Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the level of fly-tipping in (a) England and (b) the rest of the UK.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions data to Defra, which are published annually on Gov.uk. In August, we published new league tables, providing transparency on how councils are using their enforcement powers.
Defra has not made a comparison with data from other parts of the UK.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 ensure food is affordable in winter 2023-24.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
October 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) food price inflation reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) was 10.1%, down from 12.1% in September 2023 and the lowest figure since June 2022.
Overall CPI inflation dropped to 4.6% in October from 6.7% in September 2023. This is now under half the overall rate recorded by ONS at the start of the year.
Through regular engagement, Defra will continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food, for example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.
Retailers have introduced incentives for customers, such as new reward cards offering discounts on products or 'cashback' on future purchases. A number of stores are also offering meal deals either in store or within their cafes to help vulnerable groups.
The Government is providing significant support over this year and next – worth on average £3,300 per household – which includes direct cash payments to the most vulnerable households, as well as uprating benefits and the state pension by 10% in April.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the levels of donations to foodbanks between 2022 and 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not have any role in the operation of foodbanks. Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations which bring people in local communities together to support one another. This is a great example of the generosity of spirit of communities across the country.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 increase support for food banks in winter 2023-24.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not have any role in the operation of foodbanks. Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations which bring people in local communities together to support one another. This is a great example of the generosity of spirit of communities across the country.
The Government is providing over £100 million of support for charities and community organisations in England to support the impacts of the increase in cost of living. This funding is supporting charities and community organisations right now through the £76 million Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund. This fund has closed for applications and is awarding funding to frontline organisations supporting vulnerable households, including those which deliver food. The second strand of the package, the £25.5 million VCSE Energy Efficiency Scheme, will provide investment in energy efficiency measures, with more details to be announced in due course.
Taken together, total support over 2022/23-2024/25 to help households with the high cost of living amounts to £104 billion – an average of £3,700 per UK household.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the (a) fines and (b) other penalties for dog owners whose dogs (i) attack and (ii) kill other people.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The maximum penalty for any owner who allows their dog to be dangerously out of control is 14 years’ imprisonment where the death of a person is involved, five years’ imprisonment where a person is injured, six months’ imprisonment where no injury is caused to a person, and three years’ imprisonment for an aggravated attack on an assistance dog. All of the above offences carry the possibility of an unlimited fine. We are currently working in partnership with the police, local authorities and animal welfare organisations to ensure that the full range of existing dog control powers are effectively applied to encourage responsible dog ownership and reduce the risk of dog attacks.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 is taking steps to help reduce the risk of wildfires breaking out on moorland.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is a key stakeholder in the Wildfire Framework for England. The Department’s responsibilities are laid out in the framework, with the aim of mitigating the impacts of wildfire across England, including on moorlands.
Defra also fund a training programme designed to consolidate knowledge, skills and understanding of vegetation fires including wildfire incidents and prescribed fire operations. Since its development in 2021, more than 1,000 Lantra accredited training modules have been completed by both public and private land managers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 merits of funding innovative recycling ideas.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra supports the funding of innovative recycling projects across the country. To support our ambitious goals to recycle plastic film, Defra alongside the Flexible Plastic Fund, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Zero Waste Scotland, is funding a multi-million-pound pilot project on flexible plastic kerbside collections. This is part of Defra’s funding of the £60 million UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) programme and will support the nationwide introduction of plastic film collections from households and businesses from 31 March 2027. Through the SSPP, Defra has also supported a project to develop food-grade recycled polypropylene in the UK, the first of its kind.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 the fisheries management plans updated on 2 October 2023 on UK (a) fishermen and (b) fishing communities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In July, Defra published impact assessments on the draft Fisheries Management Plans. Further assessment of impacts will be conducted as appropriate during implementation.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 ensure access to skilled labour in the dairy farming sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We appreciate the importance of skilled labour to our domestic food producers, including the dairy sector. To help support the issue of labour shortages, the Government commissioned John Shropshire to carry out an independent review which considered how automation, domestic labour and migrant labour can contribute to tackling labour shortages in the food supply chain. The report was published in June 2023.
The Government Response will consider all ten of the recommendations made in John Shropshire’s Review, covering the four themes of Recruitment & Retention, Skills, Data, and Automation. The Government Response will be published shortly.
The Skilled Worker visa route is open to all nationals who wish to come to the UK for the purpose of working in a skilled job they have been offered. The Government have broadened the skill and salary thresholds to include medium skilled jobs and the route now covers 60% of jobs in the economy. This strikes an appropriate balance between allowing employers access to the skills our economy needs and encouraging investment in the resident workforce.
Defra will continue to work closely with our dairy and other agricultural sectors and across government, to make sure that the workforce requirements for food and farming are understood.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 tackle food inflation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Tackling inflation is this Government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year, and we are monitoring all key agricultural commodities so that we can work with the food industry to address the challenges they face.
The Government monitors consumer food prices using the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). October 2023 CPI food price inflation reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) was 10.1%, down from 12.1% in September 2023 and the lowest figure since June 2022. Overall CPI inflation dropped to 4.6% in October from 6.7% in September 2023. This is now under half the overall rate recorded by ONS at the start of the year.
Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and manufacturing costs, and Sterling exchange rates. Some of these factors are influenced by our trading arrangements with other countries.
Through regular engagement, Defra will continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. For example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures. Some retailers have also introduced incentives for customers, such as new reward cards offering discounts on products or ‘cashback’ on future purchases, and a number of stores are also offering meal deals either in store or within their cafes to help vulnerable groups.