Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 3 April 2025 to Question 42062 on Bees: Conservation, whether he has received a request from the Northern Irish Minister of Agriculture for mutual assistance with bee inspecting.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is confirmed that no request from the Northern Irish Minister of Agriculture for mutual assistance with bee inspecting has been received by APHA’s National Bee Unit.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs’ letter of 8 April 2025 to Northern Ireland Executive colleagues, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the (a) additional confirmed cases in Hungary and (b) advent of confirmed cases in Slovakia of Foot and Mouth disease.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Although I was not an addressee of the letter mentioned and therefore cannot reference it directly, this Government will be decisive and take the necessary action to ensure the UK’s biosecurity measures protect our farms from the risk posed by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD). We’ve stepped up measures to prevent the incursion of FMD following the spread of cases in Hungary and Slovakia, including a case close to Slovakia’s border with Austria. The Government immediately implemented restrictions on broad categories of products ranging from fresh milk, dairy products, meat from susceptible animals to hay and straw from Hungary, Slovakia and Austria to Great Britain to protect the UK’s freedom from FMD, in addition to restrictions already in place for equivalent exports from Germany to Great Britain following a separate outbreak of FMD in Germany in January.
In line with the requirement to recognise regionalisation, these imports are also prohibited into Northern Ireland from the disease control zones in force surrounding each of the infected premises in the EU. We continue to review the situation, working with our disease experts and EU counterparts. Livestock keepers are urged to be extra vigilant and report any suspicion of FMD or other notifiable disease immediately to the Animal and Plant Health Agency in Great Britain and to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspectors his Department has trained to (a) inspect and (b) assess the health of (i) bees and (ii) their hives.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit has 50 trained inspectors which includes the National Bee Inspector and 8 Regional Bee Inspectors. All of these inspectors are trained to inspect and assess the health of bees and the hives in England and Wales.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 5 March 2025 to Question 34165 on Food and Livestock: Transport, how many vehicles containing (a) live animals and (b) food products attended Sevington for further inspection in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Due to the intelligence led and dynamic nature of our biosecurity controls, and to ensure operations are not impacted, we are unable to share data on inspection volumes.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 5 March 2025 to Question 34165 on Food and Livestock: Transport, how many times the Border Control Post has contacted people responsible for a load in relation to (a) concerns and (b) concerns about non-attendance in each of the last twelve months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Due to the intelligence led and dynamic nature of our biosecurity controls, and to ensure operations are not impacted, we are unable to share this data.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the French Government's Third National Climate Adaptation Plan.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK approach to managing climate risks is set out by the Climate Change Act 2008 and involves a Climate Change Risk Assessment and National Adaptation Programme. Similar to the French approach our National Adaptation Programme is developed on a 5 yearly cycle, outlining national-level measures that aim to address the impacts of climate change, and is based on planning adaptation against a longer-term climate change scenario.
The most recent National Adaptation Programme was published in 2023 and covered five sectors, infrastructure, natural environment, health, communities and built environment, business and industry and international dimensions, and 61 climate risks all owned and managed by specific government departments. We are managing the National Adaptation Programme as an ongoing programme of delivery against climate risks and are considering a range of options to achieve this and will set out our refreshed approach in due course.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vehicles containing (a) live animals and (b) food products failed to attend a further inspection at Sevington in the last 12 months.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Due to the intelligence led and dynamic nature of our biosecurity controls, and to ensure operations are not impacted, we are unable to share this data.
The risk of legitimate commercial loads not attending Sevington is mitigated by robust, data-backed enforcement options. Consignments called to Sevington for an inspection will have completed the necessary customs declarations and pre-notifications. These goods will not be legally cleared for sale or use within the UK until they have attended and been cleared at the Border Control Post (BCP).
Where the BCP has concerns, for example due to non-attendance, there are existing robust provisions for contacting the person responsible for the load. These provisions are enforceable through the data collected in customs declarations and pre-notification.
Meanwhile, vehicles suspected to be carrying illegal imports (e.g. those for which customs declarations and pre-notification have not been made or suspected to have been made in bad faith) will continue to be stopped and dealt with by Border Force at the point of entry to the UK, not sent to the BCP.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 his Department's press release entitled, Government introduces import ban of cattle, pigs and sheep from Germany to protect farmers after Foot and Mouth case, published on 14 January 2025, whether the import ban will apply to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The measures announced on 14 January 2025 apply to imports into Great Britain. For Northern Ireland the controls on meat and live animals will apply to a 3 kilometres protection zone and 10 kilometres surveillance zones surrounding the infected premises in Germany. Products from the zones cannot move to Northern Ireland. Meat from outside these disease control zones can move into Northern Ireland, as can personal movements of food products. Additional health requirements will apply for movement of live animals from outside of these zones. The measures in place to protect farmers in Northern Ireland are strong. Given the strict prohibitions on the imports of animals and products of animal origin from countries in which foot and mouth disease is present, goods which transit Great Britain when moving from Germany to Northern Ireland are also subject to the same restrictions as imports into Great Britain.
Qualifying Northern Ireland goods will continue to have full unfettered access to the rest of the UK, these provisions are unaffected by these new control measures.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 Ministers in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the Northern Ireland Executive on the foot and mouth outbreak in Germany.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In response to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Germany, we are in contact with German counterparts to understand the latest situation and, as is routine procedure, we are working closely with the Devolved Governments to understand the risks to the UK and prevent an incursion from imported goods.
On 21 January, the situation and the need for ongoing collaboration and vigilance was also discussed at a meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Baroness Hayman of Ullock; Andrew Muir MLA; and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Member for Leeds South (Hilary Benn).
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 Northern Ireland Executive on the regulation of Northern Ireland Water.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water policy and regulation in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the Northern Ireland Executive. However, there are regular opportunities for ministerial discussions on a wide range of issues where there are shared challenges and opportunities.