Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many food and drink producers his Department is working with to support their early adoption of the UK Geographical Indication schemes.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We have shared the UK GI logo requirements, and guidance on how to add these to packaging, to UK GI producers, retailers, and wider industry groups, to ensure that they are aware of their new responsibilities. We are now providing further advice and responding to queries on the logos on an individual basis.
To support the adoption of the logos, Defra hosted a webinar in November 2020 to answer technical questions on the UK schemes and logos, which was attended by over 120 stakeholders. In addition, we have provided information on the logos at various Defra forums, such as the SME and retailer forums, to ensure that we are reaching as many stakeholders as possible.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
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 the adoption of the new geographical indicator logos; and what proportion of producers have already adopted those logos.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Producers and retailers whose products are required to bear the new UK Geographical Indication (GI) logos have until 1 January 2024 to adopt them. However, we are aware that some would like to make that change soon and are working with industry to support their early adoption.
Defra is also communicating the benefits of the new logos across industry to encourage uptake, including publishing research which shows support from consumers and GI producers for the new design.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which projects funded by the Darwin Plus Programme are in respect of aquatic biodiversity; and of those projects, how many are in respect of coral (a) preservation and protection and (b) disease prevention and eradication.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since 2012 Darwin Plus has contributed £10.7 million to 49 projects working on aquatic biodiversity across the UK Overseas Territories. Of these projects three have focused on coral preservation and protection to a total of £0.46 million. One of these projects successfully established a coral nursery in Little Cayman and saw coral nursery guidelines being incorporated into national policy in the Cayman Islands. There have not been any Darwin Plus projects working on disease prevention and eradication.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
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 has taken to further expand and market the UK's Geographical Indications Scheme, which came into force on 1 January 2021.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
As we develop our plans to expand and market the new UK Geographical Indication (GI) schemes, we look forward to new food and drink products joining the ranks of Scotch whisky and Melton Mowbray pork pies.
Defra has published guidance setting out how the new schemes work, including how to apply for UK GI status. As part of our plans to promote UK food and drink both at home and overseas, we are engaging with businesses across the food and drink sector to see whether GI protection is right for their product.
For existing GIs, Defra is encouraging producers and retailers to adopt the new GI logos as soon as possible to support our efforts to grow consumer recognition of the schemes. We will also be engaging with regional food groups to encourage more local businesses to take advantage of existing GI protection, to improve the benefits of the GI schemes for local communities.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) fund marketing campaigns to increase the visibility of UK produce with geographical indications (GIs) among consumers, hospitality and retailers domestically and internationally, (b) assist producers in registering additional UK produce with GIs and (c) collaborate with the Department for International Trade on the export promotion of UK produce with GIs.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government is developing a promotional strategy to boost the sales of UK GI products. To do this, we will focus on raising awareness of the UK GI schemes and products among consumers, retailers and hospitality. We have recently funded research to understand how to better promote GIs to consumers which will support any consumer promotional campaigns.
The Government will also aim to encourage high quality domestic applications to the UK schemes. We are publishing guidance on applying to the UK schemes and will liaise with applicants throughout the process.
Defra is working closely with the Department for International Trade to promote UK GIs internationally and to encourage producers of UK GIs to export their products, for example to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the recently agreed UK-Japan trade deal. UK GIs with high export value are also promoted in other countries through the well-established Food is GREAT campaign.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to assist (a) farmers and (b) food producers to process their food in environmentally sustainable and cost-effective ways.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Using powers in the Agriculture Bill we will provide grants to farmers, foresters and growers so that they can invest in equipment, technology, and infrastructure that will help their businesses to prosper while improving their productivity and enhancing the environment. The grants will help producers to focus on more efficient production methods that will reduce costs, improve yields and give them a better return. We will also support farmers who want to process and add value to their products, create new products, or sell their produce directly to customers.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
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 help ensure that local British food producers have access to a fair, competitive and transparent supply chain after the transition period.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We want all food producers to get a fair price for their produce and are committed to tackling the unfairness that can exist in the agri-food supply chain.
Through the Government’s Agriculture Bill, introduced on 12 September, we will launch a range of initiatives to improve the position of primary producers. We will introduce and enforce statutory codes of practice to address unfair trading practices which can occur between food producers and purchasers. We will also introduce measures to increase transparency throughout the agri-food supply chain, using strengthened powers to collect and share data.