Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - 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 impact of proposed 'Not for EU' labels on meat and dairy products on (1) food costs, and (2) exports.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The “not for EU” labelling requirement came into force for meat and some dairy products moving under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme in October 2023. Defra provided a transitional labelling fund of £50 million to support compliance with the scheme. There has been no evidence of impact on food costs or exports.
In line with the commitments set out in the February 2023 and February 2024 Government Command Papers, the Government will bring forward legislation for this labelling requirement to be expanded GB wide for relevant products from October 2024. A six-week consultation on the implementation of this policy was launched on 2 February. We welcome responses from businesses that supply the UK market and export, which will inform our ongoing considerations of the final details of the policy, including any possible exemptions.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - 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 - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Mentions:
1: Mark Spencer (Con - Sherwood) pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray.I begin by saying how proud I am to support the UK’s dairy - Speech Link
2: Daniel Zeichner (Lab - Cambridge) I echo his points about the excellence of the UK dairy sector. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Nusrat Ghani (Con - Wealden) According to UK overseas trade in goods statistics: October 2023, UK dairy exports grew by 13.7% between - Speech Link
Feb. 13 2024
Source Page: FOI/EIR responses published by APHA: August 2023Found: 450 Dumfriesshire Scotland 29/05/2018 Cattle Dairy 2500 Kirkcudbright Scotland 18/06/2018 Cattle Dairy
Mentions:
1: Helen Morgan (LD - North Shropshire) They often contract directly with a big supermarket or a dairy, and some supermarkets have attempted - Speech Link
2: Ben Lake (PC - Ceredigion) Some 25% of dairy farmers are considering whether they will still be milking in a year’s time. - Speech Link
3: Mark Spencer (Con - Sherwood) We learned an awful lot from going through the process with the dairy sector. - Speech Link
4: Mark Spencer (Con - Sherwood) I am an ex-dairy farmer, and we left the dairy sector as a farming family in 2001. - Speech Link
Jul. 26 2023
Source Page: Defra spend on milk and dairy products - FOI2023/10624Found: Defra spend on milk and dairy products - FOI2023/10624
Jul. 26 2023
Source Page: Defra spend on milk and dairy products - FOI2023/10624Found: Defra spend on milk and dairy products - FOI2023/10624
Apr. 29 2024
Source Page: Influenza A (H5N1) of avian origin in domestic livestock in the USAFound: Health ( WOAH) of an outbreak of Influenza A (H5N1) of avian origin (Influenza A (H5N1)) affecting dairy
Apr. 29 2024
Source Page: Influenza A (H5N1) of avian origin in domestic livestock in the USAFound: Health ( WOAH) of an outbreak of Influenza A (H5N1) of avian origin (Influenza A (H5N1)) affecting dairy