Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the the potential benefits of introducing an initiative to provide livestock farmers with practical guidance on disease prevention and responsible antibiotic use.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra supports livestock farmers in England to improve disease prevention, biosecurity and the responsible use of antibiotics through existing initiatives, including the Animal Health and Welfare Review and the Poultry Biosecurity Review. The Department continues to assess the evidence on animal health and disease prevention to inform policy development.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has undertaken an assessment of the resilience of agricultural water supplies during prolonged dry weather.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) and Defra are holding monthly National Drought Group meetings gathering intelligence from the agriculture sector on water resilience. Supplies in irrigation reservoirs have rapidly declined following a dry spring and many are now at less than 50% capacity. Conditions on abstraction licences to protect the environment also reduce water availability where river flows are low.
The EA has downgraded its spray irrigation prospects forecast for farmers following the dry weather and deterioration in the water resources position. The EAâs irrigation prospect report includes support packages available for farmers to increase their resilience.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on the cost of rural crime to farming businesses.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
The Government is committed to tackling rural crime and safeguarding rural communities. That is why we have worked closely with the Home Office and the National Police Chiefâs Council to deliver their 2025-28 Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy which was published November 2025.
The strategy sets out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities. The strategy, lasting until 2028, will ensure efforts to reduce crime benefit every community no matter where they live, including rural communities.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department undertakes research or collects data on confidence among farmers and agricultural businesses.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes various measures of farmer confidence, including a summary of free text comments by theme, collected via the Farmer Opinion Tracker. The latest results are published here and the next set of results will be available on the same page on 29 July 2026.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to amend food labelling regulations so that the Union Jack and 'British' country-of-origin labels can only be applied to meat products from livestock that were born, bred, and processed within the UK.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK aims toâŻmaintainâŻhigh standardsâŻon the information that is provided on food labels. All food sold on the UK market, including that which is imported, must comply with UK food labelling rules. The fundamental principle of our food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable the safe use of food.
Food that is not classed as UK origin cannot be sold or labelled as being British. Processed foods and composite foods manufactured in the UK are British products, many of which are well known British brands abroad. But if these contain a primary ingredient that is not British then under existing rules a British claim can only be made on the label if the label also highlights that the primary ingredient is not British. Food simply re-packaged in the UK, without any further processing, does not confer UK origin on it.
Major retailers go further than the regulations by having already committed in the 2010 âVoluntary Principles on country-of-origin labellingâ to only include Union flags or imagery on products containing meat or dairy products (milk, cream, cheese, butter) when the meat or milk is sourced from the UK.
The Government has no current plans to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to provide immediate financial assistance or supply chain interventions to support UK independent pig farmers following price changes.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), formed by Defra and the Devolved Governments, has routinely followed the changes in pigmeat prices, including their recent downturn after several years of strong prices.
The Department does not consider there is a case for support in the pig sector at this time but will continue to monitor the situation, including through the UKAMMG and regular engagement with industry.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential economic impact on British independent pig farmers of Spanish pork imports being diverted into the UK market following Spainâs loss of Chinese export contracts due to African Swine Fever; and what safeguards or tariffs can be deployed under current trade frameworks to prevent domestic producers from being undercut by state-subsidised or market-distorted foreign imports.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government routinely monitors imports of sensitive agricultural products for any unforeseen surges that could impact domestic industry. Imports from Spain currently account for 9.5% of UK pigmeat imports on a country-of-origin basis.
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement â as is usual in trade agreements - confirms that both parties retain rights on trade remedies, including anti-dumping measures and WTO safeguards under GATT Article XIX. The Trade Remedies Authority investigates cases where imports may cause serious injury to domestic industries.
The UK also maintains robust sanitary and phytosanitary controls; in cases such as African Swine Fever, import restrictions and certification requirements apply.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
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 mandate equitable, legally binding, cost-of-production contracts between major supermarkets, processors and independent pig farmers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The âFair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) Regulationsâ aim to strengthen the pig sector by improving how contracts operate and giving farmers more control over how they sell their pigs.
They introduce statutory requirements for written contracts between pig producers and purchasers, supporting more transparent and equitable supply arrangements across the supply chain, including processors supplying major retailers.
The FDOP are the result of extensive consultation with farmers, producer groups and the wider industry. They have applied to any new contracts since August 2025 and will come into force fully (for all contracts) from August 2026.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
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 recent outbreak of African Swine Fever in wild boar in Spain, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Spanish pork imports from outside the restricted containment zones do not carry the virus into the UK; and what measures are in place to intercept and penalise import vehicles that bypass mandatory veterinary and biosecurity checks at inland Border Control Posts.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Commercial imports of pork and pork products from Spain into Great Britain must be accompanied by health certification signed by an official veterinarian, attesting compliance with animal health requirements to mitigate the risk of spread of African swine fever.
Importers must make customs declarations and pre-notify arrival to an approved Border Control Post (BCP). Customs holds are in place until the goods have passed BCP checks. Consignments bypassing checks are followed up by the relevant competent authorities.
Border Force carries out customs checks at ports and airports aimed at intercepting non-compliant goods.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps are she is taking to implement a ban on the use of snares in England; and when she expects to publish a timeline for this policy.
Answered by Mary Creagh
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation and this included a commitment to bring an end to the use of snare traps in England.
This was recently reaffirmed in the Governmentâs Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025. Defra is now actively looking to bring a ban on snares into force as swiftly as possible.