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 (a) call a meeting of representatives of the pig sector supply chain for the purposes of investigating the take up of (i) temporary visas for skilled butchers, (ii) Private Storage Aid, (iii) slaughter incentive payments for the processing industry and (iv) other measures announced by his Department on 14 October 2021 and (b) make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a mandatory Code of Conduct for that sector.

The Secretary of State and I will be meeting with pig processors on Thursday 16 December to discuss various issues including the take up of measures that the Government announced on 14 October 2021.

The Agriculture Act 2020 contains powers to introduce statutory codes of contractual practice which would apply to businesses when purchasing agricultural products directly from farmers. We are in close touch with key representatives from the pig sector and we want to explore how best to tackle any contractual unfairness.