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 measures are in place to monitor (a) food fraud and (b) mislabelling in (i) retail and (ii) wholesale markets.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) National Food Crime Unit monitors UK food fraud through intelligence-led analysis, which supports the shaping of targeted food fraud investigations.
Defra officials and the FSA work closely with local authority food teams who enforce food labelling rules across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to address labels that may be misleading or non-compliant.
Where there is a public health risk, the FSA issues alerts and product recalls to protect the public. Trading Standards and Environmental Health officers undertake inspections and sampling at both retail and wholesale premises and have powers to take enforcement action where necessary.
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 she has had discussions with intentional partners on the effectiveness of animal welfare inspections in abattoirs.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government works in international fora, such as the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) to champion the importance of high standards of animal welfare and promote best practice, including on welfare at slaughter.
The Government also works collaboratively with international partners bilaterally to promote high welfare standards, including at slaughter; explore opportunities for sharing approaches that have worked well; and collaborate on mutually held challenges.
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 her Department is taking with intentional partners to (a) support sustainable fisheries and (b) protect marine biodiversity.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On sustainable fisheries, Defra is actively engaged throughout the UN system working with a range of countries to promote sustainable management and improved international governance of fisheries. We are also a member of five Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, where we again work with other members to deliver sustainable outcomes. In addition, Defra undertakes a range of direct engagement with the EU, Norway, and other Coastal States in the Northeast Atlantic, which includes a series of annual negotiations focused on determining sustainable fishing opportunities. We are also working closely with partners at the World Trade Organisation to deliver UN Sustainable Development Goal 14.6, which aims to prohibit those fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing.
On protecting the marine biodiversity, Defra is actively engaged in global action to tackle the shared challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution, through global and regional intergovernmental agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Defra and FCDO drive progress on international ocean governance by working in partnership with other countries, especially small island developing states (SIDS). UK Official Development Assistance supports action for people and nature through the Blue Planet Fund. We also work through a range of partnerships to deliver on shared objectives including the global target to effectively conserve and manage 30% of land and 30% of ocean by 2030; and to build momentum towards a sustainable ocean economy.
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 measures she is taking with international partners to enforce international legislation protecting endangered wildlife species.
Answered by Mary Creagh
The UK works closely with international partners to support the protection of endangered wildlife species at home and abroad through global agreements and cooperation mechanisms. We are an active Party to key multilateral environmental agreements, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Ramsar.
Through these frameworks, the UK supports effective implementation, works with partners to strengthen compliance, and contributes to collective action to address key threats, including habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade. We also support these efforts through international biodiversity funding programmes, such as the Darwin Initiative and the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, which support protected areas and action to tackle illegal wildlife trade, including strengthening enforcement and legal frameworks.
Domestically, we implement these commitments through robust legislation and enforcement, including collaboration with international enforcement networks.
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 she has made of the potential impact of climate change on UK crop yields.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Defra-funded Food, Farming & Natural Environment Climate Service develops evidence on climate adaptation to strengthen the resilience of the agri-food sector. Defra’s crop genetic improvement platform also funds crop breeding R&D to identify genetic traits to improve UK crop resilience in the context of a changing climate.
The National Adaptation Programme sets out government actions to help adapt to the impacts of climate change in England, including in the food and farming sector. To support rural communities and farmers, the Government is funding actions to improve the environment, mitigate flood risk, and boost resilience, through Environmental Land Management schemes.
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 assessment her Department has made of the welfare of farmed animals in England.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In December 2025, Defra published The Animal Welfare Strategy for England, a comprehensive package of reforms designed to enhance the lives of millions of animals, including farmed animals. The Government continues to make progress towards delivering the commitments set out in the strategy.
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 her Department has taken to protect (a) bees and (b) other pollinators.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Defra protects honeybee health through delivery of the Healthy Bees Plan 2030, and measures to monitor and manage bee pest and disease risks. We will produce a refreshed Pollinator Action Plan as part of the Environmental Improvement Plan and coordinate Bees’ Needs Week (BNW) and the Bees’ Needs Champions Awards to support pollinators. Defra helps fund the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme which tracks changes in pollinator numbers, including abundance of bees, hoverflies and other flower-visiting insects. This data contributes to measuring trends in pollinator populations to target conservation efforts.
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 her Department is taking to help support heritage farmland.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to supporting British farmers and the vital role they play. In England, the Government will continue to invest in our farmers and land managers to make their businesses, food production and our country more sustainable and resilient through Environmental Land Management (ELM), including our heritage farmland.
Part of ELM, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier includes actions and capital items which support farmers and land managers in protecting and restoring historic or archaeological features and carrying out heritage actions. For example, actions include:
Furthermore, there are three boundary feature actions and two heritage actions remaining available in the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 offer, as follows:
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 she is taking to support biodiversity in rural communities.
Answered by Mary Creagh
This Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature in rural communities through delivering our legally binding biodiversity targets on species abundance, species extinction and habitat creation and restoration. The Land Use Framework (LUF) shows we have enough land to deliver all our targets and outcomes but need to be more strategic in its use.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) are being prepared across the whole of England to enable local areas to set priorities for biodiversity and environmental improvement and to propose where action is most needed.
Each strategy is being led by a local authority and co-developed with input from local communities, landowners, and stakeholders, ensuring that it reflects the unique environmental and social context of the local area, including rural areas.
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 she is taking to tackle flooding in flood-prone areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities around the country from flooding is a priority for this Government.
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.
Protecting communities from floods is a devolved responsibility. Delivering on the Plan for Change, in England, this Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 to construct new flood schemes and repair existing defences, protecting communities from the devastating impacts of climate change.
This Labour Government are investing £4.2 billion over the next three years—2026-27 to 2028-29—to construct new flood defence schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across England.