Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what, if any, support is available to domestic food producers whose crops are damaged or lost as a result of climate change-related extreme weather events.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of the concerns on variable weather conditions. The full impact will become more apparent as the harvest progresses – results will vary by region, area, crop, soil type, and fertiliser applications amongst other factors. The reality of the UK climate means that fluctuations in yield are expected and managed year on year by farmers.
We are keeping the situation under close review, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group (UKAMMG), which was set up by Defra and the Devolved Administrations to monitor the UK market situation across all key agricultural commodities. We also continue to regularly engage with industry to supplement our analysis with real-time intelligence.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what, if any, mitigating actions they are taking to protect key (1) defence, and (2) national security, sites across the UK from the effects of climate change.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
A key objective of the Strategy for Defence Infrastructure, published in Jan 2022, is to ensure the estate is resilient to natural hazards and the impacts of climate change. The Department has an established site level bespoke Climate Impact Risk Assessment Methodology to identify and assess vulnerabilities, and to drive local mitigation and adaptation. To date, over 200 military bases have been assessed including all of Defence’s Critical National Infrastructure sites.
The Department will publish its strategic Estate Climate Resilience Plan (ECRP) in 2024, which will further build on the programme of these assessments.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impacts of climate change and the increased frequency of extreme weather events on (1) domestic food producers, and (2) food security.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Climate Change Act 2008 established the framework for strengthening the UK’s preparedness for climate change. The Act requires that the government publish a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, which identifies the specific risks facing the UK from climate change. The most recent CCRA was published in January 2022.
The CCRA is followed by the publication of a National Adaptation Programme, which sets out the government’s response to the risks identified by the CCRA. The third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) was published in July 2023, and addresses all 61 risks and opportunities identified in the third CCRA. NAP3 includes dedicated responses to risks to domestic agricultural productivity and UK food availability, safety, and quality from climate change overseas.
The UK Food Security Report is a triannual statistical report required under the Agriculture Act 2020. The first report was published in 2021 and the next report, due in 2024, will continue to improve our understanding of climate risks to UK food security.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of climate change-related crop loss as a driver of recent increases in food prices; and what proportion of those price increases they assess this accounts for.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, agricultural prices, labour and manufacturing costs, Sterling exchange rates and agricultural productivity. As such, we do not have an assessment of the direct or indirect impacts of climate change on food prices.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward secondary legislation under the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government is pleased the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act received Royal Assent on 24th May 2023. The Act requires secondary legislation which is subject to the affirmative process. Those regulations will be laid in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people who are in receipt of support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 are able to pay (a) travel costs that can only be paid in cash and (b) other travel costs in order to attend Home Office reporting centres.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The assistance available to people supported under section 4 of the 1999 Act consists of accommodation (with gas, electricity and water provided free) and provision of a debit card (the “Aspen Card”) which can be used to buy food and other essential items. The Aspen card cannot be used to withdraw cash, but it bears the visa logo and can be used at retail outlets that accept visa transactions.
If the supported person is required to report as a condition of their immigration bail their travel costs are also covered if they are accommodated more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre or in certain other circumstances, for example if they are unable to walk because of a disability.
In practical terms the travel costs are covered by issuing tickets or by uploading further funds on to the person’s Aspen card.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 15 May 2003 to Question 113237 on rail strikes, whether (a) he or (b) his Department has had any correspondence with West Midlands Trains on reimbursement for potential industrial action.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
There has been no correspondence between the Department and West Midlands Trains on this subject.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 15 May 2003 to Question 113237 on rail strikes, whether West Midlands Trains has an indemnification clause in its franchise agreement with the Department for Transport allowing it to apply for reimbursement for revenues lost as a consequence of official industrial action.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In common with other rail franchises, the West Midlands Trains Franchise Agreement includes a standard provision whereby the Secretary of State is able to, at his discretion, reimburse net losses arising from Industrial Action. This can be viewed at Clause 5 of Schedule 8.1 of Franchise Agreement which is on the Department’s web site at:
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the frequency of requirements for asylum claimants to attend a Home Office centre are not excessively (a) burdensome and (b) expensive for people more than five miles away from such a centre.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Asylum seekers in receipt of section 95 asylum support are provided with a weekly allowance which can be used to cover expenses such as travel costs.
The assistance available to people supported under section 4 of the 1999 Act consists of accommodation (with gas, electricity and water provided free) and provision of a debit card (the “Aspen Card”) which can be used to buy food and other essential items. The Aspen card cannot be used to withdraw cash, but it bears the visa logo and can be used at retail outlets that accept visa transactions.
If the supported person is required to report as a condition of their immigration bail their travel costs are also covered if they are accommodated more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre or in certain other circumstances, for example if they are unable to walk because of a disability.
In practical terms the travel costs are covered by issuing tickets or by uploading further funds on to the person’s Aspen card.
The Home Office keeps these arrangements under regular review.
Asked by: Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people who are in receipt of Section 4 support are able to pay (a) travel fares which can only be purchased with cash and (b) other upfront travel costs in order to report at Home Office reporting centres.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.