Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing mandatory food waste reporting on food prices.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are no plans to assess the potential impact of introducing mandatory food waste reporting on food prices.
This Government has announced plans to publish a Circular Economy Strategy for England and is committed to transitioning to a circular economy – one that stimulates growth, reduces waste, and alleviates pressure on household bills. As this work is developed, evidence from across the economy will be considered as the interventions that may be needed are evaluated. This includes for the potential introduction of a mandatory food waste reporting requirement for large food businesses. As with all policies, if the policy were to be taken forward, a detailed assessment of costs and benefits would be published as part of the legislative process.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on genetic editing to prevent diseases in (a) plants and (b) livestock.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The secondary legislation necessary to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 for plants in England has successfully passed through Parliament and was passed into law on 13 May 2025. Through this enabling regulatory framework, crops with a range of beneficial traits including increased disease resistance can be developed more quickly. The Government is considering the requirements for a regulatory framework for precision bred animals as outlined in the Act.
This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to encourage people to buy UK produce.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working in partnership across the food system, the Government and four nations to develop an ambitious new food strategy which delivers a food system we can be even more proud of. It will help protect our British traditions, unlock the food sector’s economic potential, strengthen food security, tackle obesity and protect our planet for future generations.
Alongside, Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver on the Government's ambition for at least half of all food procured by the public sector to be, where possible, locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards, and to make it easier for British suppliers to bid for a share of the £5 billion spent annually on public sector catering contracts. To that end, the Government will conduct the first ever review of food currently bought in the public sector, including where it is bought from.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent changes he has made to the Capital Grants scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra announced on 24 February 2025 that the standalone Capital Grants scheme will re-open in summer 2025. We will introduce maximum grant thresholds for 4 groups of capital items in the standalone capital offer, from summer 2025. The thresholds will be £25,000 for water quality, air quality and natural flood management and £35,000 for boundaries, trees, and orchards. We will confirm the date that the standalone Capital Grants scheme will re-open and announce any further changes to the scheme in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 increase biosecurity.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Biosecurity is paramount – it underpins safe food; protects human, animal and plant health; and supports a prospering economy and trade. This Government will be decisive and take the necessary action to protect our country from new and emerging and notifiable disease threats.
We have in place robust measures to maintain and improve our ability to understand, detect, prevent, respond and recover from outbreaks. We monitor new and emerging threats to our biosecurity through our Veterinary Risk Group, Plant Heath Risk Group and the Human and Animal Infections Risk Surveillance Group, and our strong surveillance network provides an early warning system to detect signs of disease, pests or other threats such as antimicrobial resistance.
This Government will act quickly to prevent pests and diseases entering the country by putting restrictions in place at the border. Our disease contingency plans are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain fit for purpose and that we have the necessary capacity and capability to respond to outbreaks should they occur. As part of this, the Government is committed to delivering a National Biosecurity Centre at the Animal and Plant Health Agency Weybridge campus - a world leading science centre protecting people and animals from disease outbreaks. We are also promoting best practice while providing practical support to livestock keepers in England through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the quantity of illegal food products that have entered the UK in the last six months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is not possible to estimate the amount of illegal food products which have evaded border checks and entered the UK in the last six months. Data supplied by Border Force to the end of 2024 indicates that it detained and seized 137,000 kilograms of illegal animal products and 18,000 kilograms of illegal plants and plant products at the UK border in the last six months of 2024.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 meetings with commercial farm owners on proposed changes to inheritance tax relief.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I have visited farms across the country and met with a number of commercial farm owners since my appointment, and have discussed the inheritance tax relief with those who both support and oppose the changes.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for introducing mandatory food waste reporting.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In our manifesto, the Government committed to reducing waste by moving to a circular economy.
The Secretary of State has convened a Small Ministerial Group on Circular Economy and a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts across government, industry, academia, and civil society has been established to help develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis. Preventing food waste will be a key part of this work and we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy to evaluate what interventions may be needed as we develop the strategy.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 support the existence of hedgehogs through (a) local nature recovery strategies, (b) biodiversity net gain measures and (c) future farm subsidy payments.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act 2021 introduced a number of policies that will support the restoration of habitat. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) and a strengthened biodiversity duty on public authorities will work together to drive action, including to create or restore habitats that will enable wildlife, such as hedgehogs, to recover and thrive, while conservation covenants will help secure habitat for the long term. LNRSs will bring local authorities, communities, landowners and conservation groups together to agree priorities to help nature and protect locally and nationally important species. They will also map specific proposals for habitat creation and improvement such as woodland, heathland and species-rich grassland, all of which will benefit vulnerable species including hedgehogs.
In addition, agri-environment schemes have provided a significant source of funding for habitat creation and management for threatened species. Our new environmental land management (ELM) schemes will provide farmers, foresters and other land managers with an opportunity to secure financial support in return for delivering environmental benefits. Hedgerows are an important habitat for hedgehogs and their food source. Actions to fund the creation, restoration and maintenance of hedgerows are available through the Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Summary of Responses to the Call for Evidence on Labelling for Animal Welfare, published by her Department in August 2022, whether she plans to take steps to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce labelling for animal welfare.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra’s Call for Evidence on Labelling for Animal Welfare gathered data on the impacts of different types of labelling reforms. Based on the information gathered, we will continue to work with stakeholders to explore how we can harness the market to improve food information for consumers. We will continue to gather evidence on the impacts of a wide range of market interventions, as well as how they could align with wider labelling proposals such as eco-labelling.