Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 ensure that cats are appropriately considered within the Government’s animal welfare agenda.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Strategy was published on 22 December 2025 and sets out our priorities for animal welfare for England. It is a comprehensive set of reforms which will improve the lives of millions of animals.
In the Strategy the Government has committed to take steps to improve the uptake of the pet selling licence by those who sell cats and kittens as pets. The Government will also improve our understanding of the size, scale and current management practices related to cat breeding, drawing on expertise from the sector, and consider any further steps which may improve welfare practices in the cat breeding sector.
Cats will benefit from broader measures outlined in the Strategy including tackling low welfare imports and implementing the measures contained in the Renters’ Rights Act to make it easier for tenants to keep pets in rented accommodation.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason does the Animal Welfare Strategy for England not include measures to reduce the impact of fireworks on pets.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Strategy sets out the UK Government’s priorities for England and is a comprehensive set of reforms which will improve the lives of millions of animals.
The Government continues to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities to gather evidence on the issues and impacts of fireworks, including on animal welfare.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether they will require their department and agencies to offer payroll deductions to all employees to enable them to join a credit union.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not offer a credit unions payroll deduction process to staff. Defra does operate a comprehensive employee benefit offering with access to retail discounts, savings, Cycle to Work schemes, dental and health wellbeing programmes, and has recently launched additional Financial Wellbeing products, accessible through payroll savings, the Government “Help to Save” scheme and access to more affordable borrowing solutions through our benefit partners.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her EU counterparts on (a) the management of foot and mouth disease and (b) recent restrictions on (i) meat and (ii) dairy imports.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra and the European Commission regularly exchange information in relation to (a) the management of foot and mouth disease outbreaks in the European Union in 2025 and (b) the import restrictions on meat and dairy products that we put in place to protect UK farmers. This information includes details of surveillance, testing, movements of animals and goods, and other outbreak controls.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she made of the potential impact of agricultural cooperatives on the rural economy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government strongly supports the benefits co-operatives can bring and recognises the important role they play in rural communities. For instance, through collaborating farmers and growers can benefit from peer to peer learning, being able to share equipment and being able to act at scale.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a list of verified producers of products with UK geographical indication status.
Answered by Mark Spencer
92 UK produced products are protected as Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG), collectively referred to as ‘GI products’ These are protected under the UK GI schemes (providing protection in GB) or/and the EU GI schemes (providing protection in EU/NI). All producers of GI products in the UK are required to be verified as compliant with the registered specification in order to use the registered name, and there is a duty to notify Defra of their verification status. HMRC publish the verification status of spirit drinks GI producers, but whilst we recognise the potential benefits of better-informed consumers and retailers, Defra does not currently publish the data for wine or agri-food GI producers and there are no plans to do so. Products produced outside the UK and registered on the UK GI schemes must be verified in their own country, who may choose to publish lists of their verified producers domestically.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on the number of UK products that (a) hold and (b) have been granted (i) protected food name and (ii) geographical indication status in the European Union in each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Data on products protected under the EU Geographical Indication schemes is published by the EU on https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/food-safety-and-quality/certification/quality-labels/geographical-indications-register/. 22 UK-produced GI products were protected under the EU schemes in the last 10 years: 1 in 2013, 3 in 2014, 2 in 2015, 3 in 2016, 8 in 2017, 2 in 2018, 2 in 2019, and 1 in 2022. ‘Protected food names’ is a common/interchangeable term for Geographical Indications.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 her Department has allocated to the promotion of UK geographic indication products; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Spencer
It is the responsibility of producers and retailers of geographical indication (GI) protected products to ensure consumers recognise their protected status, primarily achieved through display of the UK GI logo on labels. While there is no specific budget allocated to the promotion of UK-produced GI products, we will continue to celebrate them where appropriate in Government communications as we aim to encourage consumers to ‘look for the UK GI logo’. We also champion our GIs to other countries, particularly through new and existing trade deals.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to inspect producers of UK products with UK Geographical Indication scheme status; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Registration of a product name under the UK GI schemes means any product sold or marketed under that name in GB must come from a verified producer. Verification involves inspection of the producer’s processes and product to ensure compliance with the registered specification. For GI products produced in the UK, maintaining their verification is a responsibility of producers and is secured from HMRC in the case of GI spirit drinks, from the Food Standards Agency in the case of wines, and in the case of agri-food products from either a Local Authority (typically their Trading Standards function) or from a commercial Control Body accredited to provide services by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). GIs produced outside of the UK must be verified in their country of production. Defra, as Competent Authority for the operation of the GI schemes, has no role in assigning verification status and there are no plans for direct inspection of producers.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on the number of producers that produce products that are registered under the UK Geographical Indication scheme that also have UK Accreditation Service certification.
Answered by Mark Spencer
United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation is a requirement of Control Bodies wishing to provide verification services to GI producers. We are not aware of any producers of products registered under the UK’s GI schemes that also have UKAS accreditation to provide verification services.