Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the farming industry with changes in the level of milk price payments to primary producers.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The Government recognises that dairy farmers have faced a range of challenges in recent years including the impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As a result, output prices reached record highs in 2022 and early 2023 due to the exceptional increase in input costs, although these have since fallen back to more historic levels. We have provided a range of support to the dairy sector during this period. This has included the advance of Basic Payment Scheme payments, a delay to the implementation of an industry-led scheme relating to the use of urea fertiliser, cuts to fuel duty and VAT, the Energy Relief Scheme, an increase in the Employment Allowance, and action on business rates to reduce bills. At the recent No 10 Food Summit, we also announced a £1m bespoke export support fund for the dairy sector, with a particular focus on support for SMEs.
We continue to monitor the dairy market and to work closely with producers, processors, and retailers across the sector to encourage recognition that the burden of rising costs can often fall heavily on farmers, and that these costs should be shared fairly across supply chains. We want all farmers to get a fair price for their products and following our supply chain fairness review of the dairy sector we have brought forward plans for contractual regulation in the sector to strengthen fairness and transparency, ensuring farmers are treated fairly. It remains our intention to introduce the regulations to Parliament later this year.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the adoption rate of private sewers.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Current adoption rates of newly constructed sewerage vary.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish a response to the consultation entitled Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England, published in July 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We are working to publish the government response to the 2021 consultation as soon as possible. This will confirm implementation dates and provide further detail on regulations and funding to be made in advance of the implementation dates.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential economic impact of sewage discharges on coastal communities.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan was published in August 2022, alongside an Impact Assessment which considers costs and benefits of the final targets to businesses, the public, wider society and government spending where applicable.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on raw sewage discharges on the Kent coast.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
I meet regularly with the Environment Agency (EA) to discuss the unacceptable volume of sewage discharged by water companies. They will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, they will not hesitate to hold companies to account.
I understand the Environment Agency’s Kent Area Director is due to meet with you in May where this matter can be discussed further.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce the level of littering by main roads.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Local councils are responsible for keeping the majority of trunk roads and other, more minor roads clear of litter. In recent years we have bolstered their enforcement powers to tackle roadside litter by giving them powers to issue a civil penalty of between £65 and £150 to the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown.
Last year, we published our report on Litter on the Strategic Road Network having worked closely with DfT and DLUHC which explored the challenges faced by councils in keeping major roads clear of litter. Next steps on tackling the issue were set out in our most recent Litter Strategy Annual Report. These included exploring the potential for making National Highways responsible for keeping the entire Strategic Road Network clear of litter and for National Highways to publish best practice on effective partnership working with councils in respect of litter clearance on the network.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has held recent discussions with the Animal and Plant Health Agency in relation to (a) the potential merits of lifting avian influenza control zones and (b) the impact of those zones on the UK poultry industry.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra is in regular discussion with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). We recognise the distress this awful disease can have on bird keepers and APHA officials on the ground will continue to provide guidance and support to those impacted.
Protection Zones and Captive Bird Monitoring (Controlled) Zones must remain in force for at least 21 days and Surveillance Zones for at least 30 days following the completion of preliminary cleansing and disinfection at the infected premises. However, disease control zones are only lifted once all disease control and surveillance activities in the zones have been successfully completed and there are no suspect cases under investigation in the zones. Further cases within the disease control zones will also ‘reset the clock’ for zone lifting. The audit work undertaken to lift zones is required as part of requirements from trading partners.
Defra’s approach to avian influenza control is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales. Our approach aims to reduce adverse impacts on the rural and wider economy, the public, rural communities and the environment (including impact on wildlife), whilst protecting public health and minimising the overall cost of any outbreak. Current policy reflects our experience of responding to past outbreaks of exotic animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of concluding a SPS agreement with the EU on the UK poultry industry’s volume of trade with that region.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement puts in place a framework that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade.
Defra has utilised these mechanisms to agree specific easements, such as to allow the movement of birds through Avian Influenza zones on their way to slaughter, facilitating trade between GB and the EU in relation to HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza).
We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction between GB and the EU, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise sovereignty over our own laws.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help improve resilience of the poultry meat industry’s supply chain.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The British poultry sector is highly resilient and plays a significant role in the production of high-quality poultry meat. It operates in an open market and the value of commodities is established by those in the supply chain.
The Government continues to work closely with the poultry industry to tackle the recent unprecedented outbreak on Avian Influenza (AI). This includes work on improving on-farm biosecurity and a consideration of vaccination.
On 28 October 2022 we announced changes to the AI compensation scheme, allowing compensation to be paid to farmers from the outset of planned AI culling rather than at the end, and a relaxation to the enforcement of marketing rules allowing the sale of defrosted turkeys, geese and ducks between 28 November and 31 December 2022.
In 2023 and 2024 the poultry sector will continue to be able to access 2,000 seasonal worker visas to meet the pre-Christmas surge in demand for poultry workers.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Independent - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with OFWAT on a cap to the proposed increase in water bills.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Ofwat, as the independent regulator, sets an overall cap on the total amount that each water company may recover from their customers, through a 5 yearly process called the Price Review. This aims to ensure value for money in water company investments, including across increasing water resources, tackling leaks and environmental improvements. For the current price review period, the bills are capped until 31 March 2025. However, the charges each year can be adjusted for specific factors, such as inflation.
In October 2022, Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water wrote to all water companies asking them to consider the challenges households are facing when setting their charges. We welcome the action undertaken by them to encourage water companies to share good practice on improving awareness of, and access to support measures for customers who may struggle with their bills