Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
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 plans to update the UK Standard Industrial Classification codes to reflect the eligibility of the horticulture sector for energy support schemes.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recognises certain horticultural growing methods are energy intensive and energy security is critical for these growers. We are working in collaboration across Government departments, including DESNZ, to ensure eligible horticultural businesses are appropriately considered in government energy schemes, funds, and policies.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
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 will make an assessment of the potential merits of classifying horticulture as an Energy Intensive Industry.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recognises certain horticultural growing methods are energy intensive and energy security is critical for these growers. We are working in collaboration across Government departments, including DESNZ, to ensure eligible horticultural businesses are appropriately considered in government energy schemes, funds, and policies.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
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 potential merits of allowing the importation of ethically-sourced puppies that are under six months old.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recently announced its support for the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Dr Danny Chambers MP. The Bill will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders and give the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. We will use these powers to prohibit the bringing into Great Britain of puppies and kittens under six months old.
This prohibition and any appropriate exemptions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. Any such exemptions will need to be finely balanced against the risk of creating loopholes that could be exploited.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
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 ensure the protection of birds of prey in the Forest of Dean.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While Defra has not implemented any protections specific to the Forest of Dean, all birds of prey are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is an offence to kill or injure or take any wild bird; take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird (while that nest is in use or being built); and take or destroy an egg of any wild bird.
Bird of prey persecution is a UK wildlife crime priority and Defra supports the work of the national Bird of Prey Crime Priority Delivery Group, which brings together police, government and stakeholders from conservation and country sports organisations to tackle bird of prey persecution. Furthermore, Defra is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime (including bird of prey crime) by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats and directly assisting law enforcers in their investigations.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to support small businesses with flood damage (a) prevention and (b) mitigation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting communities and small businesses around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities.
That is why we have committed £2.4 billion to invest over the next two years to bolster the nation’s resilience, which is vital if we are to protect homes and business across the country.
As part of this investment, we are prioritising repairing and restoring critical assets to get our defences back on track and our new Flood Resilience Taskforce will play a key role in coordinating national and local flood preparation ahead of the winter flood season.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to tackle trade barriers to farming exports.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are supporting businesses to capitalise on strong global demand for UK food and drink products by breaking down barriers to trade and maximising access to export markets. Since Labour took office, the UK now has a network of sixteen agrifood and drink attachés covering all continents who are breaking down these barriers and creating new opportunities for the sector. We have had notable recent market access wins across the farming sector including relisting sites to export pork to China estimated by industry to be worth £80 million and securing for the first time access for UK beetroot exports to the USA.
The Government is committed to developing a trade strategy that will support economic growth and promote the highest standards of food production. We have been clear that we will protect farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals. Europe remains a priority market, and we are seeking to negotiate a veterinary/Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement with the EU to boost trade and deliver benefits to businesses and consumers on both sides. The Government is ambitious and wants to move forward at pace, but delivering new agreements will take time.
Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
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 collaborate with local authorities to ensure that infrastructure is swiftly repaired after the recent floods.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government inherited flood assets in their worst condition on record following years of underinvestment by the previous Government – just 92.1% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high consequence assets are currently at required condition.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences.