Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of provisions in the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill on the work of animal rescue charities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill completed second reading in the House of Commons on 15 March 2024.
In August 2021 we launched a consultation on the commercial and non-commercial movement of pets into Great Britain. It was a wide-ranging consultation with excellent engagement with key stakeholders including animal rescue charities. We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, and the consultation response will be published soon.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 encourage (a) schools, (b) prisons and (c) hospitals to serve British-caught fish.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has consulted on changes to the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF), including increasing the sourcing of local and sustainable food. The consultation sought views on sourcing, where possible, a diverse range of seasonally available seafood species from locally caught or produced sources. As the Government response to the consultation has not yet been published, it is too soon to pre-empt any specific findings.
We have also now appointed an independent advisor to support the Government’s ongoing work to improve food procurement in the public sector and make the system more accessible to small- and medium-sized businesses and, subject to domestic and international legal obligations, explore the benefits of and steps to getting more local-caught fish into schools, prisons and hospitals.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 guidance issued by his Department entitled Import live animals and germinal products from the EU to Great Britain on 31 January 2024, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that the time taken for the new checks to be undertaken at airports after 30 April 2024 does not affect the viability of imported chilled semen for (a) racehorses and (b) other species.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Equine germinal products, including equine semen, are classified as ‘high risk’ under the Border Target Operating Model, regardless of country of origin. EU and Rest of World equine germinal products currently require pre-notification and health certification and this will continue to be the case. Currently APHA undertake documentary checks on EU origin germinal products imported into GB, whilst Port Health Authorities conduct documentary and identity checks on Rest of World imports. Our expectation is that PHAs will begin to undertake the required checks (100% documentary & ID checks) on EU origin germinal products in line with the wider TOM implementation milestones for animal products (i.e. starting from 30 April 2024, aside from EU goods imported from the island of Ireland).
We are aware that the equine germinal product industry has concerns about the impact of the move of checks to BCPs, particularly relating to the timing of PHA processes for imports of fresh equine semen during the breeding season. There is direct engagement at a working level to understand, and where possible resolve, these concerns.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 25 October 2023 to Question 203372 on Natural England, for what reason Natural England have not published the declaration of interests made at and (b) minutes of the board meeting of 28 June 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England will publish a record of the meeting which will include details of how to request a transcript on GOV.UK in due course.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 25 October 2023 to Question 203372 on Natural England, if Natural England will publish the register of board members’ interests as a separate document on gov.uk.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England will publish the Board register of interests on GOV.UK in due course.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many members of the board of Natural England held valid appointments to that board on 28 June 2023; and where the register of their interests is held.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
On 28 June 2023 the Natural England Board consisted of twelve members with valid appointments:
Natural England maintains a Board member register of interests and relevant details from this are included in the Annual Report and Accounts published on GOV.UK. Any changes which are declared by Board members are captured in Board minutes and the register updated. The minutes are published on GOV.UK after each meeting.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 minimum catch sizes for crawfish, if her Department will extend the inshore 110mm landing size to outside the six mile limit.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Government has consulted on a crab and lobster fisheries management plan (FMP) which included a proposal to extend the national minimum landing size for crawfish to 110mm outside 6 nautical miles. This consultation closed on 01 October. The crab and lobster FMP is due to be published in December.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to facilitate the export of livestock to the EU for breeding purposes.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
His Majesty’s Government is working with industry and inspectors to develop digital Export Health Certificates to replace paper certification for live animals, to reduce the administrative burden on traders where possible. We anticipate a staged approach to digitisation of certification for exports to tie in with wider work on the Single Trade Window, which will allow traders to meet all their import, export and transit obligations by submitting information once, and in one place.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on creating a timetable for the publication of new supply chain fair dealing codes for each sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government wants all farmers to receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling any contractual unfairness that might exist in the agri-food supply chain.
Powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 enable us to introduce statutory codes of contractual practice which would apply to processors and other businesses when purchasing agricultural products directly from farmers.
In 2020, the Government carried out a consultation seeking views from farmers and processors in the dairy sector on whether future regulation could be used to strengthen fairness and transparency in the supply chain to ensure farmers are treated fairly. We continue to work closely with stakeholders during the development of regulations and intend to introduce legislation later this year.
A subsequent consultation was conducted between July and October 2022 exploring issues in the pig sector. We are analysing the responses and considering appropriate next steps. A Summary of Responses, which will outline the main findings and conclusions from the consultation, will be published next month.
We intend to use these powers in a targeted way where there is clear evidence of unfair practices in specific agricultural sectors and statutory codes will help address the issues. The Government will continue to work closely with all sectors to discuss any supply chain issues.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 invest in local food infrastructure.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As a Government we have a Manifesto commitment that we want people at home and abroad to be lining up to buy British. SMEs are at the heart of the sector, making up 98% of food and drink manufacturing businesses, and one of our key focuses is supporting them to grow.
As part of our support for these businesses the Government hosted a Regional Food and Drink Summit in Birmingham in March 2022. The Summit successfully brought together SMEs and regional organisations to share best practice and access support to grow their business through exporting, selling direct to consumers, accessing public sector procurement opportunities and promoting their products at a regional level.
Building on the Summit we have continued to empower businesses and regional organisations to leverage growth opportunities, champion their regional food identity and develop links with local tourism through a series of regional workshops most recently in Yorkshire and Cornwall.
In addition to the Government’s work, we recognise the role that local organisations play in supporting local food infrastructure. We work closely with local enterprise partnerships, as well as businesses and representative organisations, through regular engagement, regional workshop events, masterclasses and other events to develop local food and drink networks, promote local products and share best practice.