Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the next UK Food Security Report.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020 the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security and will do so every three years. The next United Kingdom Food Security Report will be published by December 2024.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 the UK Baking Industry Code of Practice for the Labelling of Sourdough Bread and Rolls, published by the Association of Bakery Ingredient Manufacturers on 31 January 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government welcomes the development of a code of practice by the UK baking industry to help with consistency and best practice in relation to the labelling of sourdough bread and rolls. We encourage all those involved in the production and marketing of sourdough to work together to ensure the code represents the best interests of all involved.
Industry codes of practice can provide a useful resource to support a level playing field for businesses. It should be noted that these are not authoritative statements of law, existing food labelling legislation ensures that the labelling and marketing of food does not mislead consumers. The Government has no plans to introduce new regulations on the use of the term sourdough.
The Government is committed to optimising the information that is available to consumers, and the Government Food Strategy sets out work that we will be taking forward on consumer information and transparency.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 publish an assessment of the potential (a) economic, (b) business, (c) environmental and (d) export impacts of the UK horticulture industry transitioning to peat-free growing mediums.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Our proposals to prohibit the sale of peat and peat containing products will deliver benefits in terms of carbon storage, protect habitats and biodiversity.
Defra consulted on its proposals on 18 December 2021 and published an Economic Impact Assessment at that time. The link to this updated assessment is provided below.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to provide (a) research and development and (b) other support to help the UK horticulture industry to transition to peat-free growing mediums.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government recognises the progress already made in transitioning to peat-free alternatives. We also recognise that certain sectors within the horticulture industry are encountering particular challenges and that is why our proposals will include specific, and time limited, exemptions for the professional horticulture sector.
We are currently co-funding with the horticultural sector monitoring of the composition of growing media (including peat) that is supplied for horticultural use. We continue to work and support the industry with the Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media, which allows manufacturers and retailers to make informed choices of growing media inputs to amateur or retail products.
We are also continuing to support research in this area, most recently with financial support to the Royal Horticultural Society’s new £1 million, co-funded, five-year project to support the transition to peat-free. This project will research sustainable alternatives to peat in large-scale commercial settings.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 potential impact of the culling and death of birds grown for the festive season due to avian flu on demand for poultry workers.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The scale of Avian Influenza outbreaks occurring in the UK, Europe and globally this year is unprecedented and we recognize the impact this has had on the poultry industry, particularly the turkey sector. However, the British poultry sector is highly resilient and there is no immediate threat to the food supply chain. Demand for poultry workers via the Seasonal Workers visa route is less than anticipated this year due primarily to the AI outbreak. This will not affect the 2,000 visas allocated to the seasonal poultry sector in 2024.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the £120 million committed in the Government Food Strategy for research funding for alternative proteins has been allocated to (a) plant-based, (b) fermentation-derived and (c) cultivated meat, dairy, eggs and seafood proteins.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s Food Strategy included a commitment to keep the UK at the front of the growing and innovative alternative protein sector by supporting alternative protein research and innovation, including as part of our partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to invest over £120 million in research across the food system. To date, public support in the form of R&D investment to the sector includes £12.5m part of the Defra-UKRI partnership Farming Innovation Programme (FIP), focussed on developing innovative solutions for sustainable farm-based protein production, although the FIP excludes post-farm gate protein technologies like cultured meat.
Innovate UK is currently funding three projects comprising £12.5M through the Transforming Food Production programme, focusing on alternative protein for aquaculture and animal feed applications and two projects with an overall value of £1.5M focused on lab-based meat cultivation. Additionally, UKRI’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Innovate UK are jointly planning to invest at least £20 million in capacity building, research, innovation and business-led commercialisation to help develop alternative, more sustainable protein sources between 2022-2025. Precision fermentation and cultivated meat research proposals will be within the scope of funding as part of the BBSRC Strategic Plan 2022-2025.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications her Department received for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme in 2022.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The application window for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme closed on 30 September 2022. We are now processing applications and payments are being made when evidence of exit is provided.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 take steps to implement the recommendation in the report by the Tenancy Working Group entitled The Rock Review, published on 13 October 2022, on establishing a new Directorate within her Department with responsibility for (a) agricultural tenancies and (b) other land occupation issues.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A diverse and vibrant tenanted sector is vital to the future of agriculture, and we want all types of farmers and other land managers, including tenants, to get involved with the new schemes. That’s why government commissioned the Rock Review, and we are now considering over 70 recommendations.
We have already implemented some of the recommendations, including designing the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme to be accessible to tenants, including those with shorter term agreements.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on taking steps to implement the recommendations on taxation in the report by the Tenancy Working Group entitled The Rock Review, published on 13 October 2022.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with HM Treasury to consider the recommendations on taxation made in the Rock Review.