Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 take steps to prohibit or discourage the use of plastic confetti and replace with biodegradable alternatives.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has a number of restrictions on unnecessary single use plastic products, including single-use vapes and wet wipes containing plastic. We will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions in line with circular economy principles.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 take steps to mitigate disturbance of blue carbon stores on the seabed by requiring marine developers to align with the Greenhouse Gas Assessment process.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are no current plans to require the inclusion of seabed carbon disturbance in marine developers' Greenhouse Gas Assessment processes. A recent Cefas study highlights that further research is needed to understand the release of carbon from seabed stores resulting from human activities. Defra is funding research through the Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership to improve understanding of UK seabed sediment carbon storage and sequestration, impacts of human activities, and management interventions.
England's marine plans contain policies supporting the conservation, restoration and enhancement of habitats providing carbon sequestration ecosystem services. Two of England's three Highly Protected Marine Areas, Allonby Bay and North East of Farnes Deep, contain blue carbon habitats, including seabed carbon.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 carbon emitted from disturbance of carbon stores on the seabed.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Cefas published a technical briefing in February 2026 on how human activities and climate change affect seabed carbon. The briefing explains that the result of disturbing seabed carbon depends on its reactivity, which varies according to its source, mineral associations and microbial activity. Around 10-35% of English seabed carbon stocks are considered reactive, with higher proportions in coastal and offshore areas. Stable seabed carbon will likely remain stored following disturbance, while reactive carbon may break down and release dissolved inorganic carbon into the water column. Further research is needed to understand how much of this carbon reaches the atmosphere.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information from individual farm animal welfare inspections is routinely published, and what assessment she has made of whether those arrangements provide adequate public scrutiny of animal welfare standards.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government understands the importance of transparency in relation to the welfare of farmed animals. Multi Annual National Control Plan (MANCP) reports include national data on the number of farm inspections completed by APHA, the welfare scores from those inspections and any subsequent enforcement action are reported at a national level. From 2026 Local Authority inspections will also be included in this report. This Government considers that this provides sufficient overview of animal welfare enforcement data.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department collects on (a) animal welfare breaches identified during farm inspections and (b) subsequent enforcement action taken; and whether she plans to publish those data.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government understands the importance of transparency in relation to the welfare of farmed animals. Multi Annual National Control Plan (MANCP) reports include national data on the number of farm inspections completed by APHA, the welfare scores from those inspections and any subsequent enforcement action are reported at a national level. From 2026 Local Authority inspections will also be included in this report. This Government considers that this provides sufficient overview of animal welfare enforcement data.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she will publish the consultation on banning the use of carbon dioxide gas stunning of pigs promised in the animal welfare strategy.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell, Helen Maguire, on 20 May 2026 to PQ UIN 613.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
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 ensure that public sector food procurement meets the proposed requirement for 50% of food spend to meet higher environmental and welfare standards.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has already published a new national procurement policy statement which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.
Data collection on the extent to which public sector settings are serving food from local sustainable sources is currently underway. We expect the work to be completed by Summer 2027.
Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food, including potentially updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on introducing clearer country-of-origin and method-of-production food labelling to support higher animal welfare standards since the Government response to the Fairer Food Labelling consultation.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Government’s animal welfare strategy, and the Farming Roadmap published in June 2026, we are committed to ensuring that consumers have access to clear information on how and where their food was produced.
To support this, we will continue working with relevant stakeholders, including the farming and food industry, scientists and NGOs to explore how improved animal welfare food labelling could provide greater consumer transparency, support farmers and promote better animal welfare. We will set out next steps in due course.
We will also continue to review origin labelling, using the outcomes of the Fairer Food Labelling consultation as supporting evidence for future labelling policy.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which public bodies will be required to comply with the revised Government Buying Standards for food and catering services.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food, including potentially updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.
Defra has not yet made any decisions on the content, scope, application or implementation of any future changes.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on updating Government Buying Standards relating to food procurement.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food, including potentially updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.
Defra has not yet made any decisions on the content, scope, application or implementation of any future changes.