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Written Question
Tuna: Quotas
Monday 17th April 2023

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many tonnes of commercial Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna quota the Government plans to acquire; and how much and what proportion of that tonnage will be designated to Scotland.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK has 65.4 tonnes of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna quota in 2023. Currently, eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna is managed as a UK unallocated stock and is not apportioned between the UK Fisheries Administrations. Defra is considering how best to manage the UK’s eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna quota in future years.


Written Question
Agriculture: EU Countries
Monday 27th June 2022

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of recent measures the EU has taken to support its agricultural sector during the conflict in Ukraine on the competitiveness of (a) farmers and (b) fertiliser manufacturers in the UK.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The UK is working with G7 and other partners in multilateral fora such as the World Trade Organization, to monitor and address global food security issues, focusing on the ongoing benefits of open markets, and working together to ensure that sufficient, safe, affordable and nutritious food continues to be available and accessible to all. We are aware that other countries have put various measures in place to support their agricultural sectors. We are monitoring developments and applying our own measures in the UK.

The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. On 31 March I hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Taskforce with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. The second Taskforce meeting occurred on 18 May, hosted by Minister Churchill. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further Fertiliser Taskforce sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.

In addition, the 2022 Basic Payment Scheme payment will be made in two instalments to give farmers an advance injection of cash. Farmers with eligible applications will receive half of their payment from the end of July, and the rest from December. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence. Leaving the EU has given us flexibility to introduce this measure. In the days of the EU this would never have been possible due to the way audits worked and the need to enforce the three crop rule during the summer.

We continue to keep the market situation under review through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We have also increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.


Written Question
Fertilisers
Wednesday 22nd June 2022

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of fertiliser in the last 12 months.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Global gas prices have impacted production of fertilisers internationally and domestically. Some international companies halted or reduced production, and some countries, such as China, reduced the export of some fertiliser products to protect their domestic demands. However, supply of all fertilisers in the UK has remained available throughout the last 12 months although high prices reduced demand from farmers.

While global fertiliser prices have risen, the supply chain providing imports of fertiliser to the UK has remained dynamic. CF Fertilisers continues to produce ammonium nitrate fertiliser from its plant at Billingham. New season fertiliser prices since May have fallen from their peak caused by high global gas prices, allowing many farmers to purchase fertiliser and take-up was extremely good.

Government actions, such as bringing forward half of this year's Basic Payment Scheme payment as an advance injection of cash to farm businesses, will help farmers deal with high fertiliser prices. In addition, the Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs; increased grants funding to help farmers and growers boost research and development; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of ammonia inhibitors rather than a complete ban.

We are monitoring the situation closely, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group. Defra is in regular contact with key industry figures including the National Farmers Union, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and the Agricultural Industries Confederation.


Written Question
Food and Plants: Import Controls
Friday 11th March 2022

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the economic impact on (a) food producers and (b) food prices of introducing controls on agri-foods and plant imports from the EU with effect from 1 July 2022.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Defra food price modelling analysis demonstrates that the five key drivers of consumer food prices are: domestic farmgate prices; agriculture and food import prices; exchange rates; labour costs in food manufacturing; and non-labour costs in food manufacturing. Agri-food supply chains are currently subject to multiple cost pressures from a variety of factors - including high energy prices, oil prices and freight costs. Recent increases in food price inflation reported by the Office for National Statistics are seen to indicate that retailers are passing some of those increased costs onto consumers.

The additional import controls due to be introduced on 1 July 2022 have the potential to add further cost pressures onto the supply chains of those products affected. The impact of those further pressures on the prices consumers pay will vary on a product-to-product basis depending on the level of existing pressure on the relevant individual supply chain, the importance of imports in that supply chain and the decisions of retailers in terms of whether to pass those additional costs on. We complement this work with input from our trade analysts on border frictions and non-tariff barriers to trade, as well as trade specific economic modelling. Defra will continue to monitor food prices and food price drivers, along with the impact that they have on consumers.


Written Question
Livestock: Imports
Tuesday 8th March 2022

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

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 an SPS agreement between the UK and EU on the number of vets required [to conduct veterinary checks on imports from the EU].

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement includes an SPS chapter which allows the UK and the EU to take a risk-based approach to our respective SPS border controls and provides a basis for cooperation on avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade.

Through the provisions of the SPS Chapter the UK is working with the EU to take forward electronic certification, which will enable greater volumes of goods to flow with ease between EU and GB through reducing delays and reducing business administration for official veterinarians.

We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.


Written Question
Fish and Meat: Exports
Tuesday 8th March 2022

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of concluding a SPS agreement with the EU for UK industries that export (a) salmon, (b) beef, (c) lamb, (d) shellfish and (e) fish to the EU.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement includes an SPS chapter which allows the UK and the EU to take a risk-based approach to our respective SPS border controls and provides a basis for cooperation on avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade.

Through the provisions of the SPS Chapter the UK is working with the EU to take forward electronic certification, which will enable greater volumes of goods to flow with ease between EU and GB through reducing delays and reducing business administration for official veterinarians.

We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.


Written Question
Poultry: Exports
Tuesday 8th March 2022

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

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 merits of a SPS agreement with the EU in the context of decreasing volumes of UK chicken exports to the EU.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement includes an SPS chapter which allows the UK and the EU to take a risk-based approach to our respective SPS border controls and provides a basis for cooperation on avoiding unnecessary barriers to trade.

Through the provisions of the SPS Chapter the UK is working with the EU to take forward electronic certification, which will enable greater volumes of goods to flow with ease between EU and GB through reducing delays and reducing business administration for official veterinarians.

We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.


Written Question
Tuna: Fishing Catches
Thursday 9th September 2021

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to which fisheries his Department has allocated the 48 tonne bluefin tuna quota set out under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement; and where those fisheries are located.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The UK’s quota of bluefin tuna for 2021 has not been allocated to any specific sector of the UK fishing industry this year. A proportion has been reserved to account for any incidental bycatch in commercial fisheries targeting other species, in line with requirements of ICCAT (International Commission for the conservation of Atlantic Tunas) of which the UK is a member, and a further proportion has been reserved to account for any incidental mortality arising from scientific catch and release tagging programmes.


Written Question
Fisheries: Quotas
Monday 17th May 2021

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 25 April 2021 to Question 180947 on fishing quotas, what (a) allocation of the quota, (b) tonnage and (c) species will be allocated to Scotland.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

As annual negotiations to set fishing opportunities have not yet concluded the final quota allocations for each administration are not yet finalised.

On 22 April Defra published the UK quota management rules which set out how quota will be split across the UK. On 14 April we published the provisional quota for all parts of the UK in the Secretary of State determination.

The final allocations will be published on gov.uk once negotiations have concluded.


Written Question
Fisheries: Quotas
Friday 23rd April 2021

Asked by: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Independent - Na h-Eileanan an Iar)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his timeframe is for the allocation of the fishing quota; and what proportion of that quota is planned to be allocated to (a) coastal communities and (b) companies.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

On 24 March, we announced the method we will use to apportion additional quota between the four UK administrations.

On 14 April, we announced how the English share of this additional quota will be allocated to industry. The details of both of these announcements can be found on gov.uk. We will be working with the Marine Management Organisation to finalise allocations for England in the coming weeks.

As the allocation of quota is a devolved responsibility it is for each administration to decide how and when to allocate their share of the UK quota.