Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Stephen Hepburn
Main Page: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)Department Debates - View all Stephen Hepburn's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(14 years, 3 months ago)
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Richard Benyon
As my hon. Friend says, there is a great deal of opportunity for further funding for this whole area. I applaud WRAP’s work in promoting the Courtauld commitment and other arrangements with industry. The quick wins obviously involve larger companies such as Sainsbury’s, which has come up with some very good ideas about food waste. We must now move on to the difficult stage of dealing with small and medium-sized companies, which will be a priority for the future.
Mr Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow) (Lab)
18. What recent representations she has received on beak-trimming of laying hens.
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr James Paice)
DEFRA completed a consultation exercise in April on an amendment to the Mutilations (Permitted Procedures) (England) Regulations 2007, introduced by my predecessor, the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick), which would remove the total ban on beak-trimming of laying hens to allow routine trimming to be carried out by the infrared technique only. All comments are currently being considered, and a summary will be published on the DEFRA website.
Mr Hepburn
May I urge the Minister to ignore the protests of the United Kingdom poultry industry, which is driven solely by profit, listen instead to the humane voices of those poultry farmers who have never engaged in this barbaric practice, and implement a ban from January?
Mr Paice
There is nothing wrong with having profit as a motive. That is the way in which this country operates.
As I said earlier, we must ensure that we do not make the welfare situation worse. Very few poultry producers do not de-beak their poultry, because of poultry’s natural inclination towards feather-pecking and cannibalism. The Government want to see an end to it, but we are determined not to make the situation worse in the short term. That is why we are considering the results of the consultation carefully.