Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's press release of 27 February 2024 entitled UK businesses welcome protection for iconic British food and drink in Japan, for what reason Yatsushiro Tokusan Banpeiyu was not included among the 37 Japanese products listed in that press release as receiving geographical indication status in the UK, but was included among the 37 Japanese products added to the protected food and drink names website maintained by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 8 March 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Kikuchi Suiden Gobo was added onto the UK GI register as a protected product on 8 March 2024. The department has amended the press release of 27 February 2024 to include Kikuchi Suiden Gobo. The updated press release can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-businesses-welcome-protection-for-iconic-british-food-and-drink-in-japan.
The entry for Yatsushiro Tokusan Banpeiyu was delayed but has now been completed and is listed alongside the other 37 first tranche products from Japan.
The UK was unable to register Iwate Mokutan as a GI because there is no classification under current UK domestic legislation which could include charcoal. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs wrote to the Japanese authorities in 2022 to explain this decision, which they accepted.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's press release of 27 February 2024 entitled UK businesses welcome protection for iconic British food and drink in Japan, what the outcome was of the application by the Japanese authorities to award geographical indication status in the UK to Iwate Mokutan/Iwate Kirizumi, as published for consultation by the Department for International Trade on 21 December 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Kikuchi Suiden Gobo was added onto the UK GI register as a protected product on 8 March 2024. The department has amended the press release of 27 February 2024 to include Kikuchi Suiden Gobo. The updated press release can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-businesses-welcome-protection-for-iconic-british-food-and-drink-in-japan.
The entry for Yatsushiro Tokusan Banpeiyu was delayed but has now been completed and is listed alongside the other 37 first tranche products from Japan.
The UK was unable to register Iwate Mokutan as a GI because there is no classification under current UK domestic legislation which could include charcoal. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs wrote to the Japanese authorities in 2022 to explain this decision, which they accepted.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's press release of 27 February 2024 entitled UK businesses welcome protection for iconic British food and drink in Japan, for what reason Kikuchi Suiden Gobo was included among the 37 Japanese products listed in that press release as receiving geographical indication status in the UK, but was not included among the 37 Japanese products added to the protected food and drink names website maintained by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 8 March 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Kikuchi Suiden Gobo was added onto the UK GI register as a protected product on 8 March 2024. The department has amended the press release of 27 February 2024 to include Kikuchi Suiden Gobo. The updated press release can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-businesses-welcome-protection-for-iconic-british-food-and-drink-in-japan.
The entry for Yatsushiro Tokusan Banpeiyu was delayed but has now been completed and is listed alongside the other 37 first tranche products from Japan.
The UK was unable to register Iwate Mokutan as a GI because there is no classification under current UK domestic legislation which could include charcoal. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs wrote to the Japanese authorities in 2022 to explain this decision, which they accepted.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 19037 on Climate Change: Investment, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing an additional £3 billion per year for nature restoration for adaptation as set out in the report by the Climate Change Committee entitled Investment for a well-adapted UK, published on 1 February 2023; and how much funding his Department plans to provide for nature restoration and adaptation in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the Environment Act 2021, the Government committed to the legally binding target of creating or restoring more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected site by 2042. Taking actions for nature, including protecting our land and species, is also a core part of our third National Adaptation Programme.
This Government is not currently planning to make an additional assessment around providing £3bn per year on nature restoration for adaptation and cannot commit to funding beyond the life of this parliament, but regularly reviews budgets as part of business planning and spending review decisions.
Defra has guaranteed an average £2.4bn annual budget for the farming sector for the life of this Parliament. This includes paying farmers to restore valuable habitats such as lowland peat and to engage in sustainable agroforestry and wetland management, which will support adaptation to climate change. A range of bespoke funding also exists to support nature restoration. Our recently awarded Species Survival Fund is supporting 20 projects with £25m for habitat creation and restoration, while Natural England has launched 12 Nature Recovery Projects spanning over 300,000 hectares since 2022, with 13 more to come by 2025.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to reduce exports of plastic waste.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We want to deal with more of our plastic waste at home. The Government’s collection and packaging reforms will help to stimulate investment in the UK reprocessing infrastructure so we can reduce our dependency on plastic waste exports. In addition, the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto made a commitment to ban the export of plastic waste to countries which are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
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 help ensure that hauliers comply with requirements of the Border Target Operating Model to subject consignments to (a) physical and (b) documentary checks.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has been promoting the key benefits and changes by sector and timeframe that traders in the EU and EFTA will need to be aware of and ready for. The Government has been hosting a series of events and engagements, as well as promoting translated communications assets to businesses across the EU to increase business readiness for these changes. We would encourage all traders within the supply chain to work together to be as ready as possible for these upcoming changes. We are monitoring sentiment across key trading partners to measure readiness and understanding, and are seeing positive trends.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2024 to Question 17736 on Import Controls, if he will make an estimate of the fees charged by privately-run Border Control Posts when processing consignments which are subject to the Border Target Operating Model.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Commercial Border Control Post fees are a business decision for the operators of those sites. Port Health Authorities (PHAs) have charging mechanisms in place for covering the costs of checking sanitary and phytosanitary consignments, and the Government, in conjunction with devolved administrations, is working with PHAs to review fee levels and support the implementation of new checks of imports from the EU in early 2024.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost to individual business of acquiring an Environmental Export Health Certificate for a consignment of goods being imported to the UK since the introduction of the Border Target Operating Model in January 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will publish the Economic Impact Assessment of the legislative measures required to enable the Border Target Operating Model in due course and no later than the Statutory Instruments are laid. This will contain summary data tables and they will include the requested information.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what subscriptions to (a) newspapers, (b) magazines and (c) online journals his Department has paid for in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following is a combined list of subscriptions that the Defra Library and Communications have paid for over the last three financial years. Some are in print and some are online. Not everything on the list was purchased in all three years – subscriptions change on demand and to reflect usage. Information on any subscriptions from other team budgets is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Defra Library purchases magazines and journals for Defra, Animal and Plant Health Agency and Natural England staff to support them in their role. The Communications team purchases newspapers for monitoring the media coverage of issues in Defra’s remit.
Angling Times magazine | Environmental Finance | Lyell Collection |
Animal Health Research Reviews | Estates Gazette | Materials Recycling World |
Argus Fertilizer Europe | Ethical Consumer | Microbiology Society |
Avian Pathology | Executive Support magazine | New Zealand Veterinary |
BioOne | Farmers Guardian | Planning Resource |
Bird Study Pack | Farmers Weekly | Privacy and Data Protection |
Bloomberg | Financial Times | Professional Update |
British Archaeology magazine | Fishing News Weekly | Responsible Investor |
British Poultry Science | Freedom of Information Journal | Royal Forestry Society |
British Wildlife Magazine | Fresh Produce | Sunday Times |
Conservation Land Management | Geoheritage | Telegraph |
Daily Express | Goat Veterinary Journal | The Economist |
Daily Mail | Guardian | The Grocer Magazine |
Daily Mirror | Habitats Regulations Assessment | The Sun |
Daily Telegraph | Harvard Business Review | The Times |
Dairy Industry Newsletter | Horticulture Week | UK Livestock magazine |
Dods People and Monitoring | I | Veterinary Pathology |
Econlit | ICES Journal of Marine Science | Washington Trade Daily |
Elsevier Freedom Collection | iNews | Water Report |
Ends Europe | Inside Housing | Wiley STM Collection |
Ends Report | Insurance Post | Yorkshire Post |
Ends Waste & Bioenergy | Nature.com |
|
Environment Complete | Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation |
|
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 discussions he has had with Southern Water on updating its sewage infrastructure, in the context of recent sewage discharges into the River Test.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular engagement with water companies to discuss a range of issues including measures to reduce sewage discharges, and improvements to water company infrastructure.
For example, in December 2023, he wrote to all water company Chief Executives, requesting that they improve sewer maintenance programmes over the next twelve months to help prevent storm overflow discharges.
Southern Water’s forward investment plan for sewage infrastructure, including planned improvements near the Test, is detailed in their draft business plan for the next Price Review period, which will run from 2025 - 2030. This is currently being reviewed by Ofwat. Ofwat’s determination will be issued later this year.