate risk, including an 8-week implementation period, offence exclusions, and a huge amount of collaboration with partners across the Criminal Justice System.

Exclusions include a series of offences (including stalking, coercive or controlling behaviour and non-fatal strangulation) related to domestic abuse, along with sex offences irrespective of sentence length and serious violent offences with a sentence of four years or more. Critically, the implementation period also gave Probation time to prepare properly and engage with key partners ahead of the initial releases, including informing eligible victims within the Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme and engaging with MAPPA and MARAC.

Once released, offenders will be closely monitored by probation and subject to strict licence conditions, which if breached could lead to their immediate recall to prison.

Found: present: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Carter of Coles; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Blencathra; Lord Carter of Coles; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: the meeting Members present: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: present: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Carter of Coles; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: present: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Carter of Coles; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Blencathra; Lord Carter of Coles; Lord Laming; Lord Mott

Found: present: Baroness Morris of Yardley (The Chair); Lord Bach; Lord Carter of Coles; Lord Laming; Lord Mott