Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will set a food waste reduction target for the Waste and Resources Action Programme.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are fully committed to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 target, which seeks to halve global food waste at consumer and retail levels by 2030. We fund the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to manage the Courtauld Commitment, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste across the supply chain, with a target of a 50% per capita reduction in food waste by 2030 against the UK’s 2007 baseline.
These are ambitious targets, and we are making progress. Between 2007-2021, UK per capita food waste fell by 26kg per person per year, that’s an 18.3% reduction. Through WRAP we continue to support businesses and citizens to take action, with more than £2 million going to our food waste prevention programme this year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 meet the Species Reintroduction Taskforce to discuss ongoing work to increase the number of red squirrels in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is committed to working closely with the England Species Reintroductions Taskforce to help it achieve its objective to realise the full benefits of species conservation translocations for nature recovery and society. To do so, Defra attends Taskforce meetings as an observer. The Taskforce is committed to developing and publishing materials to better understand the risks and benefits of species translocations. Defra will engage with the Taskforce on the applicability of these outputs to Defra’s priorities, whether on red squirrels or any other species, once they are produced.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 help ensure an adequate supply of labour in the food supply chain.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is aware of the impact that labour shortages are having on the food supply chain and we continue to speak regularly with the sector and other government departments to understand labour supply and demand, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements.
To inform future decisions on labour across the sector, Defra commissioned John Shropshire to carry out an Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain throughout 2022 and 2023, considering how automation, domestic labour and migrant labour could contribute to tackling labour shortages in our sectors. This report was published on 30 June 2023 and the government response – which will also be informed by the Review of Automation in Horticulture – is expected to be published in early 2024.
At the same time as the response, the government will set out how it will support the sector to access the labour it needs alongside actions to reduce the sector’s reliance on migrant labour including via our work on automation and promoting domestic labour procurement and training.
Alongside this, the Government announced last May that there would be 45,000 Seasonal Worker visas for the horticulture sector in 2024, with a further 2000 for seasonal poultry workers, ensuring these sectors can plan their workforce needs for the year ahead with confidence.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will the Responsible Dog Ownership working group continue beyond the forthcoming publication of it’s findings.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra will continue to work with members of the Responsible Dog Ownership working group including police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to facilitate the recommendations of the taskforce’s report. Conclusions from this work aim to address all aspects of tackling irresponsible dog ownership effectively, from prevention to robust, consistent enforcement, focussing on owners as well as on their dogs.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 22 February 2023 to Question 146816 on Northern Ireland Protocol and Trader Support Service: Costs, what the status is of the Movement Assistance Scheme.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Movement Assistance Scheme has been extended to 30th June 2025.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 5 July 2023 to Question 191886 on Animal Welfare: Veterinary Services, what the outcome was of the workforce modelling across the veterinary sector undertaken by the Royal Colleague of Veterinary Surgeons; and how many qualified vets will be needed by 2028 to respond to animal welfare issues.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ (RCVS) workforce modelling of the veterinary sector is ongoing and will be published in due course. This workforce modelling will explore future veterinary capacity required to deliver on animal welfare and public health commitments.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will continue to support the vital work of the veterinary profession and works closely with the RCVS.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made towards reducing PFAS emissions through UK REACH restrictions; and what assessment she has made of the impact of restrictions on PFAS in fire-fighting foams on levels of those emissions.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 4 April 2023, we welcomed the HSE’s publication of the PFAS Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA), which represents a significant milestone in the UK’s efforts to protect people and the environment. One of the RMOA’s recommendations, which Defra ministers have accepted, was that work be progressed to reduce PFAS emissions by developing UK REACH restrictions, beginning with a restriction on PFAS in fire-fighting foams, and by exploring further restrictions covering a wide range of industrial and consumer uses. These actions form part of the commitments made within the Plan for Water published in April last year.
Work has begun to scope out the restriction on PFAS in firefighting foams as well as potential further restrictions on other uses of PFAS. The Environment Agency has launched a study collecting further information on dispersive uses of PFAS (other than fire-fighting foams), alternatives to PFAS and other information that could be used to assess the impacts of a potential UK REACH restriction of certain PFAS uses.
We will share further details in upcoming UK REACH Work Programmes.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the volume of food waste reported by businesses in the last three years.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to tackling food waste both in the home and across the supply chain and we are working towards eliminating all food waste being sent to landfill by 2030.
This year more than £2 million will be spent on a food waste prevention programme delivered by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) which includes working with businesses to measure, report and take action on reducing their food waste. Latest data from WRAP shows that between 2018-21 retail food waste fell by 8.5% and manufacturing food waste fell by 9.2%. Furthermore, in line with the commitment in the Net Zero Strategy, we are exploring options for the near elimination of municipal biodegradable waste, including food waste, to landfill from 2028. We issued a call for evidence on 26 May 2023 to support detailed policy development. A Government Response to this call for evidence and further information will be published in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the proportion of farming land that will be organic by the end of 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports the development of organic farming through both Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). These schemes reward farmers for farming practices that help produce food sustainably and protect the environment. Farmers are able to choose from a range of standards which are suitable for their farms. We continue to work with organic farmers to understand how their farming practices might match the standards, including at higher levels of ambition.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold discussions with the Forestry Commission on promoting woodland creation.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Woodland creation is regularly discussed between the Forestry Commission and the Forestry Minister on behalf of the Secretary of State.
The Forestry Commission continues to keep Defra ministers up to date on the progress of woodland creation. Defra and Forestry Commission officials meet regularly to coordinate efforts to promote the creation of woodlands, supporting schemes such as the Forestry Commission’s flagship England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO).
EWCO and Woodland Creation Planning Grant will transition to become part of the Countryside Stewardship scheme – one of the new environmental land management schemes. The future Countryside Stewardship woodland creation offer will largely mirror the EWCO offer.