Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
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 has taken to support fishing and fish processing communities as part of the Seafood 2040 Strategy.
Answered by George Eustice
Seafood 2040 is an industry led framework of 25 recommendations which sets out the vision for the seafood supply chain in England. The majority of the framework’s recommendations are for the industry to take an all-sector collaborative approach. A number of recommendations require Government action, which we are fully committed to delivering.
Defra is currently supporting the delivery of the framework’s first recommendation, which will see the creation of the Seafood Industry Leadership Group (SILG). SILG will take the lead in the delivery of Seafood 2040 in terms of developing more detailed plans and recommendations. Once SILG is established, it will drive forward the delivery of Seafood 2040.
Although SILG is not yet established, Defra fisheries teams are working closely with the industry, such as the aquaculture sector, to develop mechanisms which are relevant and fit for purpose for the management of fisheries and aquaculture.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
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 has taken to support the fish supply chain as part of the Seafood 2040 Strategy.
Answered by George Eustice
Seafood 2040 is an industry led framework of 25 recommendations which sets out the vision for the seafood supply chain in England. The majority of the framework’s recommendations are for the industry to take an all-sector collaborative approach. A number of recommendations require Government action, which we are fully committed to delivering.
Defra is currently supporting the delivery of the framework’s first recommendation, which will see the creation of the Seafood Industry Leadership Group (SILG). SILG will take the lead in the delivery of Seafood 2040 in terms of developing more detailed plans and recommendations. Once SILG is established, it will drive forward the delivery of Seafood 2040.
Although SILG is not yet established, Defra fisheries teams are working closely with the industry, such as the aquaculture sector, to develop mechanisms which are relevant and fit for purpose for the management of fisheries and aquaculture.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which Government departments he has had discussions with on the Seafood 2040 Strategy.
Answered by George Eustice
In the coming months Defra will be discussing the Seafood 2040 recommendations with a range of Government bodies including Public Health England, the Environment Agency, the Sea Fish Industry Authority, the Marine Management Organisation, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the Food Standards Agency.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on changes to the level of tariffs on sugar beet imports in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.
Answered by George Eustice
Ministers and officials have not had any discussions with EU counterparts on changes to the level of tariffs on sugar beet imports in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Because it is uneconomical to transport sugar beet long distances for processing, it is unlikely that any sugar beet has been imported into the EU in those years and so discussions on changes to the level of tariffs would not be expected.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what effect he expects the end of EU quotas on sugar beet production to have on domestic sugar prices.
Answered by George Eustice
We expect the price of sugar within the European Union (EU) to follow trends in world prices more closely following the removal of quotas on beet sugar production. While the United Kingdom remains within the EU domestic prices will be similarly affected. The latest EU sugar prices show a recent drop reflecting the fall in international prices and expectations of higher EU exports.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
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 has taken to protect the status of Great Grimsby smoked haddock after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
Traditional Grimsby Smoked Fish has rightly been recognised as a Protected Food Name which celebrates the traditional method of production, local provenance and the skills of those involved. Countries outside the EU are already able to participate in the EU's Protected Food Name scheme when selling onto the EU market. In addition, the EU rules that currently govern the enforcement of Protected Food Names will be placed on a UK legal basis through the EU Withdrawal Bill. The UK will continue to abide by WTO rules on the protection of geographical indications globally.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what EU fisheries legislation her Department plans to (a) replace and (b) preserve before the UK leaves the EU in order to prevent a regulatory deficit.
Answered by George Eustice
The Great Repeal Bill will place existing EU laws on a UK legal basis. Parliament will then be free to amend those laws as it sees fit. The Government is currently considering its approach to future fisheries policy once we leave the EU.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to continue its membership of the European Fisheries Fund until it expires automatically in 2020.
Answered by George Eustice
In October 2016, the Chancellor confirmed that the Government will guarantee EU funding for structural and investment fund projects, including the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), signed after the Autumn Statement and which continue after we have left the EU. Funding for projects will be honoured by the Government if they are good value for money and they are in line with domestic strategic priorities.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
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 20 October 2016 to Question 48853, what proportion of the total fishing trips were accompanied by a fisheries observer in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.
Answered by George Eustice
The proportion of fishing trips by UK vessels that were accompanied by an observer in the period from 2013 to 2015 is provided in the table below:
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Observed trips | 610 | 755 | 595 |
Total trips | 228,359 | 228,413 | 222,015 |
% observed trips | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to set a target for the proportion of future UK fishing trips to be monitored either by a fisheries observer or monitored using electronic monitoring equipment.
Answered by George Eustice
Details of planned UK observer trips are set out in United Kingdom’s Work Plan for data collection in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. The Work Plan can be found at the Gov.UK website. In England and Wales, 525 staff days per year are allocated to observer sampling with 1032 days for Scotland and 460 days for Northern Ireland.