Sarah Champion

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for general product labelling on food products and the Department for Business and Trade works closely with them on this issue.

The Government has high standards regarding the information provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food they buy. No company in the UK should have forced labour in its supply chain. The Government expects businesses to respect human rights and the environment throughout their supply chain in line with the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct, the UN Guiding Principles, and the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

I have written to the supermarkets concerned to request a full account of the allegations raised in the BBC Panorama documentary and the steps they are taking to investigate.

The Government will continue to assess and monitor the effectiveness of the UK’s existing measures, alongside the impacts of other policy tools. As set out in my response of 10 October 2024, this Government is committed to working with businesses and international partners to ensure global supply chains are free from human and labour rights abuses and to understand the impact of measures used to combat forced labour.

The Government is committed to working with international partners and businesses to ensure global supply chains are free from environmental harms, and human and labour rights abuses. No UK company should have these in their supply chains.

The Government is reviewing the detail and implementation of the EU’s Forced Labour Regulation and its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, as well the US’s Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act, and will continue to engage with our European and US partners to understand how we best tackle environmental harms, modern slavery and forced labour in supply chains.

The Solar Taskforce is working towards the publication of the Solar Roadmap in Spring 2025. This will outline the actions required to develop supply chains that are resilient, sustainable, innovative, and free from forced labour.

Solar Energy UK, the solar industry trade association that co-chairs the Taskforce, is leading the industry response on this matter by developing and launching the Solar Stewardship Initiative, in partnership with Solar Power Europe.

As part of this work, members of the Taskforce are engaging with relevant civil society groups and trade unions.

The Solar Roadmap will set out the Government’s solar deployment ambitions as part of its mission to achieve Clean Power by 2030. It will outline the actions required to develop resilient, sustainable, innovative, and free from forced labour supply chains.

The UK’s main solar industry trade association – Solar Energy UK, who co-chair the Solar Taskforce - is leading the industry’s response on this matter by developing and launching the Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI), in partnership with Solar Power Europe. Members of the SSI have committed to applying its traceability standards and audits, while encouraging its adoption throughout their supply chain.

The Government opposes all forms of forced labour, including the use of Uyghur forced labour, and is determined to ensure that all UK business do everything in their power to remove any instances of it from their supply chains.

Through the reconvened Solar Taskforce, the Government is working widely across Whitehall and closely with industry stakeholders to take forward the actions needed to develop supply chains that are resilient, sustainable, innovative, and free from forced labour. These actions will be set out in the Solar Roadmap, which is expected to be published in Spring 2025.

It is a priority under the Online Safety Act for platforms to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, much of which disproportionately targets women and girls. This includes harassment, sexual exploitation, extreme pornography, and controlling or coercive behaviour.

Ofcom’s codes of practice will set out how companies can comply with their duties, including how companies should tackle harms facing women and girls online.

In February 2025, Ofcom will also publish draft guidance for consultation on protecting and empowering women and girls.

UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) fund a variety of approaches to research on conditions affecting humans. One third of MRC (Medical Research Council) and BBSRC’s (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) research grants involve the use of animals licensed under ASPA (Animals Scientific Procedures Act) in some part of the research project. There are no active grants using cats.

Although animal use is still considered important for many research areas, UKRI funds multiple approaches to the replacement of animals in research, including through core funding to the NC3Rs (National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research).

The Labour Manifesto included a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government will be consulting civil society and animal protection organisations as this process unfolds.

Many of the regulations on animal testing are backed by international agreements and the government is keen to ensure regulatory alignment where appropriate. We are engaging with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), who represent the UK at the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use, on how to accelerate the acceptance of data generated using non-animal methods for drug safety decision making. Government officials and representatives of the NC3Rs regularly attend international meetings to collaborate on best practice and to consider approaches to reducing reliance on animal testing.

The government is committed to reducing use of animals in scientific research in the long term. Our approach has been to support the development and application of approaches that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs).

It is not yet possible to replace all animal use due to the complexity of biological systems and regulatory requirements for their use.

We recognise that any work to phase out animal testing must be science led, in lock step with partners, and so we will not be setting arbitrary timelines for reducing their use.

The Government welcomes Ofcom's research and the report published earlier this year and intends to use this alongside our own research to ensure a robust evidence base to inform our ongoing project on the future of TV distribution.

The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. The fundamental principle of food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable consumers to make informed decisions.

Country of origin information is required for fresh and frozen meat of beef cattle, sheep, goat, pigs and poultry, as well as uncut fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, olive oil, wine and some fish products. It is also required for all prepacked food where its omission would be misleading to consumers.

Additional labelling rules apply for foods with primary ingredients. For processed food, where the origin of the primary ingredient is different to that of the food itself and the origin of the food is given, an indication that the origin of the primary ingredient is different must also be provided, for example 'British cheese made with milk from Ireland.’

In any case, where an origin or provenance is given or indicated including when provided voluntarily this must always be accurate.

The Marine Protected Areas Bottom Towed Fishing Gear Byelaw 2023, which came into force on 22 March 2024, prohibited the use of bottom-towed gear over the reef habitats of North Norfolk Sandbanks and Saturn Reef Marine Protected Area. The Marine Management Organisation has been making further assessments of the impact of fishing activities on other designated habitats throughout the site and, if needed, will consult on further fishing restrictions. As mentioned in my answers to PQ 4529 and PQ 11005, the Department is considering next steps for this and other sites.

The Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation and will bring forward plans in due course. Ministers will be considering available evidence around the use of hand-controlled e-collars and their effects on the welfare of animals.

The Marine Protected Areas Bottom Towed Fishing Gear Byelaw 2023, which came into force on 22 March 2024, prohibited the use of bottom-towed gear over the rock and reef habitats of Farnes East Marine Protected Area. The Marine Management Organisation has been making further assessments of the impact of fishing activities on other designated habitats throughout the site and, if needed, will consult on further fishing restrictions. As mentioned in my answer to PQ 4529, the Department is considering next steps for this and other sites.

The thresholds for qualification under Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility remain in line with those set out in the Packaging Waste Regulations 2007 which sets the threshold for businesses handling at least 50 tonnes of packaging materials and with a turnover of £2 million a year. This decision was made following extensive consultation, which also considered reduction or removal of the threshold, to encourage all producers to use less packaging and ensure the packaging they do use is easy to recycle.

To support this aim, the Government is also introducing a new distributor approach which places a new obligation on large packaging manufacturers and importers that sell unfilled packaging to small, unobligated producers, ensuring all packaging is subject to extended producer responsibility.

Once the scheme is fully operational, we will review these thresholds to ensure they continue to meet the aims of the scheme. This will include the impact of inflation, and the effectiveness of the new distributor obligations, to ensure that we are obligating as much packaging as possible whilst still protecting the smallest businesses from the burden of complying with the regulations.

Responsibility for domestic abuse policy rests with the Home Office. The Government has set out an ambition to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. The Department for Transport has not carried out discussions with car manufacturers on this issue.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is proactively engaging with relevant parties on how Doncaster Sheffield Airport can secure the airspace it needs.

My officials are in regular discussions with the City of Doncaster Council and the CAA to stay up to date with developments.

Since the general election, the Department has begun work on a new Road Safety Strategy - the first in over a decade. The Department will share more details on this Road Safety Strategy in due course.

National Highways is adding over 150 Emergency Refuge Areas (ERAs) across the All Lane Running (ALR) network, to be completed by the end of March 2025. Some ERAs are still under construction, and sitings may be subject to final change due to topographical challenges. Once the rollout is completed, National Highways will be able to calculate the average spacing of places to stop in an emergency across the whole ALR network. We will share this information as soon as it becomes available.

National Highways is constructing 150 additional Emergency Refuge Areas across the All Lane Running smart motorway network. Construction, which is already well underway, began in 2022. The project is expected to be completed by the end of March 2025.