Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 improve bilingual provision in (a) Cornish and (b) English in agricultural (i) guidance and (ii) communications for farmers in Cornwall.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cornish is not currently a legally recognised formal language under UK law. Any translations or bilingual materials would be a matter of voluntary policy or local practice. Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 prevent the spread of (a) bee pests and (b) diseases linked to the importation of non-native honey bee strains.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Apis mellifera also known as the Western honey bee is native to Europe. All consignments of honey bees (Apis mellifera) imported into the UK must be accompanied by health certificates confirming that the area the bees originated from is free of certain pests and diseases. The health certificate must be issued no more than 24 hours prior to dispatch and the certifying officer must also confirm that a pre-export inspection took place.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 (a) native and (b) varroa-tolerant bee breeding programmes in England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Developing varroa-tolerant bees through selective breeding is likely to be very difficult as it requires geographic isolation or artificial insemination to preserve the resistance traits being selected for, as well as large numbers of colonies to ensure that the resulting strains maintain good genetic diversity. There is advice for beekeepers about how to manage Varroa and queen rearing on BeeBase, the website managed by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 impact of the Sheep Carcase (Classification and Price Reporting) (England) Regulations 2025 on (a) small-scale and (b) hill farmers in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has made no specific assessment of the impact of the Sheep Carcase (Classification and Price Reporting) (England) Regulations 2025 on small scale and hill farmers in South East Cornwall.
The mandating of sheep carcase classification and price reporting will create a more transparent, productive and efficient sheep market across the UK. It will encourage producers to improve productivity and to rear sheep to better meet market specifications and consumer demand, bringing the sector in line with the beef and pig sectors. Carcases will be assessed against a consistent grading and pricing system rewarding producers for the quality of lambs being sent for slaughter.
The regulations will be applicable to abattoirs with a throughput of at least 2,000 sheep per week. Abattoirs processing 1,000 to 1999 sheep per week are able to opt into the mandatory scheme. The weekly throughput of 2,000 sheep per week will exempt smaller abattoirs from the scheme so that we do not place additional regulatory and administrative burdens on them.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vessels registered to ports in South East Cornwall constituency use (a) bottom trawls and (b) other bottom towed gear.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
UK fishing vessels are registered by port of administration. The nearest port of administration to this constituency is Plymouth, to which 330 fishing vessels were registered as of 1 June 2025.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress his Department has made on meeting the good environmental status indicators set out in the report entitled Marine Strategy Part One, published in October 2019.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a UK-wide consultation on 20 June this year, which details the latest assessment on the state of UK seas and progress toward Good Environmental Status. This follows publication of the updated UK Marine Strategy Programme of Measures in January this year, which sets out measures for achieving GES.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support seagrass restoration programmes to scale-up.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is supporting the scaling up of seagrass restoration programmes by identifying and overcoming barriers.
The Environment Agency with partners is working to restore 15% of saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reef in England by 2043 through the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) programme. Defra have boosted the capacity of ReMeMaRe by funding a programme office, which is supporting a pipeline of practical restoration projects.
The annual ReMeMaRe Conference gives partners from across the country an opportunity to engage with and learn from each other. ReMeMaRe has also worked with partners to produce restoration guidance and map restoration opportunities. It is also funding the development of an estuarine and coastal restoration platform, which will enhance collaboration opportunities for partners, aiming to scale up restoration activity on the ground.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to merge the proposed Nature Restoration Fund with the Marine Recovery Fund.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Recovery Fund is being established as a voluntary mechanism to deliver strategic compensation for offshore wind developers.
The Nature Restoration Fund will offer a new way for developers to discharge existing environmental obligations related to protected sites and species, using resources strategically to maximise positive outcomes for nature.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the proposed Nature Restoration Fund will interact with the Marine Recovery Fund.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Recovery Fund is being established as a voluntary mechanism to deliver strategic compensation for offshore wind developers.
The Nature Restoration Fund will offer a new way for developers to discharge existing environmental obligations related to protected sites and species, using resources strategically to maximise positive outcomes for nature.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 impact of (a) bans on offshore bottom-towed gear on displacement of fishing to inshore grounds and (b) that displacement on (i) small-scale and (ii) inshore fishers in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is likely that fishing activity will be displaced as a result of the management of our Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), but there are many uncertainties. Decisions on the extent of restrictions on bottom trawling in offshore MPAs will be made following the closure of the consultation that opened on 9 June.