Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 has taken to support fishing and fish processing communities as part of the Seafood 2040 Strategy.
Answered by George Eustice
Seafood 2040 is an industry led framework of 25 recommendations which sets out the vision for the seafood supply chain in England. The majority of the framework’s recommendations are for the industry to take an all-sector collaborative approach. A number of recommendations require Government action, which we are fully committed to delivering.
Defra is currently supporting the delivery of the framework’s first recommendation, which will see the creation of the Seafood Industry Leadership Group (SILG). SILG will take the lead in the delivery of Seafood 2040 in terms of developing more detailed plans and recommendations. Once SILG is established, it will drive forward the delivery of Seafood 2040.
Although SILG is not yet established, Defra fisheries teams are working closely with the industry, such as the aquaculture sector, to develop mechanisms which are relevant and fit for purpose for the management of fisheries and aquaculture.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 has taken to support the fish supply chain as part of the Seafood 2040 Strategy.
Answered by George Eustice
Seafood 2040 is an industry led framework of 25 recommendations which sets out the vision for the seafood supply chain in England. The majority of the framework’s recommendations are for the industry to take an all-sector collaborative approach. A number of recommendations require Government action, which we are fully committed to delivering.
Defra is currently supporting the delivery of the framework’s first recommendation, which will see the creation of the Seafood Industry Leadership Group (SILG). SILG will take the lead in the delivery of Seafood 2040 in terms of developing more detailed plans and recommendations. Once SILG is established, it will drive forward the delivery of Seafood 2040.
Although SILG is not yet established, Defra fisheries teams are working closely with the industry, such as the aquaculture sector, to develop mechanisms which are relevant and fit for purpose for the management of fisheries and aquaculture.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which Government departments he has had discussions with on the Seafood 2040 Strategy.
Answered by George Eustice
In the coming months Defra will be discussing the Seafood 2040 recommendations with a range of Government bodies including Public Health England, the Environment Agency, the Sea Fish Industry Authority, the Marine Management Organisation, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and the Food Standards Agency.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on changes to the level of tariffs on sugar beet imports in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.
Answered by George Eustice
Ministers and officials have not had any discussions with EU counterparts on changes to the level of tariffs on sugar beet imports in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Because it is uneconomical to transport sugar beet long distances for processing, it is unlikely that any sugar beet has been imported into the EU in those years and so discussions on changes to the level of tariffs would not be expected.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what effect he expects the end of EU quotas on sugar beet production to have on domestic sugar prices.
Answered by George Eustice
We expect the price of sugar within the European Union (EU) to follow trends in world prices more closely following the removal of quotas on beet sugar production. While the United Kingdom remains within the EU domestic prices will be similarly affected. The latest EU sugar prices show a recent drop reflecting the fall in international prices and expectations of higher EU exports.