Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 has made an assessment of the adequacy of local authorities' Local Flood Risk Management Strategies.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to supporting communities and ensuring flood risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future. Local flood risk management is a devolved matter, but we will work to improve resilience and preparation across central government and local authorities to better protect communities across the UK.
Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. That is why we set up a Flood Resilience Taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season. This marks a new approach to preparing for flooding and working between national, regional and local Government, including the devolved administrations, and flood risk partners.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 trends in the level of food security.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The second United Kingdom Food Security Report (UKFSR) was published in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistical data relating to food security in the UK, fulfilling the duty in the Agriculture Act 2020 to present a report on food security to Parliament at least once every three years.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help tackle instances of drought.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Drought plans must be produced by Water Companies every 5 years. A drought plan is a tactical plan that shows how a secure water supply is maintained, while minimising impacts on the environment during dry weather and drought.
There are a range of actions/tools that can be utilised in a drought plan. These range from Temporary Use Bans (known as 'hosepipe bans'), drought permits-which enable companies to take more water from environment (as prescribed in the Water Resources Act 1991 (WRA91)). In addition, there are also Drought Orders which enable companies to take further water from environment and/or other abstractors and implement water restrictions or restrict other non-essential use.
Defra Minister Hardy attended the National Drought Group, chaired by the Environment Agency, held on 5 June, to ensure actions are being taken to secure water supplies, should recent dry weather continue. We continue to monitor the situation and further National Drought Group meetings are planned, should the dry weather continue.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 had recent discussions with Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland on the recent lifting of quarantine due to avian influenza.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the devolved administrations to assess their disease risks and respond accordingly. However, for animal disease threats, each of the four UK administrations are an integral part of the decision-making process and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland meet regularly with their counterparts in Defra, Welsh Government and Scottish Government where topics such as the Avian influenza prevention zones and the lifting of housing measures are discussed and the impact on the UK administrations considered. Representatives including the Chief Veterinary Officers from each devolved administration also sit on the Animal Disease Policy Group, a UK wide policy decision making group. This helps to drive a flexible and coordinated response. The UK contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals explains how the administrations work together in responding to an outbreak at a UK level.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 encourage food suppliers to use locally sourced food products.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our food strategy will bring together the outcomes we want from the food system to help Government and the food industry work towards shared goals and priorities. The Government will be considering the role of place-based initiatives as the food strategy is developed. Together, we can deliver a system we can be even more proud of, that protects British traditions and drives generational change in our relationship with food. For the first time in our history, the Government will also monitor where public sector food comes from so we can better understand our opportunities. We’re reforming procurement rules to make it easier for British producers to bid for a share of the £5 billion spent annually on public sector catering, given the new national procurement policy statement favours high-quality products that we believe British producers are well-placed to supply.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 support the chick population.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes monthly statistics on the activity of UK hatcheries.
The UK chick sector is highly resilient, with production remaining stable over the last five years. The latest published figures for the first quarter of 2025, show that total hatchery placings for commercial broilers, layer hens, and turkeys increased by approximately 3.5%, equivalent to 10.2 million additional chicks, compared to the same period in 2024.
The Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare Grant was recently offered to commercial laying hen and pullet keepers in England. It supports these farmers to improve the health, welfare, and productivity of their flocks through access to £22.6 million in grants towards the cost of upgrading their housing. Applications closed on 18 September 2024, and all applicants have been contacted to notify them of next steps.
In addition, we recently announced farmers across England will be able to apply for grants worth up to £25,000 to invest in machinery that boosts farm productivity, helps manage slurry, or for improving animal health and welfare. Eligible broiler and layer hen chick producers can apply for this new round of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund from 29 May 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 supermarkets to stock more locally, homegrown fruit and vegetables.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials regularly engage with stakeholders across the food supply chain to understand their work to promote British produce in-store and online. We strongly support efforts to promote British food and back our farmers, who produce some of the best food in the world. This is why the food strategy will set the food system up for long-term success and ensure that our food system can feed the nation, realise its potential for economic growth, protect the planet, and nourish individuals, now and in the future.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the level of the butterfly population across the UK.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature, including pollinator species such as butterflies.
The most recently published statistics on butterflies in the United Kingdom and in England for 2023 provides information on UK butterfly abundance as well as the major drivers of decline. In summary, on average the abundance of butterflies across the UK continues to show a long-term decline. This is due to a range of factors including weather patterns, habitat loss, pollution and the use of pesticides.
Defra partly funds the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS) which is the first scheme in the world to have begun (since 2017) generating systematic data on the abundance of bees, hoverflies and other flower-visiting insects at a national scale. Data collected through PoMS insect surveys contribute to providing an invaluable resource from which to measure trends in pollinator populations.
PoMS complements longer-running insect monitoring carried out by citizen scientists including the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) and the Big Butterfly Count that runs from July into August.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help reduce global warming.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While DESNZ leads across Government on net zero, Defra is responsible for reducing emissions from agriculture, land use (including peat), F-gases and waste (including wastewater), whilst simultaneously increasing England's carbon saving potential through our forestry policies. DESNZ will deliver an updated plan that sets out the policy package out to the end of Carbon Budget 6 in 2037 for all sectors by October 2025. This will outline the policies and proposals needed to deliver Carbon Budgets 4-6 and our Nationally Determined Contribution commitments on a pathway to net zero.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 2 September 2024 to Question 2087 on Horse: Smuggling, what estimate his Department has made of the number of horses smuggled from the United Kingdom at (a) Dover and (b) other ports for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
APHA defines a smuggled animal as one that is illegally exported: it is one that is not travelling on appropriate paperwork, has not been declared and/or is concealed. This means that robust data on the numbers of horses and ponies illegally smuggled out of the United Kingdom in the last 5 years is not readily available, as APHA can only report on inspected animals; those that are presented or intercepted.
APHA holds data for the period September 2023 to date for Dover only. We have previously provided the data from September 2023 to 30 July 2024.
See PQ 45796 for the most recent data on recorded exports.
Between 31 July 2024 to present, APHA Dover inspected 197 horses/ponies being exported into mainland Europe, including those originating from Ireland and transiting through Great Britain. Of these, 65 were found to be non-compliant due to contraventions of official controls related to animal health and the welfare of animals in transport.