Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support research on methods to mitigate or reduce emissions in farming.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
While emissions in farming is a broad topic, the question is assumed to concern greenhouse gas emissions only, and I am responding accordingly.
The Prime Minister has been clear that tackling climate change is a priority for this Government. Since 1990 emissions from agriculture have reduced by 13%.
The Government is investing to unlock innovation and translate our world leading research into practical farmer-led solutions that improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of agriculture. This includes reducing emissions from farming.
Our £90 million investment in the ‘Transforming Food Production’ (TFP) challenge, launched in 2018, is supporting ground breaking research and development so farmers will be able to harness the latest technology to produce high quality food, increase their productivity and move towards net zero emission farming systems by 2040. This will put the UK at the forefront of advanced sustainable agriculture and food production while reducing emissions, pollution, waste and soil erosion.
This initiative is enhanced by a recently launched Defra-funded collaborative agricultural Research and Development competition ‘Farming Innovation Pathways’) with an additional £12 million of funding targeting existing and new farm focused innovation, which will also be delivered through the TFP initiative.
From 2022 a new Research and Development funding programme for England will build on the success of TFP as part of the proposed measures to stimulate innovation and boost productive, sustainable, low emissions agriculture as we move away from the CAP system of farming subsidy payments.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 increase the number of bees and other pollinators in the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter, and the information provided relates to England only.
Pollinators are a priority for this government and we are committed, with our many partners, to taking action to conserve bees and other pollinators, as set out in our National Pollinator Strategy. Our actions include: restoring and creating habitat for bees and other wild and managed pollinators to thrive; acting on the pressures that impact on pollinators, including by supporting Integrated Pest Management (IPM); providing advice and raising awareness across society so that they can take action themselves; and supporting new monitoring and research.
We are introducing new schemes that reward farmers and land managers for producing public goods. These will encourage actions that support IPM and conserve and enhance habitats for bees and other pollinators. We have introduced a national pollinator monitoring scheme with trend estimates published annually, and we provide advice and guidance to landowners and the public through our Bees’ Needs campaign.
Through the Healthy Bees Plan 2030, Defra works with beekeeping associations and other stakeholders to maintain a healthy honey bee population. We fund an extensive programme of apiary inspections, as well as education and training for beekeepers to maintain and improve husbandry standards. The number of honey bee colonies recorded on the National Bee Unit’s BeeBase website has increased from around 108,000 in 2009 to 224,000 in 2020. This increase may be due in part to greater numbers of beekeepers choosing to register, rather than representing additional colonies or beekeepers.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what resources his Department provides to help check and validate the welfare and legitimacy of puppies being transported between Great Britain and the Northern Ireland.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Pet travel is a devolved matter. Pet checking and welfare in transport regulations are undertaken and enforced by the relevant UK administration.
In Great Britain, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) works collaboratively with Border Force and other operational partners at ports, airports and inland, sharing intelligence to enforce the pet travel regulations which apply, disrupt illegal imports and seize non-compliant animals. Any animals found to be non-compliant with the pet travel regulations which apply may be refused entry or detained until compliant.
When animals are transported for a commercial purpose, their transportation must comply fully with legal requirements aimed at protecting their welfare. APHA takes an intelligence-led approach at the GB border towards tackling the illegal trade in dogs. As part of this activity APHA identifies and acts to safeguard the welfare of animals where transport is non-compliant with legal requirements.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Department is taking with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to tackle the smuggling of puppies between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Defra takes the illegal importation of pets seriously. We will continue to work closely with Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to tackle this abhorrent trade which causes suffering to animals and puts the health of pets and people in the UK at risk.
Now that the transition period has ended, we have the opportunity to manage our own rules applying to pet travel movements into Great Britain.
The Government is in the process of refining proposals for our manifesto commitment to tackling puppy smuggling and will be publishing further detail in due course.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure domestic food standards are applied imported products.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK Government will not compromise on our standards. Our manifesto is clear that in all of our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. We remain firmly committed to upholding our high environmental protection, food safety and animal welfare standards outside the EU. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains our standards on environmental protections, animal welfare, animal and plant health and food safety at the end of the transition period. This includes existing import requirements and provides a firm basis for maintaining the same high level of protection for both domestic and imported products.
These import standards include a ban on using artificial growth hormones in domestic and imported products and set out that no products, other than potable water, are approved to decontaminate poultry carcasses. Any changes to existing food safety legislation would require new legislation to be brought before this Parliament.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to issue guidance on labelling requirements for products after the transition period ends to agri-food firms in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Ministers meet regularly with food manufacturers, and representatives of other parts of the supply chain from across the UK, to discuss preparations for the end of the transition period including for food labelling.
The GOV.UK website provides cross-UK guidance on these matters and is kept under review and updated as appropriate. The EU has set out its position on how food and drink should be labelled where EU rules apply.
We will provide a period of adjustment for labelling changes required at the end of the transition period, wherever this is possible. During this period, the changes that UK businesses need to make when selling between different markets will be minimised. We are working to determine the appropriate time industry needs to make changes and will provide guidance as soon as we can do so, to ensure that businesses have clarity and certainty.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided to agricultural shows in England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the article published in Science of the Total Environment in June 2020, entitled, London's river of plastic: High levels of microplastics in the Thames water column, by Rowley et al, what steps his Department is taking to tackle pollution in waterways.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with the Environment Agency, academics and the UK water industry to understand the scale of the microplastic pollution problem and to establish detection methods. The aim is to identify, characterise and quantify the types of microplastics entering wastewater treatment plants, evaluate the efficiency of treatment processes for the removal of microplastics from domestic wastewaters and assess the fate and biological effects of microplastics in receiving rivers.
Although there has been substantive research reporting the presence and impacts of microplastics in the marine environment, little is known about their sources, release and impact on freshwaters or their ultimate transport to the marine environment. Defra recently commissioned three evidence reviews on analysis, prevalence & impact of microplastics in freshwater and estuarine environments to further understand these issues and will use the outcomes from these and other research to develop policy options to help mitigate the impact of microplastics in the aquatic environment. These evidence reviews can be found at the following link: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=20192&FromSearch=Y&Publisher=1&SearchText=WT15112&SortString=ProjectCode&SortOrder=Asc&Paging=10#Description
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
Whether he plans to provide support to the devolved Administrations to help local (a) dairy and (b) beef producers that are facing reductions in farmgate prices.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
This is a devolved matter and so will be for the Northern Ireland Executive to decide what support they provide to their sectors. I meet with Minister Poots regularly and we are working closely to share information and intentions to help develop coherent approaches, for example, a UK-wide campaign has recently been launched to encourage consumers to increase dairy purchases.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with supermarkets in the UK to encourage the promotion and sale of meat produced on UK farms.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with supermarkets, retailers and other stakeholders in the food and drink industry covering a wide range of issues.
We are fortunate in the UK that we have the climate, the landscape, and entrepreneurial farmers and food producers that equip us to produce world-class food, and our farmers and growers are doing a fantastic job of feeding the nation during this challenging time.
Half of the food that the UK population consumes is home-grown and is renowned for its quality, and high standards of food safety, traceability, animal welfare and sustainability. We will always champion our farmers and producers; supporting them to grow more of our great British food, and to provide a reliable and sustainable food supply to the British public.
Supermarkets are already taking steps to promote and source British meat products. We are also working closely with the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) as they develop consumer-facing marketing campaigns for the meat and dairy sectors. We will continue to engage with and support similar initiatives that highlight the qualities of British meat, dairy, and fruit and vegetable products.