Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) proportion, (b) value and (c) volume of (i) lamb, (ii) beef, (iii) pork and (iv) chicken consumed in the UK is imported (A) from the EU and (B) from the rest of the world.
Answered by George Eustice
According to analysis of HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics and Defra agricultural statistics, in 2018:
UK lamb consumption - (A) imported from the EU = (a) 7%, (b) £53m, (c) 21 thousand tonnes and (B) imported from the rest of the world = (a) 26%, (b) £320m, (c) 76 thousand tonnes.
UK beef consumption - (A) imported from the EU = (a) 30%, (b) £1.1bn, (c) 343 thousand tonnes and (B) imported from the rest of the world = (a) 2%, (b) £94m, (c) 22 thousand tonnes.
UK pork consumption - (A) imported from the EU = (a) 55%, (b) £849m, (c) 792 thousand tonnes and (B) imported from the rest of the world = (a) 0.1%, (b) £3m, (c) 1 thousand tonnes.
UK poultry consumption - (A) imported from the EU = (a) 25%, (b) £1.2bn, (c) 548 thousand tonnes and (B) imported from the rest of the world = (a) 2%, (b) £61m, (c) 36 thousand tonnes.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
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 increase in the number of Export Health Certificate that will be required in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
If the UK leaves the EU without a deal we expect the number of Export Health Certificates (EHCs) issued for exports to increase.
To address this increase, we have offered free training to official veterinarians, with around 1000 official veterinarians now able to sign EHCs.
We have created a new Certification Support Officer. This role will assist Certifying Officers to collate the evidence needed for certification. 250 have registered and 90 have qualified in Great Britain so far.
We have offered local authorities funding to help them meet demand for EHCs, and a new web portal for processing EHCs will also help by speeding up the application process.
The proposed risk based approach to inspecting EHCs will increase the capacity for local authority Certifying Officers to certify export health certificates for fish and fish products.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of proportion of registrations held by UK firms with the European Chemicals Agency to export to the EU in August 2018 that have been transferred to a non-UK EU-based entity.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The European Chemicals Agency reported on 3 April 2019 that approximately 4,800 UK-based registrants had initiated a transfer to a EU-based company. This is out of a total of around 12,000 UK registrations in total.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) proportion (b) value and (c) volume of (i) lamb, (ii) beef, (iii) pork and (iv) chicken produced in the UK is (A) consumed in the UK, (B) exported to the EU and (C) exported to the rest of the world.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
According to analysis of HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics and Defra agricultural statistics, in 2018:
UK produced Lamb - (A) consumed in the UK = (a) 68%, (b) £856m, (c) 202 thousand tonnes (B) exported to the EU = (a) 31%, (b) £355m, (c) 92 thousand tonnes and (C) exported to the rest of the world = (a) 1%, (b) £12m, (c) 4 thousand tonnes.
UK produced Beef - (A) consumed in the UK = (a) 85%, (b) £2.6bn, (c) 785 thousand tonnes (B) exported to the EU = (a) 14%, (b) £398m, (c) 125 thousand tonnes and (C) exported to the rest of the world = (a) 2%, (b) £37m, (c) 15 thousand tonnes.
UK produced Pork - (A) consumed in the UK = (a) 71%, (b) £888m, (c) 636 thousand tonnes (B) exported to the EU = (a) 19%, (b) £186m, (c) 173 thousand tonnes and (C) exported to the rest of the world = (a) 9%, (b) £106m, (c) 81 thousand tonnes.
UK produced Poultry - (A) consumed in the UK = (a) 82%, (b) £2.2bn, (c) 1.6 million tonnes (B) exported to the EU = (a) 14%, (b) £222m, (c) 272 thousand tonnes and (C) exported to the rest of the world = (a) 4%, (b) £78m, (c) 82 thousand tonnes.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
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 (a) the implications for his policies of the construction of Border Inspection Posts in Calais and Coquelles and (b) whether those posts will be operational by 31 October 2019.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
When the UK leaves the EU certain products, such as live animals and animal by-products will be required to enter the EU via a border inspection post. The establishment of new or extended facilities at Calais, Dunkirk and Coquelles will mean that these types of products will continue to be able to trade using the short straits trading routes.
These facilities were approved for use if the UK left the EU at the end of March/beginning of April without a deal. The port authorities will need to resubmit for approval in a future no deal scenario.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) value and (b) proportion by value of the fish caught in UK waters is (i) consumed domestically, (ii) exported to non-UK EU member states and (iii) exported to the rest of the world; and what (A) value and (B) proportion by value of the fish consumed in the UK is (I) caught in UK waters, (II) imported from other EU member state and (III) imported from the rest of the world.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The average value of fish landed by UK and Other Member State vessels from the UK Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) each year is £1,184 million (~£1.2 billion), this represents 38.4% of the total value the UK and Other Member State fleets land from the Northeast Atlantic sea area.
In 2017, the UK exported £1.9bn (460,000 tonnes) of fish and seafood products globally, with over 70% of exports to the EU. The UK is a net importer of fish, importing over 730,000 tonnes of fish worth £3.1bn, with the majority of imports originating outside of the EU.
The Marine Management Organisation publishes trade analysis in their annual UK Sea Fisheries Statistics publication, which can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-sea-fisheries-annual-statistics-report-2017
These statistics include the outward movement of fish and seafood products produced by businesses in the UK, plus goods which, after importation to the UK, are then exported. The statistics include fish caught by foreign vessels and landed into the UK; fish caught by the UK fleet and landed into foreign ports are excluded. It is not possible to discern the origin of fish from UK trade statistics, or from this the proportion consumed in the UK originating from fish caught in UK waters.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
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 support UK farmers in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
As any responsible Government would, we are preparing for the possibility of no deal, which is why we have contingency plans in place to minimise disruption for the food and farming sector as much as possible.
We are in close contact with the farming unions and other farmer representatives across the UK. Alongside the publication of technical notices, we continue to work closely with farmers, businesses and trade associations across the food and drink sector, from farm to fork, to keep them informed of exit preparations.
We have committed to the same funding for farm support until the end of this Parliament, whether the UK leaves with or without a deal. In a no deal scenario, the current EU Common Agricultural Policy legislation will be retained under the Withdrawal Act 2018 and modified through secondary legislation. This will provide a legal basis for its continuation until the passage of the Agriculture Bill. We have also already guaranteed that any projects where funding has been agreed before the end of 2020 will be funded for their full lifetime, including in a no deal scenario. The guarantee also means that the Government and the devolved administrations can continue to sign new projects after the UK leaves the EU during 2019 and 2020.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of cars travelling from the UK to (a) France and (b) the EU contain a pet animal.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government does not record data on how many or what proportion of cars travelling from the UK to France, or from the UK to the rest of the EU, contain a pet animal. Due to the nature of the border arrangements for cars travelling out of the UK, it would be very difficult to conduct an estimation of the proportion that are carrying a pet.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many disposable nappies have been recycled in the UK in the last 12 months.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government does not have data on how many disposable nappies have been recycled in the last 12 months.
I met Procter & Gamble who have developed a technology to recycle nappies and I understand they are in discussions with several local authorities to establish a facility in the UK. The Government wants to encourage more recycling and to make it easier for households to recycle. In our Resources and Waste Strategy, which was published in December 2018, more is said on how we will encourage recycling and make it easier to understand.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
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 effectiveness of sentences in deterring fly-tipping; and when the penalties for fly-tipping will next be reviewed.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government is committed to tackling fly-tipping. The maximum penalty on prosecution for fly-tipping is imprisonment of up to five years or a potentially unlimited fine. Defra has worked with the Sentencing Council to strengthen guidelines for environmental offences in 2014. I am raising this with colleagues at the Ministry of Justice and to also ensure sentencing levels act as an effective deterrent.