Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 increase the number of vehicles checked for illegally imported meat entering through the Port of Dover.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We are working with the Home Office and Border Force to ensure that operations around illegal meat imports are as efficient as possible and have invested significantly in additional operational capacity at the port of Dover (£3.1 million planned this financial year in addition to £9 million since 2022).
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 a recent assessment of the potential impact of levels of resourcing for Border Force on food security.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Border Force’s resources are continually assessed to balance all pressures. Resources are deployed dynamically through intelligence and data to intervene any potential threats.
Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse was of renting the Dover Bastion Point facility in each year since it was first in public use.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The information requested is commercially sensitive and therefore cannot be released.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 a recent assessment of the potential merits of designating Dover Port Health Authority as the lead authority for checking for illegal meat imports at the Port of Dover.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra is working with the Home Office, Border Force and Dover Port Health Authority to ensure that operations around illegal meat imports are as efficient as possible. Border Force is the Government agency responsible for combatting all illegal imports.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Local Nature Recovery Strategy mapping on future (a) funding opportunities, (b) land development and (c) land use planning for farmers.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are designed to support more strategic decision-making and investment in nature recovery. They do this by agreeing priorities for nature recovery and mapping where habitat creation or improvement could contribute most towards those.
Farmers and land managers are encouraged to deliver the actions proposed on their land but are not required to do so. Developers are incentivised to deliver actions proposed in LNRSs through an uplift in the biodiversity net gain calculation. LNRSs will also provide information that can help farmers and land managers make stronger bids for funding through schemes such as Landscape Recovery, and to help them make choices about how they manage their land. Government is continuing to explore how delivery of LNRS actions might be further incentivised so that environmental targets can be met more cost effectively.
LNRSs are also supporting nature recovery to be better reflected in the planning system and in development. Planning practice guidance was published in February 2025 which explains the role of LNRSs in helping planning authorities to conserve and enhance the natural environment.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to support farmers with the cost of bluetongue (a) tests and (b) vaccinations in Shropshire.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
From 1 July 2025 the restricted zone (RZ) for bluetongue will be extended to include all areas of England and the current movement restrictions for live animals within England will be lifted. The bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) Control Framework for England sought to slow the spread of disease across Great Britain through movement controls while safe and effective vaccines were developed. Given the availability now of safe and effective BTV-3 vaccines, low prevalence of severe clinical signs in affected domestic animals, and the impact restrictions have had on a very large number of keepers in England, sustaining or increasing controls on BTV-3 into the future is neither sustainable nor proportionate.
Defra is not able to provide any financial assistance to farmers in Shropshire for costs associated with pre-movement tests required by the Scottish and Welsh Governments after this date. Farmers will need to make commercial decisions regarding the costs associated with moving their animals out of the All-England Restricted Zone into Scotland and Wales.
Vaccination is the most suitable long-term approach to controlling disease and is consistent with the approach taken in Europe. The decision to vaccinate is a matter for farmers based on the possible impacts for their businesses. In the current situation we do not believe there is a case for mandatory vaccination, nor for the Government to provide or fund vaccination for BTV.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps with his Welsh counterpart to prevent different bluetongue regulation policies from being in place from 1 July 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the Devolved Governments to assess the disease risks and impacts in relation to their national herds, alongside the impacts of controls, and respond accordingly. However, Defra works closely with the Devolved Governments with the aim of providing, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. A key forum for this is the Animal Disease Policy Group, which is a UK-wide policy decision making group. Defra and Devolved Governments also engage closely with industry to inform policy development and implementation through the Livestock Core Group. It is encouraging to see that Wales is now joining Scotland in allowing some exemptions for pre-movement testing for cattle which have been vaccinated with a product that prevents viraemia - which will reduce costs for movements of these animals between England and Wales.
Defra will keep the approach to bluetongue control under review in 2025 and are grateful for the continued engagement of Devolved Governments and industry stakeholders.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help minimise the potential impact of bluetongue regulations on markets trading livestock on the border between England and Wales.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the Devolved Governments to assess the disease risks and impacts in relation to their national herds, alongside the impacts of controls, and respond accordingly. However, Defra works closely with the Devolved Governments with the aim of providing, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. A key forum for this is the Animal Disease Policy Group, which is a UK-wide policy decision making group. Defra and Devolved Governments also engage closely with industry to inform policy development and implementation through the Livestock Core Group. It is encouraging to see that Wales is now joining Scotland in allowing some exemptions for pre-movement testing for cattle which have been vaccinated with a product that prevents viraemia - which will reduce costs for movements of these animals between England and Wales.
Defra will keep the approach to bluetongue control under review in 2025 and are grateful for the continued engagement of Devolved Governments and industry stakeholders.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 support dairy farmers in North Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government recognises that food security is national security, and that it requires a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports farmers. That is why we are introducing new deals for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security.
Ensuring fairness in supply chains is key for UK dairy farmers in supporting the sustainability of the sector. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024 apply to new dairy contracts from 9 July 2024 and all dairy contracts from 9 July 2025. These regulations improve fairness and transparency, requiring clear terms on pricing, termination, and prohibiting unilateral changes.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 updated its contingency plans following foot and mouth disease outbreaks in mainland Europe in 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra’s approach to foot and mouth disease (FMD) control is set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England.
Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) keep preparedness under continual review but have refocused efforts following the recent outbreaks of FMD in mainland Europe. To this end, the FMD Control Strategy is being reviewed and will be published on GOV.UK in due course. The Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England is reviewed annually, and the next update is due to be laid before parliament in late autumn this year.
APHA, which leads Government action on animal disease control in Great Britain, is in the planning stages of a national tier 2 exercise to test and validate our response to an outbreak of FMD, scheduled for late 2025.