Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the chick population.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra publishes monthly statistics on the activity of UK hatcheries.
The UK chick sector is highly resilient, with production remaining stable over the last five years. The latest published figures for the first quarter of 2025, show that total hatchery placings for commercial broilers, layer hens, and turkeys increased by approximately 3.5%, equivalent to 10.2 million additional chicks, compared to the same period in 2024.
The Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare Grant was recently offered to commercial laying hen and pullet keepers in England. It supports these farmers to improve the health, welfare, and productivity of their flocks through access to £22.6 million in grants towards the cost of upgrading their housing. Applications closed on 18 September 2024, and all applicants have been contacted to notify them of next steps.
In addition, we recently announced farmers across England will be able to apply for grants worth up to £25,000 to invest in machinery that boosts farm productivity, helps manage slurry, or for improving animal health and welfare. Eligible broiler and layer hen chick producers can apply for this new round of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund from 29 May 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage supermarkets to stock more locally, homegrown fruit and vegetables.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra officials regularly engage with stakeholders across the food supply chain to understand their work to promote British produce in-store and online. We strongly support efforts to promote British food and back our farmers, who produce some of the best food in the world. This is why the food strategy will set the food system up for long-term success and ensure that our food system can feed the nation, realise its potential for economic growth, protect the planet, and nourish individuals, now and in the future.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the level of the butterfly population across the UK.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature, including pollinator species such as butterflies.
The most recently published statistics on butterflies in the United Kingdom and in England for 2023 provides information on UK butterfly abundance as well as the major drivers of decline. In summary, on average the abundance of butterflies across the UK continues to show a long-term decline. This is due to a range of factors including weather patterns, habitat loss, pollution and the use of pesticides.
Defra partly funds the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS) which is the first scheme in the world to have begun (since 2017) generating systematic data on the abundance of bees, hoverflies and other flower-visiting insects at a national scale. Data collected through PoMS insect surveys contribute to providing an invaluable resource from which to measure trends in pollinator populations.
PoMS complements longer-running insect monitoring carried out by citizen scientists including the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) and the Big Butterfly Count that runs from July into August.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help reduce global warming.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While DESNZ leads across Government on net zero, Defra is responsible for reducing emissions from agriculture, land use (including peat), F-gases and waste (including wastewater), whilst simultaneously increasing England's carbon saving potential through our forestry policies. DESNZ will deliver an updated plan that sets out the policy package out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 for all sectors by October 2025. This will outline the policies and proposals needed to deliver Carbon Budgets 4-6 and our Nationally Determined Contribution commitments on a pathway to net zero.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2024 to Question 2087 on Horse: Smuggling, what estimate his Department has made of the number of horses smuggled from the United Kingdom at (a) Dover and (b) other ports for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
APHA defines a smuggled animal as one that is illegally exported: it is one that is not travelling on appropriate paperwork, has not been declared and/or is concealed. This means that robust data on the numbers of horses and ponies illegally smuggled out of the United Kingdom in the last 5 years is not readily available, as APHA can only report on inspected animals; those that are presented or intercepted.
APHA holds data for the period September 2023 to date for Dover only. We have previously provided the data from September 2023 to 30 July 2024.
See PQ 45796 for the most recent data on recorded exports.
Between 31 July 2024 to present, APHA Dover inspected 197 horses/ponies being exported into mainland Europe, including those originating from Ireland and transiting through Great Britain. Of these, 65 were found to be non-compliant due to contraventions of official controls related to animal health and the welfare of animals in transport.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of bird flu.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 17 December 2024 to question UIN 19297.
An updated outbreak assessment for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Great Britain and Europe was published by the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 18 March 2025, and an updated veterinary risk assessment for notifiable avian influenza incursion into poultry in Northern Ireland was published by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in December 2024.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the mental health of farmers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government is committed to supporting the mental health of those working in farming and agriculture.
Following engagement with agricultural mental health charities, Defra established a team dedicated to addressing the particular set of issues driving poorer mental health outcomes in the agricultural industry.
We are also continuing to fund the Farmer Welfare Grant. This funds four charities to deliver projects which will support mental health and build resilience in local farming communities.
As promised in our manifesto, the Government is building a national network of Young Futures hubs which will be present in every community and will deliver support for young people facing mental health challenges.
Finally, the Government is giving mental health the same attention and focus as physical health through measures such as employing 8,500 new mental health support workers. This will reduce delays and provide faster treatment closer to people’s homes.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the condition of the water in the River Thames.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cleaning up England’s rivers, lakes and seas is a priority for the Government. The Government has taken immediate and substantial action to address the performance of water companies who are not delivering for the environment or their customers.
Significant steps are being taken to address pollution through the Water (Special Measures) Act and record investment in PR24 to enhance infrastructure, and ensure clean and sustainable water resources for future generations.
As part of Price Review 24 (PR24), Thames Water will undertake a significant investment programme to improve the environment over the 2025-30 period. These investments include: £784 million to reduce the use of storm overflows and £1.2 billion to prevent nutrient pollution.
At the beginning of February, the Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT) was fully activated and is now diverting sewage flows away from the river. The TTT was the final part of the London Tideway Tunnel system which will help reduce the volume of discharges by around 95%, leaving behind a cleaner, healthier Thames.
On 13 March, the Mayor of London announced plans for investment to clean up London’s rivers. The Mayor, Transport for London, Thames Tideway, London Wildlife Trust, and Thames Water announced an injection of over £1.8 billion across the next five years to protect and improve river health in London. The plans include £7 million to prevent road run-off pollution from entering waterways and help reduce flood risk.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his counterpart in Northern Ireland on changes to farming subsidies.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Agriculture is a devolved policy area. Defra and devolved Government officials meet routinely to share experiences and insight regarding our respective agricultural policies.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage recycling at beaches.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has introduced Simpler Recycling, which from 31 March 2025 will require small, medium and large workplaces in England to recycle the core waste streams (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card) and food waste. This will include cafés, shops, and other establishments that are located across England’s seafronts and beaches.
We have been proud to support and endorse national clean-up initiatives such as the Great British Spring Clean, and the Great British Beach Clean, and we will continue to use our influence to encourage as many people and businesses as possible to participate in these types of events.