Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
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 made a comparative assessment of (a) food price inflation and (b) trends in the level of profits of (i) major UK food and drink retailers and (ii) major food and drink manufacturers over the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not actively monitor the profits of food retailers and manufacturers. Defra relies on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for monthly food price inflation statistics, which stood at 18.2% for food and non-alcoholic beverages in the year to February 2023.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of profit made by large food and drink (a) retailers and (b) manufacturers in the last five years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works with stakeholders across the food sector to promote and deliver HMG policy priorities. We do not actively monitor the profits of food retailers and manufacturers.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of (a) anticipated pricing decisions and (b) anticipated profits of food and drink (i) manufacturers and (ii) retailers in the next 12 months.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works with stakeholders across the food sector to promote and deliver HMG policy priorities. We do not actively monitor the profits of food retailers and manufacturers.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve public awareness of permissive wild camping rights in National Parks.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Improving public awareness of permissive wild camping is a matter for each National Park Authority and the respective landowners. The Government is supporting our National Parks to deliver access to nature, including through an additional £4.4 million funding grant for National Park Authorities to support services such as visitor centres, ranger support and efforts to increase access to nature.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will (a) introduce and (b) expand permissive wild camping rights in each National Park.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Permissive wild camping is a matter for each National Park Authority and the respective landowners. We have no plans to introduce or expand wild camping rights in National Parks centrally.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a national surveillance programme of the spread of antibiotic (a) resistance and (b) residues from farms into the environment.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A cross-departmental project called Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and the Environment (PATH-SAFE) was established in 2021. It brings together the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) to understand how pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is spread. PATH-SAFE contains a workstream focused on AMR prevalence in three river catchments and this work will strengthen our understanding of AMR in the environment, including the relative importance of different sources, transmission routes and, the implications are for people, animals, food and ecosystems. This will enable us to increase public awareness and inform effective control measures to protect human and animal health and the ecosystem, through a better understanding of the transmission pathway by which resistance develops and spreads.
The Environment Agency (EA) have also been working with water companies on chemicals investigations which have included a range of pharmaceuticals and veterinary medicines discharged from treated sewage effluent. The system allows the EA to sift and to screen any chemical substance nominated using, where available, hazard data and environmental monitoring data to prioritise whether a substance may be a possible chemical of concern in England. Many pharmaceuticals are included on this list. Monitoring also takes place for a wide range of pharmaceuticals within the water environment using a semi-quantitative screening methodology.
Background to the work can be found in Antimicrobial resistance surveillance pilot site selection and data-base extension - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Framework for understanding environmental antimicrobial resistance in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of trends in the level of the spread of superbugs into water courses from farms in the last 12 months.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A cross-departmental project called Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and the Environment (PATH-SAFE) was established in 2021. It brings together the Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) to understand how pathogens and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is spread. PATH-SAFE contains a workstream focused on AMR prevalence in three river catchments and this work will strengthen our understanding of AMR in the environment, including the relative importance of different sources, transmission routes and, the implications are for people, animals, food and ecosystems. This will enable us to increase public awareness and inform effective control measures to protect human and animal health and the ecosystem, through a better understanding of the transmission pathway by which resistance develops and spreads.
The Environment Agency (EA) have also been working with water companies on chemicals investigations which have included a range of pharmaceuticals and veterinary medicines discharged from treated sewage effluent. The system allows the EA to sift and to screen any chemical substance nominated using, where available, hazard data and environmental monitoring data to prioritise whether a substance may be a possible chemical of concern in England. Many pharmaceuticals are included on this list. Monitoring also takes place for a wide range of pharmaceuticals within the water environment using a semi-quantitative screening methodology.
Background to the work can be found in Antimicrobial resistance surveillance pilot site selection and data-base extension - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and Framework for understanding environmental antimicrobial resistance in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
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 take steps to prevent the (a) replacement and (b) upgrade of incineration plants in England.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no plans to introduce a moratorium on new Energy from Waste capacity in England. There is no financial advantage for either the public sector or the market to deliver excess Energy from Waste capacity and proposed developments must not result in overcapacity of Energy from Waste treatment at a national or local level. We want to see greater plant efficiency through, for example, wider utilisation of the heat released during combustion in district heating networks.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of updating regulations under existing legislation to regulate use of antibiotics on farms.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government remains committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals while safeguarding animal welfare.
Changes to the law on veterinary medicines is one of the tools which can be used to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing in animals and, as one element of a programme of interventions to help deliver the UK's 5-year national action plan, it is our intention to strengthen our national law in this area.
The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 (VMR) set out the controls on the production, distribution, possession, dispensing and administration of veterinary medicines in Great Britain. Over the past year the Veterinary Medicines Directorate has engaged in a comprehensive dialogue with stakeholders about a broad range of changes that we propose to the VMR including new measures to help tackle anti-microbial resistance.
We are now preparing to publish a formal consultation paper setting out our proposals which will provide the opportunity for all affected stakeholders to express their views. Following the public consultation, we anticipate laying new legislation in 2023.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the (a) RSPCA, (b) British Veterinary Association, (c) Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons on regulating canine fertility clinics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, only veterinary surgeons are permitted to perform canine artificial insemination. Any non-vet undertaking canine artificial insemination, including the taking of blood samples, is therefore in breach of the Act.
My Department has not made an estimation of the number of canine fertility clinics operating in the UK and Ministers have not had recent discussions with the RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association or the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons on this specific matter. However, the Department is aware of this issue and takes the matter very seriously. Where breaches of legislation have been identified, enforcement action, including the successful prosecution of individuals, has been taken by Defra Investigation Services; where appropriate, this is in collaboration with local authorities.
If a member of the public has any concerns for the operation of a canine fertility clinic they should contact the relevant local authority who has responsibilities for enforcement under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.