Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle the risk of (1) fire, and (2) other serious issues, caused by sky lanterns in England.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Local authorities already have powers to restrict or ban the use of sky lanterns on council land and a number of councils have already introduced a ban. We have also supported the industry to develop a voluntary code of practice for sky lanterns which helps ensure that they are manufactured to be safe and are sold responsibly.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farmers and growers to improve soil quality.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Firstly, we are focusing on soil in two of the first standards that have been rolled out under the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme in June 2022 - the Improved Grassland Soils and Arable and Horticultural Soils standards. These are available to all farmers in England with arable land and improved grassland.
In addition, we have been piloting three further grassland standards, and learnings from these have informed the standards that we launched in June 2022 and future standards. These will seek to support farmers to manage their soil to increase biodiversity and resilience to climate change, improve soil condition and carbon storage, and to improve water and air quality.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the availability of British eggs up to and including Christmas 2022.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are not expecting any significant impact to the overall supply of eggs, and the UK has a highly resilient food supply chain. However, farmers are facing extra pressures this year as a result of global rising input costs for feed and energy combined with the bird flu outbreak, which is why we continue to work closely with industry to monitor the market and help them with costs.
We have set out a package of measures to support the poultry sector during this time and we will continue to monitor the situation. We are working closely with all stakeholders on how they can maintain the supply of British eggs in supermarkets. The Minister for Food and Farming recently hosted an egg industry roundtable with representatives from across the UK egg supply chain, to consider the challenges currently facing the industry.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compostability of plastics certified as home compostable.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HM Government notes the findings from UCL's study into the home composting of plastics and will use this to inform our evidence base.
The study has shown that home composting is not a viable destination for managing plastic waste and this echoes HM Government's existing position to prioritise the reduction, reuse and recycling of plastics before anything else.
In April 2021 we published our response to the call for evidence on the need for standards for bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics. The Government response acknowledges that compostable plastics must be treated in industrial composting facilities to be broken down and, when processed incorrectly, can be a source of microplastics and contaminate recycling streams. Therefore, our focus will be on reducing unnecessary consumption and working towards a circular economy, not composting of plastics.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the growth in sales of UK dairy products abroad.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to supporting the dairy sector capitalise on the strong demand for British products across the world, drawing on our reputation for quality and high standards of production, welfare and food safety.
We are focused on enabling British dairy exporters to access as many international markets as possible. In addition to removing trade barriers through negotiation of new Free Trade Agreements we are boosting our technical expertise in key markets through expansion of our network of dedicated agri-food attachés to 10 posts across the globe. These roles resolve market access barriers, support export growth and provide market insight to enable British companies to target markets with the highest potential. There is strong export potential for dairy products and a growing international reputation, especially for cheese. Our attaches will work with dairy companies to build our market share further and generate further awareness and demand.
As well as maximising market access, the Government is working with the sector to build capability and competitiveness in international markets. The new UK-wide Food and Drink Exports Council, which will be launched early next year, brings together industry and Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to boost exports from all parts of the UK and build export capability in the sector, especially in SMEs. The Department for International Trade provide a broad range of export support to help companies begin or progress their export journey, including advice on entering particular markets and opportunities to showcase products to international buyers.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the health of the bee population in England.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The bee population is comprised of honey bee colonies managed by beekeepers and bee farmers, and wild bees, of which there are more than 250 species in the UK.
Defra supports the honey bee population through the work of the National Bee Unit inspectorate, which operates our bee pest surveillance programmes and provides free training and advice to beekeepers, including on pest and disease recognition.
Levels of American foulbrood (AFB) and European foulbrood (EFB), serious diseases of honey bees, have remained relatively low in recent years. In 2021, around 35,000 colonies across 5,500 apiaries were inspected in England and Wales. In England, AFB was found to be present in 0.13% of colonies inspected in 2021, and EFB in 2.73% of colonies.
Our contingency planning and response work has proved effective in dealing with incursions of the invasive species Asian hornet, which poses a serious threat to honey bees and other pollinating insects. We have robust import controls and an extensive surveillance programme in place for other invasive pests such as Small hive beetle which, to date, has not been detected in the UK.
Our annual Hive Count exercise indicates that numbers of managed honey bees have increased in recent years, from around 252,000 UK colonies in 2017 to 272,000 in 2021. To a large extent, numbers of honey bees are dependent on the number of people willing to keep bees.
Defra's indicator recording the distribution of wild pollinating insects in England between 1980 and 2017 shows long term decline for the majority of the 377 assessed species of hoverflies and bees. In the short term, however, around 40% of these species have become less widespread, and around 40% have become more widespread. A greater number of recorded bee species are becoming more widespread in England than are becoming less widespread. The reverse is true for hoverflies. We cannot provide information on which species are declining and which are increasing. We are keeping these trends under review.
Pollinators are a priority for HM Government, and we are taking action alongside many partners to implement the National Pollinator Strategy’s provisions including publication of the National Pollinator Strategy Action Plan in May 2022. Our Healthy Bees Plan 2030 sets out how we will protect and improve the health of honey bees in England.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the soil moisture deficit in the South of England, and (2) the effect that is having on arable farm production.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Environment Agency regularly monitors and reports on soil moisture deficit (a measure of how dry soils are) within its water situation reports:
Water situation: national monthly reports for England 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
(1) Soil moisture deficit is assessed on a weekly basis to track the recovery of soil moisture from the hot and particularly dry conditions earlier this summer. The latest assessment for the week ending 25 October 2022 for the southeast indicates that soil moisture deficits are now improving with the wetter conditions. This means that rainfall will start to penetrate and recharge the abnormally low groundwater levels developed through the drought conditions. However, it will still require above average rainfall this winter for groundwater and reservoir stocks in the southeast to fully recover.
(2) We are aware of the concerns around the dry conditions and lack of moisture in soil for autumn drilling, although rainfall was welcomed in September and October which has aided with the establishment of oilseed rape and the drilling of winter cereals.
We are keeping the situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the United Kingdom’s market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We have also recently increased our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to farmers to help develop renewable energy businesses on their land alongside their farming interests.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Net Zero Strategy sets out a clear vision for a sustained increase in deployment of renewable generation capacity in the 2020s and beyond. In addition, The British Energy Security Strategy set out a series of bold commitments to support and accelerate this as part of a decisive shift away from expensive fossil fuels.
HM Government recognises the need to preserve our most productive arable farmland as best as possible. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out clearly that local planning authorities should consider all the benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, when making plans or taking decisions on new development proposals. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, planning authorities should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality. On farm, the Farming Investment Fund (FIF) seeks to encourage farmers in the use of technologies with improved energy-use efficiency and use of renewable energy as part of its large grants offering (the Transformation Fund). Defra is also exploring renewable energy sources such as capturing methane on farm for use as biogas and green fuels for farm machinery, supporting further research into innovative new technologies.
Protecting our environment, backing British farmers and delivering long-term energy security with more renewables are at the heart of the Government’s manifesto. That’s why we will be looking at the frameworks for regulation, innovation and investment so we can continue to support farmers and land managers to make decisions and continue to manage our land to produce high welfare and high-quality food, protect the environment and biodiversity, and contribute to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they plan to give to the dairy industry to develop the capture of methane from slurry and convert it into tractor fuel.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Investing in proper slurry storage is a critical step livestock farmers need to take to make best use of their organic nutrients and prevent pollution. Defra has committed to launch a new Slurry Infrastructure Grant this autumn. The grant will help livestock farmers already using a slurry system to upgrade their slurry storage, to reach six months storage capacity and to cover grant funded stores with impermeable covers.
We want to adapt the slurry grant offer over time to ensure that any public funding for better slurry management supports adoption of innovative treatments and circular use of slurry such as methane capture for energy and fuel.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the water vole population in England.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to kill, injure or take water vole as well as to damage places of shelter or disturb the species while occupying such places.
Where proposed operations may put water voles or their habitat at risk, it is necessary for a licence to be obtained from Natural England before those operations can proceed. Natural England assesses any applications it receives to ensure that licences are granted only where the impacts will not threaten the local conservation status of the species.
Additionally, Natural England is developing a pilot Species Conservation Strategy for water voles in East Anglia. Enacted by the Environment Act 2021, Species Conservation strategies will identify the most important actions to protect and improve the conservation status of threatened species and enable the regulatory approach to fit the strategic priorities for the species.