Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 the safety of imported food under the Border Target Operating Model.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s absolute priority in delivering the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) is to protect and enhance food safety, and plant, animal and public health. The BTOM sets outs out a risk-based, proportionate regime of controls which systematically assesses the inherent biosecurity or public health risk presented by an import, together with the prevalence of relevant pests and diseases and our confidence in the exporting country’s production standards and health controls. This assessment allows us to set controls at the most appropriate level and focus on the areas of highest risk to ensure food safety.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 a consultation on the use of cages for farmed animals.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have delivered an ambitious legislative programme since the publication of the Action Plan, which will deliver significant improvements for animals in the UK and abroad. We are firmly committed to maintaining our strong track record on animal welfare and to delivering continued improvements, both in the course of this Parliament and beyond.
Our recent announcement on delivering the measures in the Kept Animals Bill through single measure Bills will help us to deliver two further commitments in the plan, including the ban on live exports. These are our key priorities. We do not consider the time is right to consult on cage reforms, being mindful of the challenges the sectors are facing. The market is already driving the move away from using cages for laying hen production. The proportion of eggs that come from caged hens has steadily decreased from 47% of total throughput in Q4 2017, to 21% in Q1 2023.
We continue to work with the sector to maintain and enhance our high standards. The Government’s animal welfare priorities for its Animal Health and Welfare Pathway include supporting producers to transition away from confinement systems.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment. Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with supermarkets on profit levels and food pricing in response to increased food price inflation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has regular discussions with food retailers about a range of issues, including the impact of food price inflation. We are closely monitoring the situation and taking action to maintain an efficient food supply chain by mitigating against any potential burdens or friction which could otherwise drive up consumer food prices. In addition, Defra continues to work with supermarkets and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. However, it is not for HM Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies. We do not actively monitor the profits of food retailers.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with senior representatives at Kew Gardens on funding for that institution as a result of the financial effect of the covid-19 outbreak; and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the outbreak on the (a) finances and (b) functionality of that institution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has regular meetings with Kew Gardens about the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak. There are significant impacts on Kew’s operations and finances, mainly as a result of having to close the Kew and Wakehurst Place sites to the public for a period during lockdown, and a staggered return to full operations is anticipated through 2020/21.
Kew has reopened to the public under a carefully planned approach and is now able to generate visitor income as a result, although at a significantly lower level than would normally be anticipated. The operational facilities are being kept under review with a view to maximising visitor access within social distancing guidelines. Kew has taken financial mitigation measures to partly offset the loss of income, including reducing costs, postponing investment plans and use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Under optimistic scenario planning of steady growth in visitor numbers and associated income and no second lockdown or related restrictions, their in-year operating deficit would result in a 25% reduction in total income for 2020/21, which will be funded by Kew drawing down its unrestricted reserves.
We continue to work with Kew to monitor the situation and any future challenges.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the restricted grant-in-aid to Royal Gardens Botanical, Kew has been in each financial year since 2007.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
Kew publishes the funding it receives from Defra in its Annual Reports and Accounts, which are publicly available on the Kew website. The presentation of Kew’s accounts has evolved over the years and they have moved to reporting in terms of ‘restricted’ and ‘unrestricted’ Defra funding from 2013/14. Defra places no restrictions on its core or operational funding (resource), which Kew currently considers how best to allocate to deliver its statutory objectives; Kew accordingly defines this as 'unrestricted'. Defra does place restrictions on its capital funding, which may only be used for specified purposes in accordance with bids from Kew. Kew now reports this as ‘restricted’ funding.
Kew budget since 2007/8 (All figures in £k):
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Data from Kew's Published ARA |
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Income Split | 07/08 | 08/09 | 09/10 | 10/11 | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 |
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GIA Income | 25,204 | 26,600 | 28,550 | 24,620 | 28,500 | 32,475 | 28,000 |
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Defra (Capital) | 7.60 | 8.75 | 10.90 | 7.90 | 12.70 | 17.00* | 13.6** |
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Defra (Operational) | 17.60 | 19.85 | 17.65 | 16.72 | 15.80 | 15.45* | 14.4 |
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*Taken from Defra records as income split is not published in Kew’s accounts for this year
**Note this includes £1.3m for severance and redundancy payments