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Written Question
Factory Farming: Inland Waterways and Rivers
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the impact of factory farming on (a) rivers and (b) other waterways.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to minimising pollution from all types of farming, including production systems where animals are housed indoors for some or all of the year and which accumulate manures and slurries.

Our legal standards, including the Nitrates and Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil regulations, all require manure produced in livestock housing (including slurry) to be stored responsibly and for a long enough time to ensure it is spread in a way that minimises water pollution. The Farming Rules for Water and Nitrates regulations require these manures to be spread according to appropriate volumes, locations and timescales to minimise pollution.

In addition, our farming schemes provide revenue and capital funding to help farmers build the infrastructure necessary to manage manures to reduce pollution. For example a dairy farmer is able to utilise Sustainable Farming Incentive Funding for measures to reduce soil erosion and runoff from their fields, and Slurry Infrastructure Grant funding to expand and cover their slurry store according to best practice.


Written Question
Dairy Products and Meat Products: UK Internal Trade
Monday 11th March 2024

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.


Written Question
Dairy Products and Meat: Consumption
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)

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 he has made of the implications for his policies of the potential impact of reducing meat and dairy consumption on the Government's Net Zero Strategy.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government’s preferred approach to supporting consumers to make sustainable food choices is to support sustainable food production practices and high-quality British produce, whilst maintaining people’s freedom of choice.

The Government recognises the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions made by the livestock and dairy sectors, whilst valuing the importance of our farmers in feeding the nation and managing our rural environment. Well managed livestock provide environmental benefits such as supporting biodiversity, protecting the character of the countryside, and generating important income for rural communities.

Government is focusing on productivity and innovation to help reduce agricultural emissions. The measures in the Net Zeo Growth plan aim to reduce emissions from agriculture in England through sustainable land management practices, the uptake of innovative practices and technologies, and actions to improve the productivity and profitability of the sector.

Some of the policies and proposals which will help reduce emissions from livestock include, improved health and welfare of livestock, multi-purpose breeds, and increasing the uptake of methane suppressing feed products in cattle. Additionally, the Food Data Transparency Partnership’s work on health and environmental sustainability metrics for food will help enable healthier and more sustainable diets.


Written Question
Milk: Health Education
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote the benefits of drinking milk to children and young people.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Milk and dairy products make a valuable contribution to the nutrient content of the diet, providing protein and B vitamins for example. They are also an important source of calcium, which is especially important for children to help build healthy bones and teeth. In the United Kingdom, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for around the first six months of a baby’s life with continued breastfeeding throughout the first year. Following this, the Government encourages the population to consume some lower fat milk and dairy products as part of a healthy, balanced diet. This is reflected in the UK’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide, a copy of which is attached.

The Healthier Families and Start4Life websites both include information in an online-only format to parents of young and primary school aged children on the consumption of lower fat, unsweetened milk as part of a healthy balanced diet.

The Eatwell Guide principles, including consumption of milk and dairy products, underpin the School Food Standards and Public Health England’s example menus and guidance for early years settings, available on GOV.UK in an online-only format.


Written Question
Forest Products: Origin Marking
Monday 12th February 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

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 publish guidance for businesses on verifying the origin of imported forest risk commodities to the plot of land where they were grown under Schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government committed to tackling illegal deforestation in UK supply chains through the Environment Act in 2021 and announced further details of the secondary legislation at COP28 in December 2023. This law will make it illegal for organisations with a global annual turnover of more than £50m to use key forest risk commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used. Our regulations will not require information on the plot of land where commodities were sourced. However, regulated organisations will have to put in place due diligence systems—and will have to report on these systems—in order to lower the risk that there are prohibited forest risk commodity products in their supply chains to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable. Initial secondary legislation will focus on four commodities identified as key drivers of deforestation: cattle products (excluding dairy), cocoa, palm oil and soy.

We are committed to laying the secondary legislation to tackle illegal deforestation in the United Kingdom's supply chains and plan to do so in Spring of this year. Initial guidance will be published alongside this legislation, to support organisations in meeting their due diligence obligations.


Written Question
Groceries Code Adjudicator
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)

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 he has made of the effectiveness of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice for (a) farmers and (b) others impacted.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) sets out how designated retailers should manage their relationship with suppliers and was intended to protect food and drink suppliers to major supermarkets from being treated unfairly. It is enforced by the Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA), and the most recent review published in July 2023 found the GCA to be an effective regulator.

However, most farmers do not supply supermarkets directly and so they are not covered by the GSCOP. As a result, powers were introduced in the Agriculture Act 2020 to enable the introduction of statutory codes of contractual practice to protect farmers. Since then we have been undertaking supply chain fairness reviews into different sectors of farming to understand the specific issues that farmers face.

Using these powers, we will be introducing new regulations on contractual standards for the dairy sector. We plan to introduce these into to Parliament before the Easter Recess. We expect to introduce regulations relating to the pork sector later in 2024. Two new supply chain fairness reviews were announced at the UK Farm to Fork summit on 16 May 2023, into the egg and fresh produce supply chains. We will analyse the responses and provide a summary of the findings and set out next steps.

This issue was also discussed in a parliamentary debate that took place on 22 January in which Government set out its plans for supporting farmers.


Written Question
Schools: Milk
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Honiton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure the provision of non-dairy milk products in (a) schools and (b) other early-years learning environments.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The government’s School Food Standards (SFS) regulate the food and drink provided at both lunchtime and other times of the school day. Although schools are required to make milk available, the SFS (Schedule 1) also enables schools to provide a variety of other drinks including plain soya, rice or oat drinks enriched with calcium and combination, and flavoured variations of these drinks to suit particular medical, dietary and cultural needs. School food policies work best when schools discuss them with parents and pupils, so that parents can raise pupils’ particular dietary needs.

There is a requirement within the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework that all registered early years settings must ensure that: ‘where children are provided with meals, snacks and drinks, they must be healthy, balanced and nutritious’. The EYFS also states that before a child is admitted to the setting the provider must also obtain information about any special dietary requirements, preferences and food allergies that the child has, and any special health requirements.

The department believes that schools and early year settings are best placed to make decisions about their food policies, taking into account local circumstances and the needs of their children. In doing so, the department expects settings to make reasonable adjustments for children with particular requirements, for example to reflect dietary and cultural needs.


Written Question
Food: Waste
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)

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 (a) reduce food waste at farms and (b) support farmers to ensure that surplus food is redistributed.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government supports a thriving, productive and efficient farming sector that prevents waste occurring in the first place. For instance, we are supporting investment in productivity-boosting equipment, technology and infrastructure through the Farming Investment Fund. This provides grants to farmers, foresters, and growers (including contractors to these sectors) that will help their businesses to prosper, while improving their productivity and enhancing the environment.

We acknowledge that more can be done to reduce food waste in the primary production stage. The ‘fair dealings’ powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 can be used to prevent these kinds of unfair trading practices where they occur, as we are aware that unreasonably late cancellations or specification changes can sometimes lead to produce being unharvested. Last year we launched two new supply chain fairness reviews, looking into the egg and fresh produce supply chains, and building on what we have already got underway to improve transparency and contracts in the pork and dairy markets. The review into the egg supply chain closed on 22 December, and the review of the fresh produce supply chain will close on 22 February. We will publish a summary of responses within 12 weeks of each consultation closing.

The Government works closely with businesses through our delivery partner the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to overcome any barriers to redistribution. This includes the development of guidance and best practice through a sector wide working group, and support for the Target Measure Act approach to understanding and acting on food waste in supply chains, including the redistribution of any surplus should it arise and is supported by the National Farmers Union. Where the NFU stands on food waste – NFUonline

Since 2018, Defra funding of nearly £13 million has supported both large and small redistribution organisations across the country to increase their capability and capacity.

The total amount of food redistributed in the UK in 2022 was over 170,000 tonnes and a value of around £590 million, an increase of 133% since 2019.


Written Question
Trade Agreements: Canada
Thursday 1st February 2024

Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to support businesses impacted by the suspension of trade negotiations with Canada.

Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)

The pause in negotiations does not impact our existing trade agreement with Canada, which underpins £25.9bn worth of trade a year. This agreement is comprehensive. It maintains zero tariffs on food and drink and a wide range of industrial goods, guarantees UK services companies access to the Canadian market, and protects Intellectual Property.


We continue to work closely with dairy exporters to monitor the impact on recent changes to market access arrangements on cheese. We are also engaging extensively with businesses who may be impacted by impending changes to the arrangements for rules of origin.


Written Question
Forests: Commodities
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that regulated persons in relation to forest risk commodities establish and implement due diligence systems in relation to those commodities, as required under the Environment Act 2021.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK Government introduced new legislation through the Environment Act to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. Recent research estimates that around 70% of global tropical deforestation for commercial agriculture between 2013 and 2019 was conducted in violation of national laws.

The Government announced further details of our Forest Risk Commodities regulations at COP28 in December. The new law will make it illegal for larger organisations, with a global annual turnover of more than £50m, to use key forest risk commodities produced on land illegally occupied or used. Initial secondary legislation will focus on four commodities identified as key drivers of deforestation: cattle products (excluding dairy), cocoa, palm oil and soy.

Organisations in scope will also be required to undertake a due diligence exercise on their supply chains and to report on this exercise annually. To ensure transparency, information about businesses' due diligence exercises will be published.  Businesses in scope that do not comply with these requirements may be subject to fines and other civil sanctions. The secondary legislation required to operationalise the Environment Act provisions will be laid as soon as parliamentary time allows.