Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's policy is on cloud seeding to encourage rainfall during drought conditions.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Cloud seeding is not appropriate for managing droughts in England due to the weather patterns we receive. This makes it difficult to predict where the resulting rain will fall. There is a risk that the rain falls not in this country and could cause issues for neighbouring countries where rain is not needed. Cloud seeding is used in other countries around the world, but they generally have larger land masses and more stable weather patterns. There are also concerns relating to pollution that could be caused from the compounds used to create 'seed particles', depending on the nature of the particle used and the volume required to form an effective amount of rainfall.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 remove obstacles to the growth of the edible insect industry in the UK.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government recognises the role the alternative protein sector could have in contributing to UK growth. As stated in the Government's Food Strategy, through funding we will support progress on a wide range of issues, including alternative proteins. We will also work with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to develop dedicated guidance materials for approval of new alternative protein products while reviewing our novel food regulations. This will ensure they are transparent for innovators and investors, whilst maintaining world-leading consumer safety standards.
In addition, the FSA is aiming to introduce a legislative fix this year to permit edible insect sellers to continue to sell several species while they submit applications for authorisation under the novel food regulations. Novel foods normally require pre-market authorisation but the FSA plans to fix transitional arrangements from the EU retained law to allow necessary time to demonstrate the safety of these products. There are very few restrictions required on the use of insects as feed.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the sustainability of plankton levels in the North Atlantic.
Answered by Steve Double
As a contracting party to OSPAR, the regional seas convention covering the North-East Atlantic, the UK contributes to the assessment of plankton in the North-East Atlantic. Although the sustainability of plankton has not been specifically addressed by research at the North Atlantic scale, abundance and diversity of plankton in the North Atlantic is. These assessments indicate that there is variability in the plankton community, which is in accordance with the published scientific literature on plankton dynamics.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of market speculation on grain prices.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Increases in international food commodity prices have been driven by a range of factors, including rising energy prices, increased demand, and trade disruption. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the ability of Ukraine to produce and export key agricultural commodities. This suggests that the main driver of the observed price changes is due to Ukraine’s inability to export. Previous assessments by Government economists have suggested there are good reasons to be sceptical that speculation in futures markets has been a significant cause of food price spikes. The department continues to monitor market developments closely alongside international partners like the Agricultural Market Information System.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of market speculation on food prices.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Increases in international food commodity prices have been driven by a range of factors, including rising energy prices, increased demand, and trade disruption. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the ability of Ukraine to produce and export key agricultural commodities. This suggests that the main driver of the observed price changes is due to Ukraine’s inability to export. Previous assessments by Government economists have suggested there are good reasons to be sceptical that speculation in futures markets has been a significant cause of food price spikes. The department continues to monitor market developments closely alongside international partners like the Agricultural Market Information System.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his department has made of the potential merits of a revival of the whale population on (a) the international marine environment and (b) carbon capture.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The UK Government plays a leading role championing the conservation and welfare of all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) both in the UK and internationally. We fully recognise the importance of whale populations to the marine ecosystem, and the vital role they play to sequester carbon.
We play an active role in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and are Vice Chair of the IWC’s Conservation Committee. The Conservation Committee considers a wide range of cetacean conservation issues, which includes increasing our understanding of their important role in ecosystem functioning and climate change.
Research into the carbon capture potential from whales is ongoing within the scientific community and we anticipate some of this research to be reported on at the IWC’s Scientific Committee meeting in May this year. Defra officials and UK scientists will attend this meeting which will help improve our understanding of the importance of cetaceans in carbon sequestration.