Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 adequacy of support available to UK food and drink wholesalers to assist the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the impact rising prices are having on businesses. Businesses will have benefitted from the Government’s £400 billion package of grants, loans, business relief, VAT discounts and a rent moratorium. In addition, at the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates.
Defra is taking action to maintain an efficient food supply chain by mitigating against any potential burdens or friction which could otherwise drive-up consumer food prices. Given sustained pressures, there is still uncertainty over when food price inflation will peak and begin to fall, but our expectations, supported by external evidence, are that this will be in the next few months. We are closely monitoring the situation.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with UK food and drink wholesalers on the challenges faced by that sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Alongside monitoring pressures affecting the food supply chain, Defra regularly engages with the Federation of Wholesale Distributors and individual food and drink wholesalers to understand the challenges affecting the sector.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
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 had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the inclusion of the food and drink wholesale sector within Protected Site List of the Electricity Supply Emergency Code.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have been working closely with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on a range of business resilience matters, including on energy supply. Under the Electricity Supply Emergency Code (ESEC), a site or service may qualify to be placed on the Protected Sites List if it meets the criteria set out explicitly in the publicly-available guidance. Applications for sites to be included in this list are made directly to their local Distribution Network Operator. We engage regularly with the food and drink sector, including with wholesalers, to understand their resilience.
Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to employers of the health and social care levy by sector.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The table below shows the estimated exchequer yield of the employer portion of the Health and Social Care Levy, in the 2022 to 2023 tax year, by sector:
Sector | Exchequer yield |
Other* | £490m |
Accommodation and food service activities | £185m |
Administrative and support service activities | £515m |
Arts, entertainment and recreation | £100m |
Construction | £400m |
Education | £995m |
Financial and insurance activities | £1,000m |
Human health and social work activities | £975m |
Information and communication | £685m |
Manufacturing | £895m |
Other service activities | £125m |
Professional, scientific and technical activities | £990m |
Real estate activities | £155m |
Transportation and storage | £345m |
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | £925m |
Total | £8,775m |
Figures are rounded to the nearest £5 million. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Other* sector includes: ‘Unknown’, ‘Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies’, ‘Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods-and services-producing activities of households for own use’, ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’, ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’, ‘Mining and quarrying’, ‘Public administration and defence; compulsory social security’, ‘Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities’. These sectors were aggregated due to their small size, to avoid the risk of disclosure.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether food and drink wholesalers will be eligible for the 50 per cent business rates relief discount.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Guidance setting out eligibility for the 2022-23 retail, hospitality and leisure relief will be published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in due course.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether food and drink wholesalers will be eligible for the 50 per cent business rates relief discount available to the retail, leisure and hospitality industry.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Guidance setting out eligibility for the 2022-23 retail, hospitality and leisure relief will be published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in due course.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.67 of the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, whether food and drink wholesalers will be eligible for the 50 per cent business rates relief discount.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Guidance setting out eligibility for the 2022-23 retail, hospitality and leisure reliefs will be published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in due course.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what sectoral targeted support has been provided to food wholesalers.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, the Government has protected people’s jobs and livelihoods while also supporting businesses and public services across the UK. Food and drink wholesalers have been eligible for a number of economic support schemes, including:
Wholesalers in England may also receive further support with their fixed costs from local authorities through the £2.1 billion in funding made available for discretionary Additional Restrictions Grants to support local businesses.
Businesses may also be eligible for other elements of the Government’s support package including government-backed loans, tax deferrals, and general and sector-specific grants. The Government urges businesses to visit the online Coronavirus Business Support Finder Tool for tailored information on how to access support available to them.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to negotiate a veterinary agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary rules with the EU to reduce the barriers for UK food exporters.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) puts in place a framework (including an SPS Specialised Committee) that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade. It is in both Parties' interests to use this framework to reduce the rate of SPS checks required.
We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps we can take to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules as this would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.
Defra's reach and engagement with the agri-food sector is extensive and well established. We have maintained and built on conversations with stakeholders over the last four years, to ensure a strong two-way dialogue at both a ministerial and official level. We engage directly with the largest exporting businesses (the top ten of whom alone account for around 25% of exports). We also reach businesses through trade associations. The Secretary of State meets fortnightly with the F4 group, representing the four main business representative organisations across the agri-food chain: the Food and Drink Federation, National Farmers' Union, UK Hospitality and the British Retail Consortium.
In order to hold productive discussions on specific issues, Defra holds regular forums with the different food and drink sectors. For example, we engage the farming sector through groups such as the Arable and Livestock Chain Advisory Groups, manufacturers through the Food and Drink Manufacturers Roundtable and meat processors through the M4 forum. Defra also holds a Retailer Forum and has regular calls with Wholesale stakeholders.
Regular meetings such as the F4 and F4 sub-groups have allowed for productive two-way engagement with stakeholders across the supply chain. They are an important source of intelligence and industry feedback is that this approach of bringing stakeholders and policy experts together is making good progress towards resolving issues.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) UK food exporters and (b) his counterparts in the EU on negotiating a veterinary agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary rules with the EU.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) puts in place a framework (including an SPS Specialised Committee) that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade. It is in both Parties' interests to use this framework to reduce the rate of SPS checks required.
We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps we can take to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules as this would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.
Defra's reach and engagement with the agri-food sector is extensive and well established. We have maintained and built on conversations with stakeholders over the last four years, to ensure a strong two-way dialogue at both a ministerial and official level. We engage directly with the largest exporting businesses (the top ten of whom alone account for around 25% of exports). We also reach businesses through trade associations. The Secretary of State meets fortnightly with the F4 group, representing the four main business representative organisations across the agri-food chain: the Food and Drink Federation, National Farmers' Union, UK Hospitality and the British Retail Consortium.
In order to hold productive discussions on specific issues, Defra holds regular forums with the different food and drink sectors. For example, we engage the farming sector through groups such as the Arable and Livestock Chain Advisory Groups, manufacturers through the Food and Drink Manufacturers Roundtable and meat processors through the M4 forum. Defra also holds a Retailer Forum and has regular calls with Wholesale stakeholders.
Regular meetings such as the F4 and F4 sub-groups have allowed for productive two-way engagement with stakeholders across the supply chain. They are an important source of intelligence and industry feedback is that this approach of bringing stakeholders and policy experts together is making good progress towards resolving issues.