Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to issue agricultural visas for picking and processing fruit and vegetables to female Ukrainian workers; and what consideration they have given to housing any such individuals in RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office already operates such an immigration route. The Seasonal Worker visa scheme, which has been extended to 2024, allows overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. 30,000 visas will be available in 2022, and this is being kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 visas if there is evidence of need.
The Seasonal Workers visa route is managed by four scheme operators. The scheme operators select, sponsor and monitor migrants, and adhere to all Home Office requirements in practice, including those on migrant safety and welfare.
Under the scheme, licenced operators can recruit workers of any nationality or gender from any EU or non-EU country, including from Ukraine.
The operators of the Seasonal Worker visa route manage accommodation arrangements and must ensure that all workers are housed in safe hygienic accommodation and many UK farms are already set up for accommodating seasonal workers on site for the spring and summer months. Only asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute will be accommodated in the new reception centre at RAF Linton-On-Ouse.
On 24 February the Government announced that all Ukrainian nationals on an existing seasonal worker visa will have their leave in the UK extended to 31 December 2022 and can now switch to the Ukraine Extension Scheme visa if eligible.
Under the Ukraine Extension Scheme those who are successful in their application can stay in the UK for up to three years and will be able to live, work and study in the UK and access public funds. Further details on eligibility can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-stay-in-the-uk-under-the-ukraine-extension-scheme. A copy of the guidance is also attached to this answer.
Ukrainian women who are currently in the UK and have a right to work here can also access agricultural jobs through the Department for Work and Pensions’ Find A Job website.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current state of the livestock industry, and in particular the pig sector.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The supply chain inflation seen in the livestock sector in recent months, driven significantly by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the consequential increase in costs for feed, fuel and fertilisers, has created challenges across this sector and the wider food and farming industry.
We have recognised that increasing input costs, particularly fertiliser, feed, fuel and energy, are creating short term pressures on cash flow. On 6 May, we announced that we are to bring forward half of this year’s BPS payment as an advance injection of cash to farm businesses to help provide confidence.
This builds on measures we recently announced to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers for the coming growing season to help address uncertainty among growers and keep costs down for farmers. These include delays to changes to the use of urea; revised and improved statutory guidance on the use of slurry; and the publication of further details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The Government has announced that it will pay farmers to help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures to reduce dependence on manufactured fertilisers, and that farmers will be further supported through new slurry storage grants.
We are working closely with the industry to identify where further mitigations are available to tackle the challenges they face. 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.
The pig industry has faced several additional challenges in recent months. We provided a package of measures to help address these including temporary work visas for pork butchers, and Private Storage Aid and Slaughter Incentive Payment schemes to facilitate an increase in the throughput of pigs through abattoirs.
We are launching a UK-wide review of supply chain fairness in the pig sector. We will be engaging with industry on this with a consultation expected later this year. We want to hear from industry about improvements to fairness and transparency that could be made to ensure a profitable and productive future.
Although we have recently seen an increase in deadweight pig prices, we will continue to work with the industry to support them at this very challenging time.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their proposals for seasonal workers for the UK agricultural sector.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra continues to work closely with industry and other Government departments to understand labour supply and demand, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements, and to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the UK agricultural sector.
The Government has announced that the seasonal worker visa route will be extended to 2024 to allow overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. 30,000 visas will be available for 2022. This will be kept under review with the potential to increase by 10,000 if there is clear evidence of need.
While acknowledging the sector’s reliance on foreign workers, the UK is committed to becoming a high-skilled, high-wage economy and the Government has been clear that more must be done to attract UK workers through offering training, career options, wage increases and to invest in increased automation technology.
Defra’s Review of Automation in Horticulture will be published shortly and will inform a range of policy decisions regarding automation and seasonal labour from 2022 onwards.
In addition, agricultural businesses can continue to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status and EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to do seasonal work in 2022 and beyond. Over 5.7 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
Defra is working with industry and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and farming sectors among UK workers.
Defra is also working closely with the Home Office to ensure that the requirement for these sectors is understood across Government.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they (1) have held, and (2) will hold, with the (a) United Nations, and (b) EU, on the movement of perishable goods between the UK and the EU under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement; what assessment they have made of the implications of the International Treaty on the movement of Perishable Goods on the movement of such goods; and what changes they plan to make to the transport of perishable foods from 1 July when border checks are scheduled to come into force.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on pigs and their welfare of the shortage of (1) abattoir workers, and (2) vets, resulting in delays to their slaughter.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise the significant and ongoing challenges that the pig sector has faced over the last year. This is due to the pandemic and the loss of the Chinese export market to certain processing plants; global labour shortages; and disruption to supplies of carbon dioxide, which is used as a stunning method for pigs. In addition, in 2021, the UK pig herd was the largest for 20 years. Together these factors have resulted in a backlog of pigs on farm.
This supply chain disruption has not impacted animal welfare of pigs in slaughterhouses. Our concern is that increased numbers of animals on farms can create animal welfare issues if there is insufficient space or housing.
The Government has been working closely with the pig industry to put in place measures to alleviate the situation, including temporary visas for pork butchers, and Private Storage Aid and Slaughter Incentive Payment Schemes to incentivise processors to increase their throughput of pigs in slaughterhouses. These interventions are, together, making a significant contribution to reducing the backlog of pigs on farms. The Farming Minister, Victoria Prentis, has chaired two roundtables – on 10 February and 3 March - with pig industry representatives from across the UK to discuss the challenges that the sector has been facing. Minister Prentis has also met with representatives of the agricultural banking sector to discuss the current situation in the pig sector. The banks confirmed that they are working closely with impacted pig farmers during this exceptionally challenging period and remain keen to be supportive.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for the provision of official veterinarians to monitor and enforce animal welfare regulations in slaughterhouses. The FSA has maintained veterinary supervision in all slaughterhouses, which includes providing veterinary resource for additional slaughter shifts.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the emphasis on sustainable farming initiatives will be rebalanced in view of the current rise in (1) food costs, (2) fuel, and (3) fertiliser, to secure an increase in food production in this country.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have a highly resilient food supply chain which has coped well in responding to unprecedented challenges. Our food import dependency on the Eastern Europe region is very low, so we do not expect any significant direct impact on UK food supply. Farmers are facing a number of challenges, including rising input costs. We are already taking a number of steps to support British farmers, including ensuring they have the workforce they need through our seasonal workers scheme, and informing policy through the establishment of the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group. On Thursday 31 March, we held an industry roundtable chaired by the Farming Minister, Victoria Prentis, to look at the issues faced by the fertiliser industry and the impact on farmers. Alongside this, last week, we announced steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers to address uncertainty among growers and keep costs down for farmers. This package of measures included delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser by at least a year; revised and improved statutory guidance has been published on how farmers should limit the use of slurry and other farmyard manure at certain times of year. Farmers will be further supported through new slurry storage grants as of this year, helping meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing dependence on artificial fertilisers by storing organic nutrients until needed or for onward processing. We also published further detail on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) which will help farmers move towards sustainable farming practices over time, supporting farmers to build the health and fertility of their soil and to reduce soil erosion which are essential for sustainable food production, helping to bolster food security and the longer term resilience of the sector.
We believe food production and environmental protection go hand in hand; they are two sides of the same coin. That is why the SFI will open for early rollout of core elements of the scheme in summer 2022, to allow us to make the first SFI payments before the end of the year. We are planning to introduce a Nutrient Management Standard to the SFI in 2023 that will reward growers who make better use of naturally occurring sources of crop nutrients. Given current fertiliser prices, the priority must be to pioneer new technologies to manufacture more organic-based fertiliser products, and rediscover techniques such as using nitrogen fixing legumes and clovers as an alternative to fertiliser.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in the cost of (1) wheat, and (2) other feedstuffs, on all farmers, particularly pig producers.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is monitoring the position on wheat closely, alongside other commodities which are used to make up animal feed rations for all species including the pig sector, with regular intelligence from industry on both availability and price. Domestic production of wheat comprises 85% of demand, which means the UK is less exposed to import availability than other countries, or on some other products. Currently, there is no direct impact of the Ukraine crisis on UK wheat imports.
Defra is working closely with its industry-led groups – the Arable Chain Advisory Group and Agri-Supply Coalition – alongside UK Flour Millers to monitor the wheat situation, including on prices. We are also working closely with grain trader associations including the Grain and Feed Trade Association, Openfield, Seed Crushers and Oil Processors Association, and cross cutting organisations including the NFU, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the Agricultural Industries Confederation and pet food manufacturers.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how any gap in funding between basic farm payments and the new environmental land management schemes will be met.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ahead of the new environmental land management schemes being fully rolled out, between 2021 and 2024 we will help farmers to manage their land sustainably and prepare to take part in our environmental land management schemes. This will include:
We have already launched a new Farming in Protected Landscapes programme in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
We have also opened a number of productivity and innovation grant opportunities for farmers, and have already awarded grants to the value of more than £48 million.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on kept farm animals; and what steps they intend to take to assist livestock production.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
All farm animals are protected by comprehensive and robust animal health and welfare legislation. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes it an offence either to cause any captive animal unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for the welfare needs of the animal. This is supplemented by detailed legislation to protect the welfare of livestock while on farm, as well as legislation to protect animal welfare during transport and at slaughter.
Defra works closely with the livestock sector to encourage a productive, efficient and profitable sector. The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway will push forward and support the gradual and continual improvement in farm animal health and welfare. The pathway is a critical part of the farming reforms set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan, delivering benefits for animal health and welfare, farm productivity, food security, public health, UK trade and the environment. It does this by financially rewarding farmers who deliver public goods, stimulating market demand for higher welfare products and strengthening the regulatory baseline.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on pig production of the shortage of butchers; what assessment they have made of the implications of the shortage on animal welfare; and what steps they intend to take to alleviate this situation.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We continue to monitor the evolving situation and to work closely with the pig industry to help them respond to challenges caused by the pandemic, including the loss of exports to the Chinese market for certain pig processors, disruption to CO2 supplies, and a temporary shortage of labour in the processing sector. This has led to a growing backlog of pigs on farms, which can pose challenges to animal welfare.
We have provided a package of measures to help address these unique circumstances, which includes temporary work visas for up to 800 pork butchers, and Private Storage Aid (PSA) and Slaughter Incentive Payment (SIP) schemes to facilitate an increase in the throughput of pigs through abattoirs. Together with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and other Government Departments, we are working to both expand existing markets and to identify new export markets for pork, particularly lightly processed pork. We are also working with industry to support their efforts on the recruitment and retention of domestic workers.
On 10 February, the Farming Minister Victoria Prentis chaired a roundtable with pig industry representatives from across the UK to discuss the challenges that the sector has been facing in recent months. We are launching a UK-wide review of supply chain fairness in the pig sector. We will be engaging with industry on this straight away, with a consultation expected later this year. We want to elicit industry views on improvements to fairness and transparency that could be made to ensure a profitable and productive future.
We have also introduced additional flexibility to the SIP scheme to further encourage uptake and reduce the backlog. This will remove all restrictions on the end destination of products killed during SIP shifts from 18 February.
It is the responsibility of the registered keeper or owner to ensure the health and welfare of the animals in their care and to apply and adjust contingency plans, in response to a changing situation. Contingency plans may involve movement of animals to another holding, or on-farm culling of animals that are suffering, or at imminent risk of suffering, adverse welfare impacts. Farms have contingency plans to deal with short-term disruptions. In some cases, this has resulted in animals being culled on-farm to prevent animal welfare issues or to address issues that have arisen.
While the shortage of butchers has reduced the opportunity for processors to butcher meat, particularly for the domestic retail market, it has not impacted the number of pigs slaughtered. Defra records show that the number of pigs slaughtered throughout 2021 was higher than the 5-year average. GB Pig slaughter numbers were up by 0.2 million to 11.4 million pigs in January-November 2021, compared to the same period 2020. Slaughter numbers were also 0.3m or 3% higher than the 2018-20 average.