Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the record-keeping requirement for the Sustainable Farming Initiative for 2024 will be maintained.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For Sustainable Farming Incentive, the Rural Payments Agency carries out desk-based administrative checks on a sample basis which can include requesting and checking the nature and quality of any supporting evidence, such as receipts and farm records. There are no plans to remove this requirement.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 had discussions with producer organisations on (a) the closure of the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme and (b) replacing that scheme (i) in part or (ii) in full.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government appreciates and values the vital work of our fruit and vegetable growers and recognises their important role in maintaining a secure supply of home – produced fresh produce.
The Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme is an EU legacy scheme and legislation in place to close it on the 31 of December 2025. As part of our mission-driven government, the Department is now considering how we can achieve our ambitious, measurable and long-term goals for all our farming sectors.
Defra meets regularly with growers to discuss a range of issues. These discussions help inform future policy development and help us understand what support the sector needs to help it thrive.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 timetable is for making a decision on whether to extend the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme beyond 31 December 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government appreciates and values the vital work of our fruit and vegetable growers and recognises their important role in maintaining a secure supply of home – produced fresh produce.
The Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme is an EU legacy scheme and legislation in place to close it on the 31 of December 2025. As part of our mission-driven government, the Department is now considering how we can achieve our ambitious, measurable and long-term goals for all our farming sectors.
Defra meets regularly with growers to discuss a range of issues. These discussions help inform future policy development and help us understand what support the sector needs to help it thrive.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 merits of extending the Fruit and Vegetables Aid scheme beyond 31 December 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government appreciates and values the vital work of our fruit and vegetable growers and recognises their important role in maintaining a secure supply of home – produced fresh produce.
The Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme is an EU legacy scheme and legislation in place to close it on the 31 of December 2025. As part of our mission-driven government, the Department is now considering how we can achieve our ambitious, measurable and long-term goals for all our farming sectors.
Defra meets regularly with growers to discuss a range of issues. These discussions help inform future policy development and help us understand what support the sector needs to help it thrive.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the current adequacy of (a) regulation of fipronil and imidacloprid products, (b) (i) methods and (ii) scale of publication and promotion of Health and Safety regulations for handing fipronil products, with specific relevance to their visibility to pet owner and (c) regulations around remedies for pets in respect of their requirements to have a full Environmental Impact Assessment under the relevant legislation.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) authorises veterinary medicinal products under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 (as amended) to protect public health, animal health, the environment, and promote animal welfare. This involves ensuring medicines are approved only when their benefits outweigh any potential risks.
For pet owner safety, all veterinary medicines undergo a comprehensive User Risk Assessment before market authorisation. Clear safety warnings are included in product literature to minimise risks during proper use. These risks are also considered against the consequences of not using such medicines, such as the spread of flea- and tick-borne diseases, which can impact both pets in terms of parasitic disease and humans because of the public health issues of disease transference (zoonotic disease).
Environmental safety is also considered during authorisation. While current international guidelines assume minimal environmental exposure from companion animal medicines, the VMD now believes there is sufficient evidence to support a review of these guidelines, despite existing data gaps. The VMD have established the cross-government Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE) Group, whose aim is to provide advice on possible policy options to help reduce pharmaceutical pollution in the UK, including disposal. An immediate priority for the PiE Group is to develop a strategy to reduce the levels of fipronil and imidacloprid being detected in UK surface water.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 (a) adequacy of regulations on the fishing of bass by charter boats which are also commercially-registered fishing vessels and (b) potential merits of introducing measures to enable such vessels to allocate caught fish to quotas for either (i) charter boats or (ii) commercially-registered fishing vessels.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Bass Fisheries Management Plan published in December 2023 sets out a number goals and measures to deliver long-term sustainable management of bass fisheries in English and Welsh waters. This includes working with the newly established bass management group, comprising commercial and recreational sectors, scientists, regulators, policy officials and environmental interests. This group will help (a) improve communication and understanding of bass regulations, and collaboration between regulators on targeted enforcement; and (b) in the longer term consider the merits of a move away from bycatch limits towards a catch limit or quota approach. The bass management group will consider the adequacy of regulations for all bass fishermen, including charter boats, in these discussions.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 implications for his policies of the University of Exeter's report entitled Resilience of Coastal Communities, Work Package 1: Responding to recent changes, Survey and Interview, Results Summary, published on 9 October 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra welcomes the publication of the report, which is an output of work funded by UK Research and Innovation. We consider a number of policy initiatives already align with many of the work’s findings, and will continue to consider their implications in the further development of policy related to the management of fisheries and the marine environment.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 hold discussions with the hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead on the (a) Exmoor Farmers' Network and (b) farming community in Tiverton and Minehead constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
My Defra private office handles all meeting requests. Please contact them directly to request a meeting.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 restore the license for ASOLUX; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the restoration of that license on the growth of bracken in (a) the Quantocks and (b) Exmoor within the Tiverton and Minehead Constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Asulox is a herbicide containing the active substance asulam, which is not approved for use in the UK. For some years, use of Asulox to control bracken has been allowed under strictly controlled conditions under emergency authorisation arrangements. In 2023 the company behind asulam decided to cease supporting further applications for emergency authorisation and has not applied for UK approval of asulam. There are therefore no plans to restore the licence for Asulox or assess the potential impact of its restoration.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 adequacy of the level of funding for waterways.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Canal and River Trust is the largest inland waterway navigation authority in England and Wales, responsible for the 2,000 miles of canals and rivers it owns. The Government is currently providing the Trust with a 15-year grant (2012-2027) totalling about £740 million to support maintenance of the canal network infrastructure. A review of the grant funding concluded that the Trust is providing value for money and there was a good case for continued grant funding. A further substantial 10-year grant from 2027 of £401 million was announced in July 2023, reconfirmed by the Government in August 2024, reflecting the importance of the country’s inland waterways and supporting the Trust in the long-standing objective of reducing reliance on public funding while developing alternative funding sources.
The Government also provides grant-in-aid funding to the Environment Agency to support its 630 miles of navigations. This totalled around £70 million over the last three years. Future funding will be determined as part of the current spending review.
There is no other general Government funding available for inland waterways, and the other navigation authorities responsible for smaller waterway networks raise funds through their boat licensing regimes and other activities working with local communities.