To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Pets: Disease Control
Monday 3rd October 2022

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's rules on bringing pets into Great Britain, if he will make it his policy to require (a) a rabies blood test with a waiting time in line with the incubation period for that disease and (b) that (i) dogs and (ii) cats be treated for ticks prior to entry into the country.

Answered by Scott Mann - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We operate one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe. All non-commercial dogs, cats and ferrets entering the United Kingdom on approved routes under the Pet Travel rules and all commercial imports of pets undergo 100% documentary checks, and this includes checking animal health records. All pets entering Great Britain must be vaccinated against rabies, with a minimum 21 day wait period, and all dogs entering the United Kingdom must be treated for tapeworm no less than 24 hours and no more than 120 hours (five days) before entry unless coming from tapeworm-free countries.

Tick surveillance has shown that tick distribution and abundance is changing throughout the United Kingdom for many reasons, including habitat and climate change. Small numbers of localised infestations with non-native tick species have been reported in recent years. For these reasons, we strongly encourage pet owners to treat their pets to safeguard their animals against ticks and tick transmitted diseases when travelling.

We remain aware of the concerns around non-endemic diseases and continue to monitor the disease situation carefully. Our future policy will be guided by risk assessment.


Written Question
Pet Travel Scheme: Disease Control
Monday 3rd October 2022

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that pets brought into Great Britain under the pet passport scheme do not carry (a) diseases and (b) parasites, including (i) tapeworm and (ii) tick species that are not native to the UK.

Answered by Scott Mann - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

We operate one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe. All non-commercial dogs, cats and ferrets entering the United Kingdom on approved routes under the Pet Travel rules and all commercial imports of pets undergo 100% documentary checks, and this includes checking animal health records. All pets entering Great Britain must be vaccinated against rabies, with a minimum 21 day wait period, and all dogs entering the United Kingdom must be treated for tapeworm no less than 24 hours and no more than 120 hours (five days) before entry unless coming from tapeworm-free countries.

Tick surveillance has shown that tick distribution and abundance is changing throughout the United Kingdom for many reasons, including habitat and climate change. Small numbers of localised infestations with non-native tick species have been reported in recent years. For these reasons, we strongly encourage pet owners to treat their pets to safeguard their animals against ticks and tick transmitted diseases when travelling.

We remain aware of the concerns around non-endemic diseases and continue to monitor the disease situation carefully. Our future policy will be guided by risk assessment.


Written Question
Dogs: Smuggling
Thursday 29th September 2022

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the puppy smuggling industry; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Scott Mann - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

HM Government has a manifesto commitment to crack down on puppy smuggling and the low welfare import of pets.

The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill was reintroduced to the House of Commons following the Queen's Speech in May 2022 and will progress to Report stage as soon as parliamentary time allows. The Bill allows us to further protect the welfare of pets by introducing restrictions to crack down on the low welfare movements of pets into the United Kingdom and includes powers to introduce new restrictions on pet travel and the commercial import of pets on welfare grounds, via secondary legislation.


Written Question
Animal Welfare
Monday 23rd May 2022

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to introduce a ban on the advertising and offering for sale by overseas venues of attractions, activities or experiences involving poor animal welfare, such as low welfare elephant venues.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 17 May 2022 to the hon. Member for Rotherham, PQ 1511.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Information Officers
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many communications staff his Department employs (a) full time (b) part time and (c) on flexible working arrangements.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Defra Group Communications is the first single employer shared service communications team in Whitehall, working for six organisations. Alongside the core department it also provides communications support for five of the department’s largest Arm’s Length Bodies including the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Rural Payments Agency. Defra Group Communications staff work to different organisations across policy and operational areas so it is not possible to provide details of number of full time and part time colleagues working to one organisation. The departmental communications team is approximately 98 FTE.


Written Question
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Information Officers
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department spent on communications staff in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Defra Group Communications is the first single employer shared service communications team in Whitehall, working for six organisations. Alongside the core department it also provides communications support for five of the department’s largest Arm’s Length Bodies including the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Rural Payments Agency. Defra Group Communications staff work to different organisations across policy and operational areas and the communications spend covers six organisations. The department communications budget for the last three years has been £15.3 million for 2019-20, £14.5million for 2020-21 and £14.1 million for 2021-22.


Written Question
Food: Industry
Wednesday 3rd November 2021

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle the long-term shortage of labour in the food and drink sector.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

Defra is working closely with industry to help our world-leading farmers and food and drink businesses access the labour they need, and to ensure that our sectors are appropriately supported both this year and in the future.

On 22 December 2020, the Government extended the Seasonal Workers Pilot into 2021, with up to 30,000 visas available, granted for workers to come to the UK, from EU or non-EU countries, for a period of up to six months to work in the edible horticulture sector.

In December 2020, a Defra-led review into automation in horticulture was also announced alongside the extension of the Seasonal Workers Pilot. The review will report on ways to increase automation in the horticulture sector and meet the Government’s aim of reducing the need for migrant seasonal labour.

There are a number of initiatives across Government to bring these technologies to market as fast as possible, including Transforming Food Production, Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme and Farming Investment Fund as well as other public funding initiatives.

The Farming Innovation Programme opened for applications on 20 October 2021 and will support the sector to develop new technologies, systems and processes to deliver enhanced productivity and support wider net zero goals.

On 1 January 2021 the Government introduced the new points-based immigration system, under which EU and non-EU citizens are treated equally. The Skilled Worker route is open to all nationals who wish to come to the UK for the purpose of working in a skilled job they have been offered.

Alongside this, food and drink businesses will also be able to recruit those who come to the UK through our youth mobility schemes, dependents of skilled workers, plus those who arrive through other routes, such as our humanitarian protection ones, who have free access to the UK labour market.

In 2021 and beyond, the food and drink industry continues to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over 5.3 million EU citizens and their families have been granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme and EU nationals who have settled status can continue to travel to the UK to do seasonal work in the food and drink sector.

Defra is also working closely with the Home Office to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce beyond 2021.

For the longer term, the Government is encouraging all sectors to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options, wage increases and to invest in increased automation technology.

To support these efforts, Defra is working with industry and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to raise awareness of career opportunities within the food and drink sectors among UK workers. All food and drink businesses are encouraged to advertise roles through DWP's Find A Job website, where they can upload and manage their vacancies. DWP does not charge for this service and it is available across the United Kingdom.

Defra welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s work on the Release On Temporary Licence (ROTL) scheme for work across a number of sectors, including the food and drink sector. The scheme aims to help prisoners gain useful skills and work experience as they approach their release.

The Government is continuing to work extensively to understand employers’ needs through regular engagement with industry and encourage them to invest in the best home-grown talent through Government-backed schemes such as apprenticeships and T Levels.


Written Question
Fishing Catches
Friday 2nd July 2021

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 29 of April, 2021 to Question 185932 on fishing catches, whether he has sought to quantify the economic benefits of the fishing industry referred to in that answer.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The catching sector contributes £467m to the economy per year (35% of the seafood industry) (2018). There are around 12,000 fishermen in the UK fleet – most (78%) of them working full time. In 2019, UK vessels landed a total of 622,000 tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £987m. The economic benefits of the catching sector also provide jobs and incomes for other sectors supporting the fisher including firms that produce fishing vessels and gear, exporters, processers etc.

The Aquaculture sector contributed £375m (GVA) to the UK economy in 2018.

The seafood processing sector employs around 19,000 people (full time equivalents) (2018), contributing £537m to the UK economy (2018).


Written Question
Fishing Catches
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

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 onshore economic impacts of the fishing industry outwith the landing and processing of the catch.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The fishing industry will generate economic benefits through a variety of means including: income from UK resident crew; the sale and transportation of catch; the construction, sale, maintenance and repair of vessels; and the development of harbour and port infrastructure. The economic link licence condition ensures that those people who fish the UK’s quota contribute to the UK economy. This is a devolved issue and we have not made an assessment of the impacts.


Written Question
Fishing Catches: Territorial Waters
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2021 to Question 141502, on Fishing Catches: Territorial Waters, what progress has been made on establishing the mechanism to allow data exchange.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

The European Commission is supplying the UK with records of catches of quota species by EU vessels from the UK EEZ on a monthly basis. Defra officials remain engaged in ongoing technical conversations with the European Commission to establish a mechanism to allow sharing of additional data to support implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.