Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the costs to UK businesses of the requirement for not-for-EU labels on products in (1) 2023–24 and (2) 2024–25.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The first phase of ‘Not-for-EU’ labelling requirements under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme took effect from 1 October. Further phases will follow in October 2024 and July 2025. The Government would not normally provide any financial support to businesses for the cost of new labelling requirements. However, in recognition of the accelerated timescale compared with standard labelling changes, we have exceptionally made available a £50 million fund, the Transitional Labelling Financial Assistance Scheme. This will cover 2023-24 (phase one) costs only, because the following phases are in line with normal timescales for labelling changes. Redesign, printing and warehouse costs for product, box, and shelf level labelling will all be in scope.
The Government will publish its assessment of the costs of the new labelling requirements in due course. The £50 million grant fund we have announced is designed to cover the majority, though not all, of industry costs incurred in this respect. This is to encourage efficiency and because labelling changes would normally be part of the cost of doing business for the food industry, as well as to protect the public purse.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they allow special advisers in government to review and delay responses to freedom of information requests.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
All Freedom of Information requests are processed according to the provisions of the Act. In 2022, government departments and other monitored bodies responded to 86% of requests within the permitted time limits. FOI statistics are published regularly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
It is in line with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers to give assistance and advice on any aspect of department business, including on requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act, and to convey a minister’s views to officials. This has been the case under successive Administrations. The Cabinet Office has circulated a guidance note to cross-government practitioners which sets out the roles of special advisers in the process of responding to requests for information and which is available on Parliament’s website at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubadm/576/report.html#heading-1.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has reassessed its policy on the provision of official development assistance to India, in the context of the Indian Government's spending on space exploration.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
India's space exploration programme, including its recent moon landing, makes a valuable contribution to the international scientific community.
The British Government stopped providing traditional development aid to India in 2015.
Most UK funding to India is now in the form of business investments which help India reduce carbon emissions and address climate change. These investments have the dual aims of supporting development and backing private enterprises with the potential to be commercially viable so that the British Government can then reinvest in India or elsewhere.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what steps she is taking to help ensure that Members' requests for assistance on ministerial correspondence are addressed in a timely manner.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Parliament has a right to hold Ministers to account and, as Leader of the House, I expect Government Ministers to respond quickly and effectively to Members’ correspondence. I will continue to drive that message and I encourage members who get an unsatisfactory response to write to me and I will take this up for any Member who does not get a proper response.
I recognise that my office and I have a role to play in making representations to Government on behalf of the House of Commons, and have taken a number of actions:
The Parliamentary Capability Team in the Cabinet Office also provides training on managing parliamentary work to civil servants of all departments and grades, including blended learning courses on ministerial correspondence and tailored workshops for Senior Civil Servants. Since April 2022, 1,160 civil servants from across government have attended training provided by the Parliamentary Capability Team on managing Ministerial Correspondence and Written Parliamentary Questions.
As per the Cabinet Office’s Guide to Handling Correspondence (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/handling-government-correspondence-guidance), departments and agencies should aim to respond to correspondence within a 20-working day target deadline. The Cabinet Office published data on this for 2022 for all government departments on GOV.UK in March 2023, and will be publishing data for Q1 and Q2 2023 shortly. The 2022 data can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers-2022.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce financial assistance programmes to aid in the (1) recovery, and (2) sustainability, of food and beverage businesses.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government recognises the pressures faced by food and drink manufacturing businesses, which account for nearly 20% of UK manufacturing. The Autumn Statement 2022 announced a package of changes to business rates worth £13.6bn over the next 5 years.
Government also works with the British Business Bank to help SMEs access finance. For example, the Recovery Loan Scheme helps smaller businesses, including those in the food and beverage sector, access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest.
SMEs can access a range of guidance via the free Business Support Helpline and network of Growth Hubs across England.
Finally, the Brexit Pubs Guarantee announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Budget secures the pledge that pubs will always pay less alcohol duty than supermarkets going forwards.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional measures they are taking to protect consumers from inflated supermarket food prices; and what further assistance they will give to farmers to ensure food security.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Tackling inflation is this Government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year, and we are monitoring all key agricultural commodities so that we can work with the food industry to address the challenges they face.
Defra is taking action to maintain an efficient food supply chain by mitigating against any potential burdens or frictions which could otherwise drive up consumer food prices. We continue to use regular engagement to work with retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food, for example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.
Furthermore, on 16 May 2023, the Prime Minister and Defra Secretary met representatives from across the whole UK supply chain, from farm to fork, for a Summit on how the Government and industry can work together to support a thriving UK food industry.
With regard to support for farmers, we are backing British farmers with £2.4 billion of investment per year. We recently updated our new schemes based on farmer feedback to make them easier to apply for, and to support tenant and upland farmers in particular. We recently increased payment rates for upland farmers.
We are committed to ensuring payment rates mean as many farmers as possible can benefit from our offers. The Sustainable Farming Incentive focuses on supporting farmers to undertake activities to grow food while improving the environment and animal health and welfare. The Landscape Recovery scheme allows landowners and managers to take a more large-scale, long-term approach to producing environmental and climate goods on their land. We have expanded and enhanced the existing Countryside Stewardship scheme. This has been simplified and improved this year to include wildlife, upland wood pasture and lowland peat offers, more efficient administration and fairer controls. Through Countryside Stewardship Plus we will pay farmers extra for taking coordinated action, working with neighbouring farms and landowners to support climate and nature aims.
We are providing tailored business advice to all farmers, we have cut red tape and brought in a fairer enforcement regime. We have helped the sector access the seasonal labour they need, and we are looking closely at the Shropshire Review we commissioned to go further. We are reviewing supply chain fairness sector by sector and unlocking the opportunities of genetic technologies.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps his Department has taken to support business activities which (a) improve the climate, (b) reduce poverty and (c) reduce inequality.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government provides extensive support to all types of UK businesses, including those with activities focused on improving the climate and reducing poverty and inequality, through our Business Support Helpline, 38 Growth Hubs, Start Up Loans programme and Recovery Loan Scheme.
The Department for Business and Trade has dedicated teams in the UK and overseas that support clean growth technologies, such as renewable energy, to secure investment, grow in the UK and find export opportunities. We undertake a range of promotional activities working with businesses across the supply chain on an ongoing basis, including investment project support, targeted export campaigns and a network of UK and overseas based trade advisors to provide advice and support.
Internationally, the UK is committed to growing free and fair trade with developing countries, boosting economies, reducing poverty and supporting jobs in those countries as well as in ours. We achieve this by improving UK market access for businesses in developing countries through our Economic Partnership Agreements and the new Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which will come into force on 19 June. UK trade preferences reduce import costs for businesses by over £750m per year.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of increasing Official Development Assistance funding for the Prosperity Fund.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The cross-government Prosperity Fund operated between 2016 and 2021 to promote the inclusive economic growth needed to reduce poverty in partner countries, whilst contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Fund was closed on the 31 March 2021, with residual programming and funding instead moving to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
UK remains a champion for the international development agenda and a major donor globally. In 2022 the UK was the third largest development donor in the G7 as a percentage of Gross National Income, spending nearly £12.8 billion on aid. UK ODA, together with our business, trade, civil society, research and technology expertise, continues to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people and contributes to our prosperity and security by addressing key global challenges and strengthening our international partnerships.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the distribution of Official Development Assistance funds within Sierra Leone.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is a champion for international development and one of the most generous global aid donors. In Sierra Leone, as around the world, we work closely with the Government to support its own national development plans. Decisions on how to distribute funds are taken in Sierra Leone against the High Commission's business plan and guided by FCDO priorities, the Integrated Review, International Development Strategy and Africa Strategy. Most recently, UK Aid in Sierra Leone has supported inclusive education, maternal and new-born health, girls' and women's rights and energy access. Our funding goes to a range of implementing partners who are subject to rigorous procurement and due diligence. We adhere closely to best practice outlined in the FCDO's Programme Operating Framework, including results monitoring.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of people employed within her Department have recorded that they have a disability.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of 31st December, 16.1% of Core Defra employees have recorded that they have a disability/lifelong health condition. This representation rate has been calculated by the number of staff reporting they have a disability divided by the number who have reported their disability status, excluding those with an unknown status or prefer not to say/undeclared. This is above the last published Civil Service wide figure of 13.6% (2021) of civil servants having declared a disability Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Defra is a Disability Confident employer (Level 3) and has many policies in place to ensure the Civil Service is an inclusive workplace for everyone, including those who have disabilities, such as Workplace Adjustments policies, Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Programme and Employee Passports.
Defra are members of the Business Disability Forum and ensure we are always appraised of current best practice. All Defra Colleagues can also participate and receive support via our Employee led Networks, supported by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champions, this includes our Disability networks and Disability Boards. Defra also engages with the Cross Government Workplace Adjustments forum, to ensure we are learning from and contributing to best practice across government.