Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to take forward proposals from the Fairer food labelling consultation, which ran from 12 March to 7 May 2024.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announcement by Ofwat that water bills will increase over the next five years, what proportion of storm overflows resulting in harmful nutrients entering rivers they expect to be reduced over this period; and what financial consequences will be applied to water companies who do not meet overflow targets.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For Price Review 24, which runs from 2025 – 2030, water companies are investing almost £12 billion to improve 2,800 storm overflows. This expenditure has a price control deliverable (PCD), which sets out Ofwat’s expectations for delivery.
Ofwat also sets specific performance targets for water companies. Ofwat is expanding these performance commitments for Price Review 24 to include an ambitious storm spill reduction target. If achieved, this would see average spills per storm overflow reducing by 45% by 2029 compared to 2021 levels across the industry.
Where required outcomes are not met, companies must reimburse customers, thereby holding water companies to account to deliver the investment.
Beyond storm overflows, £6 billion will be invested to reduce harmful nutrients, including phosphorous, by 28% over 2025-30, through upgrading treatment works and promoting sustainable farming.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the proportion of food grown in the UK which is never eaten; and what steps they are taking significantly to reduce this figure with a particular emphasis on full contracts.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We acknowledge that more can be done to reduce food waste in the primary production stage.
Conversations with industry have suggested that a potentially significant cause of food waste on farm are unfair business practices at the point of first sale, where the specification requirements can lead to produce being left unharvested or rotting in the field.
We have taken powers to clamp down on these kinds of unfair contractual practices through the ‘fair dealings’ powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 and intend to work with stakeholders to explore how these powers could be exercised to address such concerns.
Total UK food waste arisings are 10.7 million tonnes with approximately 1.6 million tonnes (15%) occurring on farm.
The amount of food we waste is a stain on our country. This Government will work with business to drive down food waste and make sure food is put on the plates of those in greatest need.
We continue to support WRAP and their work to drive down food surplus and waste in homes and businesses. This includes work to ensure surplus food is redistributed to charities and other organisations who can use it and on programmes to help citizens reduce their food waste.
We thank food producers, charities and retailers in the sector for tackling the problem of food waste.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to respond to the fairer food labelling consultation, which closed on 7 May, and what plans, if any, they have to implement the proposals therein to improve transparency in method-of-production welfare labelling for pork, chicken, and eggs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A public consultation on fairer food labelling was undertaken between March and May 2024 by the previous government. This sought views on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will publish a response to this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the results of the consultation on the fur market in Great Britain, which closed on 28 June 2021.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers are reviewing policies, which will be announced in due course, including the consultation on the Fur Market in Great Britain. Defra is continuing to build the evidence base on the fur sector. This includes commissioning our expert Animal Welfare Committee on what constitutes responsible sourcing of fur. The report that they produce will support our understanding of the fur industry and help inform our next steps.
We have some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world and this Labour Government will introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce legislation to ban the import of hunting trophies.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The government committed in its manifesto to banning the import of hunting trophies.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to banning the use of pig farrowing crates, and whether they will hold a public consultation on such a ban.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to introduce a complete ban on the commercial movement of pregnant dogs, and (2) to increase the age at which puppies can be imported to six months.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill contains powers that will enable future regulations for commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into the United Kingdom, including prohibiting the import of heavily pregnant dogs over 42 days gestation and puppies under six months old.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a complete ban on the (1) importation, and (2) sale, of dogs which have had (a) their ears cropped, or (b) their tails docked, for cosmetic reasons.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is already an offence in England and Wales to carry out a non-exempted mutilation, including the cropping of a dog’s ears or the docking of their tails. The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021 creates tougher penalties for anyone convicted of such an offence face, either being sent to prison for up to five years, or receiving an unlimited fine, or both.
The Government supports the Private Members’ Bill, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill, introduced by Selaine Saxby MP on restricting the importation and non-commercial movement of pets. The Bill contains powers that will enable future regulations for commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into the United Kingdom including prohibiting the import of dogs with cropped ears and docked tails. This will prevent the import of non-exempted mutilated dogs for onward sale in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the results of the 2021 consultation on the fur market in Great Britain.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
In the Action Plan for Animal Welfare, Defra committed to explore potential action in relation to the import of fur from abroad. The Call for Evidence Defra published in 2021 was a key step in delivering that commitment. A summary of replies received should be published in due course.
In the meantime, we are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. We have also commissioned a report from our expert Animal Welfare Committee into the issue of what constitutes responsible sourcing in the fur industry. This report will support our understanding of the fur industry and help to inform our next steps.