Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the economic impact of avian influenza on the poultry sector and what support her Department provides to (a) poultry farmers and (b) others affected.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are aware that the ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has created challenges for poultry and egg producers. To support poultry producers and others affected by this unprecedented outbreak, on the 28 October 2022 Defra announced new support for the poultry industry to assist farmers and producers with the impacts of avian influenza. This includes a change to the existing avian influenza compensation scheme allowing us to provide swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures and give earlier certainty about entitlement to compensation.
We also introduced market support measures to assist businesses impacted by avian influenza. These included allowing seasonal poultry producers to slaughter birds, freeze them and then sell them as defrosted products during the period 28 November to 31 December 2022 and concessions to the labelling of free-range eggs from poultry housed under avian influenza mandatory housing measures for longer than the 16-week period for which an automatic derogation applies.
We continue to monitor the impacts of avian influenza on the poultry and allied sectors.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has plans to support egg producers (a) affected by avian influenza and (b) generally.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain which has coped well in responding to the unprecedented challenges the industry, including the egg sector, has faced in the past few years.
Defra has been working closely with the egg sector and has acted where appropriate in response to the recent unprecedented avian Influenza (AI) outbreak. We announced changes to the AI compensation scheme on 28 October 2022 by allowing compensation to be paid for farmers from the outset of planned culling rather than at the end. This allowed Defra to provide swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures and give farmers earlier certainty about entitlements to compensation. We also granted a concession to the marketing standards rules for the labelling of free-range eggs from poultry that have been housed under an AI Prevention Zone with mandatory housing measures for longer than the 16-week period for which an automatic derogation applies. More widely, the Government has put in place a number of measures which the egg industry has been able to access, including cuts to VAT and fuel duty and support through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
In December 2022 I hosted an egg industry roundtable which brought together representatives of the egg supply chain from across the UK. The Roundtable focused on addressing the challenges that the sector had been facing due to the increase in input costs caused by the war in Ukraine. The meeting was productive with a clear willingness from all parties to address issues affecting the supply chain.
At the recent No 10 Food Summit, I announced that we would be undertaking a supply chain fairness review of the egg sector.
We continue to keep the egg sector under constant review including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group and our ongoing regular engagement with sector stakeholders.
Asked by: Robert Courts (Conservative - Witney)
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 potential merits of using powers under Section 20 and 21 of the Agriculture Act 2020 to make a declaration of exceptional market conditions for the poultry and eggs sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise that the agriculture industry, including the poultry and eggs sectors, has faced a number of challenges over the last year, particularly in relation to the increase of input costs as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, our assessment is that the conditions for intervention under Section 20 or Section 21 of the Agriculture Act are not currently met, not least because input costs are now falling.
We continue to closely monitor the situation in each sector through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group and via regular, on-going sector stakeholder engagement.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the contract between BFS Group Ltd and Leidos Supply Ltd for the supply of food to British armed forces personnel throughout the UK, what proportion of eggs used by BFS Group in the service of that contract over the course of financial year 2022-23 were sourced from within the UK.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
All of the eggs used by BFS Group in the service of the contract for the supply of UK Deployable Food in financial year 2022-23 were sourced from the UK.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the contract between BFS Group Ltd and Leidos Supply Ltd for the supply of food to British armed forces personnel throughout the UK, what proportion of eggs used by BFS Group in the service of that contract over the course of financial year 2022-23 were (a) free range eggs, (b) barn eggs and (c) colony-laid eggs.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Information on the proportion of eggs used by the BFS Group in the service of the contract for the supply of UK Deployable Food in financial year 2022-23 is not held. From April 2022 to December 2022 all of the eggs supplied were colony eggs. Free range eggs were introduced in January 2023 for National Training Estate Prime sites supporting Operation INTERFLEX and the Royal Navy. From March 2023 free range eggs were introduced across all sites.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the contract between his Department and BFS Group Ltd for the supply of food to prisons in England and Wales, what proportion of eggs used by BFS Group in the service of that contract over the course of financial year 2022-23 were sourced from within the UK.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
100% of eggs supplied by BFS Group in the service of HMPPS food contract over the course of financial year 2022-23 were sourced from within the UK.
2022-23 | VOLUME | % of Volume |
TOTAL Eggs | 9,109,080.00 |
|
UK | 9,109,080.00 | 100.00% |
EU | - | 0.00% |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the contract between his Department and BFS Group Ltd for the supply of food to prisons in England and Wales, what proportion of eggs used by BFS Group in the service of that contract over the course of financial year 2022-23 were (a) free range eggs, (b) barn eggs and (c) colony-laid eggs.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The HMPPS Food supply contract supplied eggs in the following volumes for 2022-2023.
2022-23 | VOLUME | % of Volume |
TOTAL EGGS | 9,109,080.00 |
|
FREE RANGE | 432,360.00 | 4.55% |
COLONY | 8,676,720.00 | 95.25% |
During this time, some free-range eggs may have been housed in barns due to the Avian Influenza regulation requirements but not purchased as Barn eggs.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 she has made of the level of risk to human health of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs originating from industrial farms.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Resistant bacteria and/or resistance genes can transfer between people and animals in both directions. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, along with other governmental partners, conducts two surveillance schemes for AMR in animals, including regular monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species: pigs and poultry. The results of these surveillance schemes are published annually in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales and Surveillance Report.
Since 2014, the UK has reduced sales of veterinary antibiotics by 55% since 2014, and over this same period the UK have seen overall trend of decreasing antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals. The UK has a cross-government contingency plan in place which acts as an early warning system for resistant bacteria found in animals with potential risk to animal and public health.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing compensation to businesses that can demonstrate that they have (a) been unable to trade as normal and (b) had their trading activities severely limited as a result of avian influenza restrictions.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are aware that the current unprecedented outbreak of Avian Influenza (AI) has created challenges for poultry and egg producers. We are working with the industry to support continued business activities.
In October 2022 we announced new support for the poultry industry to assist farmers and producers with the impacts of AI. This includes a change to the existing AI compensation scheme allowing us to provide swifter payments to help stem any cash flow pressures and give earlier certainty about entitlement to compensation. Any other compensation available to producers would come from the payout of private AI insurance policies and we are working with the industry to support continued access to insurance for those that require it.
We have also introduced market support measures to assist businesses impacted by AI. These included:
Following a reduction in the risk levels, the lifting of the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone mandatory housing measures on the 18 April 2023 will come as welcome news to producers. This means that from 18 April, eggs laid by birds with access to outside range areas can return to being marketed as ‘free range’ eggs.
We continue to monitor the impacts of Avian Influenza on the poultry and egg sectors.
Asked by: Tom Randall (Conservative - Gedling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the level of risk to human health of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs originating from industrial farms.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Resistant bacteria and/or resistance genes can transfer between people and animals in both directions. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate conducts two surveillance schemes for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals, including regular monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species such as pigs and poultry. The results of these surveillance schemes are published annually in the ‘UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales and Surveillance Report’ which can be found at the following link:
Since 2014, the United Kingdom has reduced sales of veterinary antibiotics by 55%, and over this same period the UK has seen an overall trend of decreasing AMR in bacteria from animals. The UK has a cross-Government contingency plan to mitigate the risk to public health of resistant bacteria found in animals, a copy of which can be found at the following link: