Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to invest in local food infrastructure.
Answered by Mark Spencer
As a Government we have a Manifesto commitment that we want people at home and abroad to be lining up to buy British. SMEs are at the heart of the sector, making up 98% of food and drink manufacturing businesses, and one of our key focuses is supporting them to grow.
As part of our support for these businesses the Government hosted a Regional Food and Drink Summit in Birmingham in March 2022. The Summit successfully brought together SMEs and regional organisations to share best practice and access support to grow their business through exporting, selling direct to consumers, accessing public sector procurement opportunities and promoting their products at a regional level.
Building on the Summit we have continued to empower businesses and regional organisations to leverage growth opportunities, champion their regional food identity and develop links with local tourism through a series of regional workshops most recently in Yorkshire and Cornwall.
In addition to the Government’s work, we recognise the role that local organisations play in supporting local food infrastructure. We work closely with local enterprise partnerships, as well as businesses and representative organisations, through regular engagement, regional workshop events, masterclasses and other events to develop local food and drink networks, promote local products and share best practice.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the Woodland Access Implementation Plan.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
In the England Trees Action Plan, we committed to implementing policies to allow the provision of safe and appropriate public access in as many woodlands as possible through a suite of measures from updating of Forestry Commission guidance through to plans to encourage improvements to the quality and permanency of existing access. Defra is already working in partnership with communities, landowners and user groups across these areas and will release more information in due course.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to provide access to the quotas for spurdog following the conclusion of the annual fisheries negotiations with (a) the EU and (b) other North Atlantic states.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Following the recent UK-EU agreement on total allowable catches for Northeast Atlantic spurdog in 2023, UK fishing quotas have been published within the Secretary of State determination of fishing opportunities for British fishing boats and presented to Parliament.
We are working with the Devolved Administrations and Marine Management Organisation to ensure spurdog quota allocation methods will be in place and will provide industry with clarity over their fishing opportunities for 2023. These will be announced ahead of fishing being allowed in UK waters.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to facilitate the export of livestock to the EU for breeding purposes.
Answered by Mark Spencer
As a result of the UK leaving the EU and becoming an independent trading nation, there are rules to follow and specific actions to take for GB exporters. The UK was granted third country listed status by the EU on 28 December 2020. This meant that, as an independent trading nation and a non-EU country, the UK continues to export goods, including live animals for breeding purposes and animal products, to the EU after 1 January 2021. The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement puts in place a framework that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade. It is in both the UK and EU’s interests to use this framework to reduce or streamline SPS checks where possible, ensuring that they are proportionate to the biosecurity risks.