Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 ensure that where objections to a Geographical Indication (GI) application are upheld under assimilated Regulation (EU) 2019/787 the applicant body engages in a formal consultation process with the objector before the GI is finalised.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
By publishing names proposed for Geographical Indication protection and their associated product specifications on the gov.uk website, Defra enables any person with a legitimate interest, or the authorities of a third country, to submit a notice of opposition to the Secretary of State regarding the proposals. If objections are considered admissible, Defra invites the applicant and the objector to engage in appropriate consultations with each other to understand the issue and if possible, propose a solution. At the conclusion of the consultation period, the Secretary of State will consider all the evidence presented and make a decision on whether the revised proposals (if any) support registration, whether the proposal should be rejected on the evidence, whether a new consultation is needed because the changes proposed are “non-standard” (ie significant), or whether the application should be approved in its original format.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 2 September 2025 to Question 69586 on Food Supply, which (a) supermarkets and (b) food producers he has met with to discuss mitigating the risk of shortages to key food supplies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Over the last 12 months, the Secretary of State has attended a range of events across the year with both supermarkets and food producers to discuss risks to food security and explore measures to mitigate potential shortages.
Minister of State also chairs a regular session with the food and farming trade bodies which includes British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, National Farmers' Union, and UK Hospitality - where the issues of food security and resilience are regularly discussed.
In addition, Defra officials continue to engage with stakeholders across the food supply chain to focus on specific challenges. Recent meetings with supermarkets have focused on cyber and energy resilience.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) supermarkets and (b) food producers to mitigate the risk of shortages in key food staples.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise and carries out extensive, regular and ongoing engagement with supermarkets and producers in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 is taking to help ensure the long-term resilience of food supply chains.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The UK has a resilient food supply chain and is equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Defra and the Food Standards Agency have joint responsibility for food as a Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sector. Defra assesses the potential risks to the food supply chain, as outlined in the National Risk Register (NRR). Defra works with Cabinet Office, as leads for the NRR, and the wider resilience and CNI community across Government to ensure impacts to food supply are considered in risk assessments and contingency planning.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
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 mandate the update the UK Food Security Report annually.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The UK Food Security Report is published once every three years, fulfilling the duty in the Agriculture Act 2020. The next one will be published in 2027.
On 15 July 2025 the Government announced that it is committing to a new annual food security statistics publication to be published in the years between the triennial UK Food Security Report, starting this year. It will be a more frequent and focused publication, designed to ensure that key UK food security analysis is made public in order to capture emerging trends, and to support both policymakers and the public.
This new annual publication is a separate product to the UK Food Security Report and is not fulfilling the legislative duty.