Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that members of the Food Strategy Advisory Board do not have conflicts of interest.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
FSAB members are appointed in a personal capacity to advise and inform the strategic direction of the Government’s Food Strategy based on their professional experience in the food and drink system. They are not appointed to represent a body, group or part of the sector. FSAB membership is unpaid and not political appointments.
To guide against misuse of privileged information and conflicts of interest, FSAB members are obliged to sign non-disclosure agreements and adhere to the Seven Principles of Public Life. Additionally, per the Terms of Reference they are expected to:
At the first meeting a member joins they are invited to give a verbal register of their conflicts of interest, which are recorded in the FSAB minutes.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 is taking steps with British Wool to help increase the supply of British-trained sheep shearers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
British Wool is the main provider and promoter of training for sheep shearers in the UK. In each of the last five years (2021-2025) they have invested an average of £134,000 net costs in providing shearing training for between 798 and 898 people at skill levels ranging from beginners through to highly proficient commercial shearers. This includes the training of around 100- 200 young farmers a year who also receive a 50% discount on fees.
Defra works closely with British Wool and the wider sheep industry to encourage the continued delivery and where possible, expansion of the sheep shearing training programme. However, Defra recognise the challenges the industry faces in maintaining the number of required shearers who need to possess a high level of skill but can only utilise these skills for a very short period of the year.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 potential impact of ending temporary concessionary visas for sheep shearers on sheep welfare.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra recognises the importance that shearing sheep plays in managing the health and welfare of around 30m sheep in the UK flock, and the continued challenges that the industry faces each year in sourcing sufficient numbers of trained shearers.
The department is also aware of the role that shearers and sheep farmers from countries such as Australia and New Zealand have provided in sharing skills and expertise with UK sheep farmers as well as in supporting the health and welfare of the UK flock.
Defra continues to work closely with the industry in addressing these challenges and recognises the good and extensive work undertaken by British Wool each year to provide training for domestic sheep shearers.
Visa concessions are a matter for the Home Office.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the water quality of Dymchurch and St Mary’s Bay.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) takes statutory samples and ensures compliance with the requirements of the Bathing Water Regulations. They collect investigative samples and analyse the results alongside other environmental data to help identify sources of pollution.
Dymchurch and St Marys Bay are priority bathing waters for local EA teams this year. No single source of pollution has been identified at these locations. The EA will continue to work with others including the water company, the local authority and communities to improve and protect water quality by identifying and stopping polluting inputs.
Water quality improvements at St. Marys Bay last year saw a return to ‘sufficient’ classification. This bathing water no longer has advice against bathing status, however there is still work to do to ensure water quality continues to improve.
The EA has worked in partnership with Southern Water to find and eliminate possible sources of contamination from their network, including misconnections. Southern Water has completed extensive checks of their sewerage infrastructure and have rectified issues throughout the investigations.
The EA encourages local communities to report pollution incidents that could be impacting bathing, surface or groundwater to their 24/7 incident hotline so they can respond and stop any pollution.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Southern Water on steps to improve water quality in the South East.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the first week of office, the Secretary of State and I met water companies’ chief executives, including Southern Water, where they signed up to a tough set of initial measures for reform, including on putting customers and the environment at the heart of their businesses.
I have also met with companies that are failing in their environmental performance and made clear to them that we expect change. I will continue to meet with water companies and their boards, including Southern Water, through 2025 to set out the Government’s expectation of improved performance.
This Government has been clear there is no excuse for poor performance, and we will not look the other way while companies routinely fail to meet agreed standards.
In October 2024, the Secretary of State and the Welsh Government launched an independent commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, into the water sector and its regulation, in what is expected to form the largest review of the industry since privatisation. These wide-ranging recommendations will form the basis of further legislation to attract long-term investment and clean up our waters for good.