Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 is taking steps to help ensure that sugar beet growers receive an adequate price for their product.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers who are vital to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has in place to ensure that urgent biosecurity information reaches farmers quickly.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Biosecurity is a priority for this government. Urgent biosecurity information, such as alerts about animal and plant health disease incidents, any geographic restrictions in place as a result, and signposting to information on what farmers should do to maintain good biosecurity measures – are shared frequently across the sector.
During the current bluetongue virus outbreak, text messages and email alerts are regularly sent to those registered via livestock keeper databases so that they are aware of their responsibilities. We have made bird registration mandatory for those with poultry or other captive birds, so that we can inform them of the biosecurity risks, for example from Avian Influenza.
We maintain continued communications through our industry partners, on gov.uk, social media and, where possible, through the national and trade press, to increase awareness and action to help protect the UK from biosecurity risks.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the capability of the Animal and Plant Health Agency IT equipment.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The APHA and Defra leadership teams have benefited from internal audits undertaken each year which look at issues including spend, governance, resilience, cyber security, and asset management. Additional insight into the need for investment in the APHA's IT capability has also come from 3 recent Government Internal Audit Agency audits on; Disaster Recovery, Cyber Security and a more targeted APHA Shadow IT Audit.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Animal and Plant Health Agency has carried out scenario planning for potential (a) outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and (b) other significant biosecurity breaches.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) scenario modelling has been completed, and initial outputs received. A report is being drafted with the deadline being end of March. APHA is undertaking assessments in relation to other diseases including ASF.
FMD scenario modelling has been carried out multiple times, for such reasons as Contingency Exercises (Exercise Rowan) and to support development of livestock traceability systems. The majority of APHA exercises are based around a plausible scenario, developed from expert opinion, and/or demonstrated incursion, and/or simulation model. Scenarios are designed to reflect plausible, whilst testing, conditions.
APHA have carried out assessments of the risk of incursion of FMD from the continent and publish these via GOV.UK.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the last time was that Animal and Plant Health Agency IT systems were upgraded.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has a wide range of applications and IT systems all of which require maintenance, update, and refresh
As these activities are regular and carried out independently per system, each year work is continually undertaken to assess and then either remediate, modernise or replace IT systems
The level of development undertaken depends on several factors including government investment during a Spending Review period, evidence from formal IT Health Checks and an assessment of the level of risk held within the IT estate
Defra has different programmes underway which invest in the APHA's IT estate, including the Legacy Application Programme and the APHA's Delivering Sustainable Futures programme. The Delivering Sustainable Futures programme seeks to enhance the APHA's IT estate by developing modern, stable, lower cost and more interoperable IT architecture.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of (a) veterinarians, (b) veterinary technicians and (c) other veterinary experts to manage potential future outbreaks of foot and mouth disease.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra and APHA appreciates the incredibly valuable work completed by veterinarians, technicians, and support staff, recognising their essential roles in achieving our ambitious goals of upholding high standards of animal welfare, supporting trade, and safeguarding public health and food security. The Government acknowledges the high demand for veterinary services and is working collaboratively across departments and with the profession to explore additional measures that will ensure sufficient staffing levels to support and sustain the sector effectively during times of disease outbreaks.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role he envisages community and voluntary organisations such as community gardens playing in the food system going forwards; and whether funding is available for existing community and voluntary organisations for this purpose.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will be considering the role of place-based initiatives, including the role of community and voluntary organisations, as we develop our plans for a food strategy that will create a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system.
The development of a food system strategy, in partnership with the food sector itself, sets out to map the system-change that is needed. It is too early to list confirmed actions or activities, and therefore funding decisions.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of councils have (a) applied for and (b) received exemptions from food waste processing under the Simpler Recycling’s mandatory food waste collection requirements, due to commence between 2025-2027.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have set out that every local authority will be required to collect food waste for recycling by 31 March 2026. Commencement regulations named a total of 31 local authorities that were provided with a bespoke transitional arrangement, delaying food waste collection requirements. It was deemed that these local authorities needed longer to implement separate food waste collections for households due to barriers presented by long-term residual waste disposal contracts that run beyond 31 March 2026.
We engaged extensively with affected local authorities. Where the evidence demonstrated that existing long-term waste disposal contracts presented an unavoidable barrier to the introduction of food waste collections by 31 March 2026, transitional arrangements were provided by Defra.
We will continue to work with local authorities to identify whether they can bring forward food waste collections and the associated benefits before the end of their bespoke transitional arrangement.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason 31 councils were granted Transitional Provisions under The Environment Act 2021 (Commencement No. 9 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have set out that every local authority will be required to collect food waste for recycling by 31 March 2026. In some exceptional circumstances, certain local authorities may need longer to implement separate food waste collections for households due to long-term waste disposal contracts that run beyond 31 March 2026.
We engaged extensively with affected local authorities and required that they provide evidence that their waste disposal contract presents an unavoidable barrier to the introduction of food waste collections by 31 March 2026.
We will continue to work with local authorities to identify whether they can bring forward food waste collections and the associated benefits before the end of their transitional arrangement.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 the provisions of the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 forbidding the handling of chickens by their legs on farms and during transportation and loading are followed.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and wants to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. Having reviewed the advice and recommendations in the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of different methods and systems for the catching, carrying, collecting and loading of poultry, the Government is considering next steps and will announce these in due course.