Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of import checks on food products arriving from the EU on Christmas supply chains.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Border Target Operating Model, no new controls will be implemented before 31 January 2024, so new controls will not impact Christmas supply chains in 2023.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
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 the availability of fresh food will not be affected by the implementation of import checks on food products arriving from the EU.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Fruit and vegetable imports have been classified as low-risk meaning they will not require any additional paperwork or checks. We do not expect a significant impact on availability. In implementing this new control regime for the first time on EU imports, we will carefully monitor the range of potential risks, including those that may impact food supply-chains. Where possible we will work with importers to try to manage those risks in a structured way, considering whether there are appropriate contingencies which we can deploy if and when required.
The UK Government will also work closely with our key trading partners, to ensure that the capacity and availability of certifiers for Export Health Certificates does not become a barrier to trade.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of making it a requirement for businesses selling food for consumption outside of homes, for example restaurants and takeaways, to notify consumers of the country of origin meat products.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Food Information to Consumers Regulations apply to all food sold on the UK market, including imported food, and require many foods to declare the origin on the label. For food that is sold out of home, while origin information is not mandatory, it is unlawful to mislead consumers as to the origin of the food or any specific ingredient, and there are no barriers to British meat being labelled as British.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is her Department’s policy to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding between food security agencies in her Department and respective UK devolved agencies and the European Food Security Crisis Preparedness and Response Mechanism (EFSCM) Expert Group.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is not the Department’s policy to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding between food security agencies UK devolved agencies (DAs) and the European Food Security Crisis Preparedness and Response Mechanism (EFSCM) Expert Group.
However, recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) was published in December 2021. This report will serve as an evidence base for future policy work.
In terms of engagement on food security we engage widely and frequently with both public and private sectors through various fora.
We engage with DAs through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group and the EFRA Resilience priority meetings. Routine engagement with DAs also takes place through the Food Resilience Industry Forum (FRIF).
Defra continues to engage with international partners in the G20 Agricultural Market Information System and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to facilitate smooth functioning of the global food trade. G7 Agricultural Ministers are committed to cooperating closely and taking concrete actions to safeguard global food security.
Defra closely monitors markets and supplies through the UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group and other industry engagement forums to explore the factors that have contributed to ongoing supply chain pressures. As a result of recent fruit and vegetable supply issues, Defra is considering how government and industry can work together to mitigate these in the short and longer term.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of agricultural fertiliser costs on farm businesses.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are aware that due to the increase in cost of natural gas across the globe, which is a key input for the production of ammonium nitrate-based fertiliser products, the cost of production of these fertiliser types has increased significantly. Increased demand has also increased the cost of other alternative fertiliser types. Rising cost of natural gas is affecting Europe and the global market with fertiliser companies halting production due to high input costs.
Industry data[1] reports that ammonium nitrate prices are at record highs, having nearly tripled in price since last November. They state that from November 2020 through to November 2021, the price of imported ammonium nitrate rose from £219 per tonne to between £600 and £630 per tonne, an increase of between 174-188%. Over the same time period, the price of UK produced ammonium nitrate also rose, from £208 per tonne to between £585 and £605, an increase of 181-191%.
A few months ago, the CO2 industry reached an agreement to ensure UK businesses have access to a sustainable supply of CO2. The Government supported this through a short-term financial intervention to allow CF Fertilisers to continue operating while the industry moved towards this agreement. Ammonium Nitrate production has therefore restarted and is being placed onto the domestic market.
Defra have been in contact with key industry figures including the NFU and fertiliser producers and importers, and have frequent contact with the key sector representative body for fertilisers the Agricultural industries Confederation (AIC).
We are continuing to monitor the security and stability of fertiliser and other supply chains and working closely with colleagues across government as well as industry figures. This will help inform how Defra and other industry bodies can best support farmers.
[1] AHDB Fertiliser price data (https://ahdb.org.uk/GB-fertiliser-prices) and Infofert in collaboration with Profercy european fertiliser review (https://www.profercy.com/)
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the stability and security of the agricultural fertiliser supply chain; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are aware that due to the increase in cost of natural gas across the globe, which is a key input for the production of ammonium nitrate-based fertiliser products, the cost of production of these fertiliser types has increased significantly. Increased demand has also increased the cost of other alternative fertiliser types. Rising cost of natural gas is affecting Europe and the global market with fertiliser companies halting production due to high input costs.
Industry data[1] reports that ammonium nitrate prices are at record highs, having nearly tripled in price since last November. They state that from November 2020 through to November 2021, the price of imported ammonium nitrate rose from £219 per tonne to between £600 and £630 per tonne, an increase of between 174-188%. Over the same time period, the price of UK produced ammonium nitrate also rose, from £208 per tonne to between £585 and £605, an increase of 181-191%.
A few months ago, the CO2 industry reached an agreement to ensure UK businesses have access to a sustainable supply of CO2. The Government supported this through a short-term financial intervention to allow CF Fertilisers to continue operating while the industry moved towards this agreement. Ammonium Nitrate production has therefore restarted and is being placed onto the domestic market.
Defra have been in contact with key industry figures including the NFU and fertiliser producers and importers, and have frequent contact with the key sector representative body for fertilisers the Agricultural industries Confederation (AIC).
We are continuing to monitor the security and stability of fertiliser and other supply chains and working closely with colleagues across government as well as industry figures. This will help inform how Defra and other industry bodies can best support farmers.
[1] AHDB Fertiliser price data (https://ahdb.org.uk/GB-fertiliser-prices) and Infofert in collaboration with Profercy european fertiliser review (https://www.profercy.com/)
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the minutes of the quarterly Board Meetings of his Department have not been uploaded to the gov.uk website since July 2019.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We will publish summaries of Defra board meetings held since July 2019 in due course.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to reply the correspondence dated 8 September 2020, 30 October 2020 and 10 December 2020 from Stewart Stevenson MSP, regarding development of a contingency sheep compensation scheme.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
I apologise for the delay in responding. A reply has been prepared and will be issued very shortly.