Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of abattoirs on (a) food security and (b) local food supply chains.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of abattoirs to national food security, local supply chains and rural communities. We remain committed to maintaining a resilient and sustainable meat processing sector.
While the sector has faced and continues to face a wide range of challenges in recent years, our national abattoir network remains resilient and continues to deliver high-quality meat products that are fundamental to feeding the nation and maintaining a strong export market.
We continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector in addressing both the challenges and opportunities they face.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of implementing a graduated regulatory system for smaller scale abattoirs operating within smaller distribution areas on (a) movement of and (b) stress to livestock.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the vital role smaller abattoirs play in supporting a resilient food supply chain and reducing journey times for livestock, which minimises the risk of welfare issues arising during transport. However, to date there has been no formal assessment of the potential impact of implementing a graduated regulatory system for smaller-scale abattoirs operating within smaller distribution areas.
Defra remains committed to working with industry and the Food Standards Agency to explore how the current regulatory framework can better support smaller operators while maintaining high standards of food safety and animal welfare. Ongoing efforts, such as reviewing Official Veterinarian attendance requirements and introducing exception reporting to reduce administrative burdens, reflect this commitment.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to consider the potential impact of trends in the number of small, local abattoirs on the operations of livestock farms as part of the Farming Profitability Review.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In conducting her review, Baroness Minette Batters is considering implications for all farming sectors (including livestock), regions, and the different stages of the food supply chain. Minette has written an open letter to farmers and growers to be collated by relevant sector and trade groups to consider three barriers to profitability and three corresponding solutions for returns by 11 July. She has ongoing engagement with livestock sector groups convened by the Department and relevant trade unions. We expect small abattoirs to be considered as part of this.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the use of (a) mobile abattoirs and (b) farmer-assisted slaughter on (i) costs for livestock farmers and (ii) animal stress.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A mobile slaughter facility must be approved on the premises on which it is to operate. Currently there is one mobile abattoir in England and two Food Standards Agency (FSA) approved sites it can operate from. Mobile abattoirs may offer benefits in certain localised or remote settings and in reduced transport times for animals. There are operational and regulatory constraints, and throughput is low and as such their wider application across the industry is limited.
Other than mobile slaughter facilities, the only forms of slaughter allowed on farm are emergency slaughter, which is strictly defined in the legislation, and slaughter by the animal’s owner for their own private domestic consumption. In both circumstances FSA have set out requirements on their website. No recent assessment of costs to farmers has been made for mobile or on farm slaughter.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Research on how much of the £40 million funding for brain tumour research has been spent.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between 2018/19 and 2022/23 DHSC directly invested £11.3 million in brain tumour research projects through the NIHR, plus an estimated £31.5 million in infrastructure enabling 8,500 patients to participate in wider brain cancer research.Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of (a) the inequality of access to nature in England and (b) that a fifth of English constituencies have no Right to Roam at all.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of providing access to the outdoors for people’s health and wellbeing and are working to ensure this is safe and appropriate. We also recognise that access to nature is currently inequitable across England, with some groups such as those from lower socio-economic backgrounds particularly disadvantaged. This is why we committed in our Environmental Improvement Plan to work across government to help ensure that everyone lives within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space, and to reduce barriers to access. We are already taking forward initiatives to help us deliver this, including new initiatives such as the river walks and national forests manifesto commitments and existing initiatives such as completing the King Charles III England Coast Path and upgrading the Coast to Coast trail across the north of England.
The last Labour Government introduced the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provides the public a right of access to large parts of the English countryside. The 8% figure of publicly accessible land does not include the thousands of green spaces (e.g. parks) that are available to the public. Most of the nation's forests managed by Forestry England (more than 253,000 hectares) have been dedicated as open access land.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the current level of resources for local trading standards services based within local authorities in Great Britain.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Local authorities are independent of central government and are responsible for managing their own services and financial positions.
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. The majority of the Local Government Finance Settlement is unringfenced recognising that local leaders are best placed to identify local priorities, including for local trading standards services.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's Good character: caseworker guidance, updated on 13 February 2025, how many people she expects to be impacted by this guidance.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer provided on 25 February 2025 to Question UIN 31371.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that local trading standards services have adequate (a) support and (b) expertise to enforce consumer protection laws introduced through the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Department for Business and Trade officials have contributed to training events and provided practical information to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to disseminate to trading standards officers about the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, including changes to consumer protection law and trading standards' enforcement powers.
Furthermore, the Department provides grants to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, as well as others, who are developing training material on the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Funding also supports the maintenance of Business Companion which provides trading standards officers and business with the latest information on the application of consumer law.
Asked by: Charlie Maynard (Liberal Democrat - Witney)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of rail infrastructure funding on future trends in the level of regional economic growth.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The growth mission is the central mission of this government. The impact of rail infrastructure investment on regional economic growth is a key consideration that is informing decisions for phase 2 of the Spending Review. The first phase of the Spending Review delivered a £1.1bn cash increase to the transport budget in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25 representing 1.5% real terms growth, delivering record spending.