Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of healthy pigs that will need to be culled as a result of labour shortages and supply-chain issues for (a) the rest of 2022 and (b) 2023; and if he will publish any forecasts that his Department has made on the economic impact of that matter on the pig industry.

Defra does not collect data on the number of pigs culled on farms. Producers, who are responsible for the welfare of animals on farm, are also not required to submit such data to us. However, from our engagement with the pig sector, we understand that around 30,000 pigs have been culled on farms since 1 September 2021. This is largely due to the backlog of pigs on farm caused by a unique combination of factors including the Covid-19 pandemic, shortages of labour in the processing sector, interruption of CO2 supplies and disruptions to the export market, particularly with exports to China.

We have provided a package of measures to help address the challenging circumstances that the pig sector has faced. These include temporary work visas for up to 800 pork butchers, and Private Storage Aid (PSA) and Slaughter Incentive Payment (SIP) schemes to facilitate an increase in the throughput of pigs through abattoirs. In addition, Defra continues to work with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and other Government departments to expand existing markets and to open up new export markets for British pork.

We will continue to keep the uptake of the schemes under review. In the longer term, we will conduct a review into supply chain fairness in the pig sector. This work will soon be underway.

The Government will continue to monitor the evolving situation and work closely with the industry through this challenging period.