Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
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 as to whether there are sufficient supplies of heat-treated pallets to meet EU regulations covering the transport of products from 1 Jan 2021.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
After the end of the Transition Period, all wood packaging material (WPM) moving between Great Britain (GB) and the EU must be treated and appropriately marked in compliance with international standards (ISPM 15). This is in line with international requirements for trade and is in place to protect both the EU and GB from harmful plant pests and diseases.
Defra has established a strong relationship with the WPM industry. The UK Timber Pallet and Packaging Confederation (TIMCON), the Freight Transport Association , National Association of Pallet Distributors, the European Federation of Wooden Pallet and Packaging Manufacturers (FEFPEB) and the Closed Pallet Pooling Coalition have been working hard with Defra and industry to ensure there are sufficient compliant pallets available for 1 January 2021. This will ensure our biosecurity is maintained and trade continues to flow with as little disruption as possible.
The WPM industry have been working tirelessly to both increase the stock of compliant WPM and to grow our WPM treatment capacity by increasing the number of heat treatment facilities (kilns) and their hours of operation and by simplifying and improving ISPM15 processes to reduce the time needed to treat their WPM. In a recent survey of the industry, 70% of respondents indicated they were confident that they would be fully ready by the end of the Transition Period. TIMCON is also strongly encouraging FEFPEB and EU national associations to engage and support their countries’ WPM industries to increase their own stocks of compliant pallets.
Defra, the Forestry Commission and other relevant plant health authorities are continuing to work closely with the WPM sector to address what further actions they need to take to manage this new requirement by the end of the Transition Period.
As there will be no immediate change to the biosecurity threat of WPM originating from the EU at the end of the Transition Period, GB will maintain its current risk-based checking regime for EU WPM.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what advice he has issued to food manufacturers on food packaging labelling requirements from 1 Jan 2021 for items (a) exported to the EU and (b) shipped from GB to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Ministers meet regularly with food manufacturers, and representatives of other parts of the supply chain, to discuss preparations for the end of the transition period including for food labelling.
The GOV.UK website provides guidance on these matters and is kept under review and updated as appropriate. Some food labels may need to change after the transition period depending on where the food is marketed and what information is provided on the label.
I can confirm that there will be a period of adjustment for labelling changes required at the end of the transition period. 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: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether new food packaging labelling will be required from 1 Jan 2021 for items (a) exported to the EU and (b) shipped from GB to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Ministers meet regularly with food manufacturers, and representatives of other parts of the supply chain, to discuss preparations for the end of the transition period including for food labelling.
The GOV.UK website provides guidance on these matters and is kept under review and updated as appropriate. Some food labels may need to change after the transition period depending on where the food is marketed and what information is provided on the label.
I can confirm that there will be a period of adjustment for labelling changes required at the end of the transition period. 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: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many different firms have been contracted to deliver food to people who are shielding; and whether those firms are being paid the same for that work.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Defra have contracted two firms, Brakes and Bidfood, to deliver food boxes to extremely clinically vulnerable people who have no other means of accessing food. The contract details including the contract and value will be published on Contracts Finder and the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) in due course and in any event within the prescribed publishing timeframe. The contracted price per delivered box is the same for both firms.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
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 has made of the effect on insects of electro-magnetic radiation.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra has supported national and global comprehensive scientific reviews on status and pressures for insects and other pollinators.
In 2014, we published a review of the status and value of pollinators in England and the UK, which we updated last year. We also supported a major global review of the status and threats to insect pollinators, published in 2015 by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. These reports did not identify electromagnetic radiation (EMR) as a significant threat to pollinating insects. Instead they highlighted key threats such as habitat loss, inappropriate pesticide use and invasive species. We have subsequently taken action on each of these.
Further studies have been published subsequently. In 2018, an EU-funded ‘EKLIPSE’ study concluded that “few ecological studies exist, but when they do, the reported EMR effects are negligible, contrasting, or cannot be separated from other environmental factors”.
Scientific evidence on risks to pollinators is continually evolving and we take it very seriously. We continue to work closely with leading UK scientists to keep EMR and other potential drivers of change under review.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds South)
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 continue to fund environmental (a) research and (b) policy-making on the Falkland Islands after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Funding for environment projects for British Overseas Territories after we leave the EU will be assessed as part of the forthcoming Spending Review. As announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement package on 13 March, the Government has published a call for evidence which invites ideas on how the British Overseas Territories’ biodiversity can be safeguarded: