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 the cost to the public purse was of fisheries patrol operations in English waters in each year since 2020.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fisheries patrol operations in English waters are undertaken by the Marine Management Organisation utilising two leased patrol vessels. The cost of these vessels is detailed in MMO's annual reports as follows:
Year | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26* |
Vessel Costs | 6,735,829 | 6,836,401 | 6,501,914 | 6,282,640 | 6,489,608 | 3,487,538 |
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 investigations were commenced by her Department of English-registered fishing vessels over ten metres in length for fishing outside six nautical miles of UK waters in each year since 2020; and how many and what proportion of those investigations resulted in (a) charges being brought and (b) successful prosecutions.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Marine Management Organisation (MMO) does not publish investigations, only prosecutions. The table below lists all cases where charges were brought resulting in successful MMO prosecutions in court of UK 10m and over vessels which resulted from inspections at sea outside of 6 nautical miles from baselines (there were no unsuccessful prosecutions).
| UK Vessels |
2020 | 0 |
2021 | 1 |
2022 | 0 |
2023 | 0 |
2024 | 1 |
2025 to date | 2 |
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 she has made of the potential impact of tropical forest protection on the stability of UK food supply chains.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Tropical forests provide a range of ecosystem services which affect agricultural production. Their protection and restoration can therefore play a vital role in supporting global food supply stability.
The Government is taking robust action to boost UK food security, turn the tide of nature’s decline, and prepare for the impacts of climate change and nature loss. This includes investing in nature protection and restoration both domestically and internationally, and delivering £11.6 billion in International Climate Finance by the end of 25/26 as part of our Plan for Change. The Government is also considering its approach to addressing global deforestation linked to UK supply chains and will set out its approach in due course.
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 tonnes of fish were caught in English waters by EU-registered fishing vessels in each year since 2020.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Table 1. Annual live weight (tonnes) landed from English waters by EU-registered fishing vessels from 2020 to 2023.
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
210,000 | 160,000 | 120,000 | 150,000 |
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 the total value of landings was from fly-seine fishing operations in English waters by (a) EU-registered and (b) English-registered fly-seine vessels for each year since 2015.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Table 2. Annual value (GBP) landed from fly-seine fishing operations in English waters by EU-registered and English-registered fly-seine vessels from 2015 to 2023.
Vessel Registration | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
EU | 9,400,000 | 12,200,000 | 15,500,000 | 15,400,000 | 14,700,000 | 12,800,000 | 12,700,000 | 15,900,000 | 16,900,000 |
England | 2,800,000 | 3,100,000 | 2,400,000 | 1,500,000 | 3,000,000 | 3,100,000 | 3,800,000 | 8,900,000 | 10,400,000 |
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 her Department has (a) direct and (b) real time access to systems that monitor EU-registered fishing vessels that are fishing in English waters.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fishing activity in English waters is monitored by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). MMO receives positional data and electronic logbook (elog) catch data for all foreign fishing vessels of 12 metres or more in length. Data from these vessels is received with the same frequency as for UK vessels. Live positional data is required to be transmitted at least once every two hours and electronic logbook data is required to be submitted at least once per day whilst at sea. Once transmitted, data is automatically forwarded to the UK by the relevant fisheries authority and is received by MMO in close to real-time.
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 investigations of EU-registered fishing vessels were commenced by her Department in each year since 2020; and how many and what proportion of those investigations resulted in (a) charges being brought and (b) successful prosecutions.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Marine Management Organisation (MMO) does not publish investigations, only prosecutions. The table below lists all cases where charges were brought resulting in successful MMO prosecutions in court of EU vessels in each year since 2020 (there were no unsuccessful prosecutions).
| EU Vessels |
2020 | 1 |
2021 | 1 |
2022 | 2 |
2023 | 2 |
2024 | 0 |
2025 to date | 1 |
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 resolve delays in payments under the Sustainable Farming Incentive due to designated site complications such as underlying archaeology.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency are working at pace with customers to resolve those agreements identified where herbal lays have been applied to land containing historic features which impacted their eligibility.
With over 85% of these payments now been released, we are continuing to work with the affected customers to ensure any remaining payments due are made as soon as possible.
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 support is in place for farmers who are unable to access SFI agreements between the scheme’s closure in March 2025 and the planned re opening in mid 2026.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are currently record numbers of farmers taking part in farming schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive. As of April 2025, these schemes supported 885,000 hectares of arable land being farmed without insecticides; 330,000 hectares of low input grassland being managed sustainably; and 85,000 kilometres of hedgerows being protected and restored.
In the recent spending review, we committed to carrying on the transition towards paying to deliver public goods for the environment. We have allocated a record £11.8bn to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. Defra is working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that will better target SFI in an orderly way towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. Further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.
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, Foot and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of compliance with conservation obligations on scheduled monuments located within agricultural land; and what steps he is taking to ensure that land management practices are compatible with heritage protection legislation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Scheduled Monuments are protected via the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Since 2013, positive management of Scheduled Monuments located within agricultural land, promoted through Defra’s agri-environment schemes, has helped to remove approximately 700 from Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier has measures to support such practices, further information is available at Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) - GOV.UK.