Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) he and (b) his Department had with the (i) Scotland Office and (ii) Department for Business and Trade on the application for an English Whisky geographical indication prior to the submission of that application.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The application to register English Whisky as a geographical indication was submitted in February 2022. There are no recorded discussions on the application held with other departments prior to that time.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
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 potential impact of not extending the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme in England and Wales.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme is an EU legacy scheme, and in England, legislation is in place to close the scheme to English POs on 31 December 2025.
The Government has committed to championing British farming, whilst protecting the environment, and is currently considering the best way to support our farming sectors in the future, including horticulture.
We will make further announcements in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when an announcement will be made on the future of the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme is an EU legacy scheme, and in England, legislation is in place to close the scheme to English POs on 31 December 2025.
The Government has committed to championing British farming, whilst protecting the environment, and is currently considering the best way to support our farming sectors in the future, including horticulture.
We will make further announcements in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
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 clear labelling of (a) locally produced fruit and vegetables and (b) imported produce.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK maintains high standards on the information provided on food labels and packaging so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. This applies equally to food that is domestically produced or imported.
The fundamental principles of our food labelling rules are that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable consumers to make informed decisions.
Country of origin information is compulsory for most uncut fresh fruit and vegetables. In any case, where an indication of origin or provenance is given, either in words or pictures, this must be accurate. Buying food locally and supporting their local food economy is important to many consumers and where any label indicates that a food is produced locally, this must not be misleading to a consumer.
Shops and supermarkets will often use in-store signs to help shoppers easily identify and buy great British produce and this too is subject to the food labelling rules.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
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 environmental impact of consumers shopping locally; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact on net zero targets if consumers are unable to shop locally.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State recognises the importance of consumers having access to local shops for environmental sustainability and for supporting net zero goals. The Secretary of State, Defra Ministers and officials meet regularly with retailers where discussions have included to understand initiatives to support efforts that enable consumers to shop locally.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
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 support farmers to increase the (a) volume and (b) variety of fruit and vegetables they produce.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government appreciates and values the vital work of the horticulture industry and recognises its role in maintaining a secure food supply. As part of our mission-driven government, and in partnership with the sector, we are considering how best to support our fruit and vegetable growers in the future to achieve our ambitious, measurable, and long-term goals for the sector.
Innovation, such as the development of new crop varieties and growing systems, has added to the huge range of top quality and nutritious fruit and vegetables already grown in the UK, and has allowed our growers to extend the growing seasons of a variety of crops, for example strawberries.
We also continue to support long-term Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) to improve crop varieties by developing traits to improve their nutritional quality, and enhance productivity levels, sustainability and resilience.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to support independent certification of agricultural land classification soil surveys by an appropriate body.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of all commitments made by the last government to ensure they align with our new priorities and will have a beneficial effect. A decision regarding this specific policy will be made in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
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 increase fishing opportunities for UK fishing organisations in Icelandic waters ahead of full ratification of the trade continuity agreement between the UK and Iceland.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The UK has not held fishing opportunities in Icelandic waters for many years. Nevertheless, we remain open to the possibility of securing fishing opportunities in Icelandic waters, should the conditions be appropriate.
The UK and Iceland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on enhancing cooperation within fisheries on 11 November 2020. We are currently developing plans to hold the first Fisheries Dialogue envisaged by that MoU later in 2021.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) she and (b) Ministers in her Department will (a) represent the UK at the annual European Fisheries Council in December 2020 and (b) conduct negotiations on behalf of the UK for the 2021 quota allocation.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK left the EU on 31 January and will therefore not participate in the European Fisheries Council in December 2020 as a Member State. The UK will be undertaking future fisheries negotiations, including on fishing opportunities, as an independent coastal State.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on introducing a replacement to the European Maritime and Fisheries Funding after December 2020.
Answered by George Eustice
We made a commitment in our manifesto to maintain funding for fisheries across the UK’s nations throughout the Parliament and to support the regeneration of our coastal communities.
Last year, the Government provided an extra £37 million of domestic funding for the sector, which will be available until 2022. England’s share of this funding is available via the Maritime and Fisheries Fund, which was opened in October 2019. Scotland was allocated £16.7 million, and delivery will be managed by Marine Scotland.
The Fisheries Bill will provide England and the devolved administrations with new domestic grant making powers that will ensure we have sufficient powers to support our future priorities. Fisheries is a devolved matter and, in future, grant schemes will be developed by each of the devolved administrations targeted towards their own national priorities.
We have been evaluating the current EMFF scheme and the needs of the sector. We have conducted social, environmental and economic evaluations to better understand the sector’s needs and where funding should be targeted.
We plan to hold a formal consultation exercise on the design of a future scheme in 2020.