Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the condition of coastal defences at Hemsby in Norfolk.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) are the responsible risk management authority for the coast at Hemsby and have been working on erosion management issues at Hemsby for many years.
Earlier this year an independent report commissioned by GYBC detailed how a temporary rock berm, which was installed in 2023, and other materials on the beach are now ineffective at preventing or slowing down erosion and, in some cases, are exacerbating it. GYBC have highlighted there is a risk to public safety from some of the materials on the beach and the Hemsby Stakeholder Group has agreed to look at how some of the assets might be re-purposed and re-used more effectively for the benefit of the community. GYBC have confirmed nothing will be moved until next autumn, to allow time for community input and further stakeholder group meetings.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse was of investigating unlicensed fishing by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The investigation and subsequent enforcement outcome took two days of work. The specific costs associated with each investigation and enforcement outcome can vary based on a number of factors. Data for this specific case is not held centrally but the average cost for two days of work would usually be approximately £500.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many employees in his Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Defra publishes organogram data for Senior Civil Servants here: Organogram of Staff Roles & Salaries - data.gov.uk.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in his Department have permission to work remotely outside the UK; and in which countries those staff are based.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Information on civil servants employed by Defra based overseas is publicly available.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of departmental procurement contracts were awarded to British companies in the last financial year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
There were 508 contracts awarded by Defra as the contract owner in financial year 2024/25 – 500 are to UK-based suppliers, which equates to 98.43% and excludes purchase orders raised for Defra below threshold.
Details of central Government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023 above £12,000 including VAT are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service. This includes a note of the winning supplier.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support is available for public sector caterers that would like to organise farm visits to help improve local food supply relationships.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We are currently considering the policy options available to deliver further on our ambitions for public sector catering, including the potential benefits of developing stronger ties between food producers, caterers, and end consumers.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative assessment his Department has made of the environmental impact of sourcing food from British producers compared to overseas suppliers for public sector contracts.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
In 2021, Defra assessed the scientific evidence on the environmental impacts of locally sourced food for public food procurement. This analysis considered the positive and negative environmental impacts of both imported and in country produced food, i.e. British. This analysis identified strong evidence and wide academic consensus that sourcing food locally does not necessarily guarantee a better environmental impact than importing: generally, production has a much greater impact on the environmental footprint of food products than the impacts of transport.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 considered providing fiscal incentives to local authorities that prioritise British food in their catering contracts.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. We have already published a new national procurement policy statement. It sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that we think high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 increase the proportion of British-grown food procured by the public sector.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. The new national procurement policy statement sets expectations that government contracts will favour the purchase of food certified to higher environmental standards, which we believe British producers operating to the highest standards will be well-placed to meet.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 estimate of the (a) number of food miles and (b) level of carbon emissions generated through catering provided by the public sector in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government is currently considering policy options, including how best to demonstrate the beneficial impacts of the new national procurement policy statement, which sets out expectations for Government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards.