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1718790

	registered interest
	date	16/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture and Food: Wellingborough
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage (a) farmers and (b) food producers to use sustainable farming methods in Wellingborough constituency.
	tabling member constituency	Wellingborough
	tabling member printed	Gen Kitchen
	uin	26822
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2024 answer text <p>Defra is investing in sustainable farming methods, in the Wellingborough constituency and across England, through our environmental land management schemes, in particular the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). The SFI aims to support the environment and food production, and it rewards farmers for practices that will help to produce food sustainably and protect the environment at the same time, while also providing them a reliable income for doing so. That is because we know that food production and nature preservation go hand in hand. Those practices will help to look after farms in the short and long term by improving soil health or mitigating the impact of extreme weather.</p><p> </p><p>The aim is for the scheme to be flexible for farmers in both the actions that they can take and the land on which they farm. Rather than prescribing what farmers must do, they should have a menu from which to choose what works best for their farm and to their advantage. That is helping those farmers to make their businesses more sustainable.</p><p> </p><p>What is more, Defra is listening to and acting upon farmer feedback about environmental land management schemes. In 2024, we are increasing payment rates for the SFI and Countryside Stewardship (CS) by an average of 10, increasing the number of actions on offer in our environmental land management schemes with up to 50 new actions, making schemes more flexible and easier to access, and continuing to prioritise an ‘advise and prevent’ approach across schemes and regulation, which will make things fairer for all farmers participating in schemes. We will begin to offer SFI and new CS Mid Tier and Higher Tier agreements through rolling application windows this summer with the first agreements starting from the autumn. As a result, applicants will get agreements quicker and earlier than the current annual cycle for CS agreements. These, and other changes, will make it easier for our schemes to slot into farm businesses, providing more money for farmers deliver change and ensure we get the scale and ambition we need to positively impact the environment.</p><p> </p><p>We have already seen strong demand for SFI agreements, with 22,209 applications received and 21,243 agreement offers issued across England.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 21/05/2024 08:52:34 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	5011 label Biography information for Gen Kitchen

1718959

	registered interest
	date	16/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with (1) European counterparts, and (2) other international partners, about how provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora are being implemented.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Quin
	uin	HL4740
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2024 answer text <p>Defra officials regularly discuss how the provisions of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) are implemented with both European counterparts and other international partners. This includes at regular meetings of the CITES Standing Committee which was last held in November 2023.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 21/05/2024 13:56:37 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
	tabling member	518 label Biography information for Baroness Quin

1718278

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Biodiversity: Cost Effectiveness
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to monitor the value for money of Government-funded biodiversity projects over the next five years.
	tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
	tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
	uin	26371
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>Defra has a number of schemes which provide funding to support biodiversity projects. This includes the Landscape Recovery Scheme, The Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme, and Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme.</p><p> </p><p>Each individual scheme has its own monitoring and evaluation framework to evaluate the impact of the projects, and this will include evaluation of the value for money delivered. For example, the Species Recovery Programme is currently commissioning an evaluation for the current Spending Review period which will include evaluating whether the Programme is providing value for money.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is also currently developing an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework to strengthen its understanding of progress towards meeting its statutory biodiversity targets, including its target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This work will include an overall evaluation of the value for money delivered by the suite of government interventions for biodiversity.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 20/05/2024 16:15:43 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
	tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1718318

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Fisheries: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding he has allocated to supporting the the fisheries sector; and what steps he is taking to support sustainability in that sector.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	26418
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2024 answer text <p>The Government is committed to supporting the UK fishing sector through our funding schemes. Through the annual investment of £32.7 million across the UK for domestic grants schemes, control and enforcement and data collection activities, in addition to the UK-wide £100 million UK Seafood Fund (UKSF), the Government is investing in projects that will support the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the UK fisheries and seafood sector.</p><p> </p><p>The Fisheries and Seafood Scheme funds projects that boost the sale of seafood, increase business resilience and support more environmentally sustainably practices. The UKSF has four pillars providing funding to: improve infrastructure; deliver science and innovation projects; support the current and future skills and training needs of the sector; and boost seafood exports.</p><p> </p><p>The first Fisheries Management Plans published in December 2023 are part of a package of reforms to make our fisheries more sustainable. Other reforms related to the management of discards and introduction of remote electronic monitoring policies were set out on 13 May 2024.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 21/05/2024 13:21:19 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1718319

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Air Pollution: Greater London
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) work with the Mayor of London and (b) otherwise help improve air quality in London.
	tabling member constituency	Hendon
	tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
	uin	26419
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>The Mayor of London is responsible for air quality in London and has devolved powers under the Environment Act 1995 allowing him to require London boroughs to take action to address local air pollution. The Mayor has received over £6.6bn of funding for transport in London since 2020, and London authorities have received further funding for specific air quality projects totalling almost £102m.</p><p> </p><p>Nationally, we are driving down emissions and concentrations of the most harmful air pollutants and reducing their impact on public health and the environment. This Government has delivered significant reductions in emissions since 2010 – with emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) falling by 24%, and nitrogen oxides down by 48%. We met our targets to reduce emissions for all five key pollutants in the latest reporting year.</p><p> </p><p>PM2.5 is the most harmful pollutant to human health, which is why we have set two new targets to drive down PM2.5 concentrations under the Environment Act 2021:</p><ul><li>A maximum annual mean concentration of 10 µg m-3 by 2040</li><li>A population exposure reduction target of 35% by 2040 compared with 2018</li></ul><p> </p><p>These targets mean that on average, people’s exposure to particulate matter will be cut by over a third by 2040, compared with 2018 levels.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 20/05/2024 14:24:31 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
	tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1718359

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2024
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2024 on the incomes of farmers.
	tabling member constituency	North Herefordshire
	tabling member printed	Sir Bill Wiggin
	uin	26372
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>As part of our transition away from Direct Payments, the draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2024 will apply reductions to delinked payments in 2024. However, this money is not being lost to the sector. The overall farming budget in England is being maintained at an average of £2.4 billion per year across this Parliament. The money released from the reductions is being reinvested in our other schemes for farmers and land managers. This means farmers can access funding which will help reduce costs and improve productivity and resilience, as well as benefitting the environment.</p><p> </p><p>Analysis of the impacts of removing Direct Payments was included in the Government’s 2019 farming evidence compendium and 2021 and 2022 Agriculture in the UK Evidence Packs.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 20/05/2024 15:15:55 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	1428 label Biography information for Sir Bill Wiggin

1718429

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Glyphosate: Urban Areas
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the use of glyphosate in urban areas on (a) human health and (b) the environment.
	tabling member constituency	Chatham and Aylesford
	tabling member printed	Dame Tracey Crouch
	uin	26400
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>A pesticide may only be authorised and placed on the GB market once the active substance it contains has been approved. This happens following a thorough risk assessment carried out by our expert regulator, the Health and Safety Executive. Glyphosate is currently approved as an active substance for use in pesticide products in GB.</p><p> </p><p>Glyphosate was reviewed in 2016 (when the UK was an EU Member State). The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that glyphosate is unlikely to pose any risks to human health and the environment. When the GB approval of glyphosate is next reviewed, we will again consider our position based on the legal requirements and a careful scientific assessment of the evidence and risks. The Government’s first priority with regard to pesticides is to ensure that they will not harm people or pose unacceptable risks to the environment.</p><p> </p><p>It is for each Local Authority to decide the best way of delivering effective and cost-effective weed control in its operations without harming people or the environment. There is a legal requirement to minimise the use of pesticides along roads and in areas used by the public.</p><p> </p><p>We want to address some of the key barriers to uptake of integrated pest management in the amenity sector and reduce reliance on pesticides, whilst recognising the continuing role pesticides will play, for example, in making sure public highways are accessible and safe.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 20/05/2024 14:37:05 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	3950 label Biography information for Dame Tracey Crouch

1718525

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	River Parrett: Flood Control
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2023 to Question 3315 on River Parrett: Flood Control, whether it remains his timetable for the Bridgwater Tibal Barrier to be operational by early 2027.
	tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle
	tabling member printed	Emma Hardy
	uin	26577
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/05/2024 answer text <p>The Bridgwater Tidal Barrier project is on programme to deliver an operational barrier by early 2027.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 21/05/2024 12:37:38 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
	tabling member	4645 label Biography information for Emma Hardy

1718616

	registered interest
	date	15/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Food Supply
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to strengthen the resilience of the UK's food supply chain, and (2) to enhance food security, in the face of external disruptions and challenges.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL4718
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2024 answer text <p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain and is well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption.</p><p> </p><p>Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources; strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. We produce 60% of all the food we need, and 73% of food which we can grow or rear in the UK for all or part of the year, and these figures have changed little over the last 20 years.</p><p> </p><p>UK consumers have access through international trade to food products that cannot be produced here, or at least not on a year-round basis. This supplements domestic production, and also ensures that any disruption from risks such as adverse weather or disease does not affect the UK's overall security of supply.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.</p><p> </p><p>Recognising the importance of food security, in the Agriculture Act 2020, the Government made a commitment to produce an assessment of our food security at least once every three years. The first UK Food Security Report was produced in 2021 and the next will be published by December 2024. This report serves as an evidence base for policy work.</p><p> </p><p>Starting this year, the government is also strengthening our food security monitoring by introducing the annual Food Security Index in addition to the three-yearly UKFSR.</p><p> </p><p>Published to coincide with the second UK Farm to Fork Summit on 14 May 2024, the 2024 Food Security Index sets out how Government will track UK-wide food security on an annual basis, monitoring domestic food production, land use, input costs, and farmer productivity.</p><p> </p><p>The Index looks at shorter-term trends that change year on year, complementing the UKFSR’s comprehensive assessment and attention to longer-term trends. The 2024 Index shows that the UK farming sector is at its most productive since records began.</p><p> </p><p>A further package of measures to support farmers and grow the UK’s farming and food sector was announced by the government at the Farm to Fork Summit on 14th May 2024.</p><p> </p><p>This includes a <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fa-blueprint-to-grow-the-uk-fruit-and-vegetable-sector&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Ca6bcce62eca54b98c7e208dc75998dde%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638514549574220446%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=EPMGmy06utGwoW2ak97LftPPf0kq62W6%2FnmT7isxfXs%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">new Blueprint for Growing the UK Fruit and Vegetable Sector</a> (see attached), setting out how industry and government can work together to increase domestic production and drive investment into this valuable sector. The plan involves ensuring the sector has access to affordable and sustainable energy and water, cutting planning red tape to make it easier and quicker to build glasshouses, and looking to double to £80 million the amount of funding given to horticulture businesses when compared to the EU legacy Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme which will be replaced from 2026 onwards.</p> answering member printed Lord Douglas-Miller question first answered 20/05/2024 14:32:21 answering member 5006 label Biography information for Lord Douglas-Miller attachment 1 file name HL4718 - A blueprint to grow the UK fruit and vegetable sector.pdf title blueprint - growing UK fruit and vegetable sector
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1717825

	registered interest
	date	14/05/2024
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Fisheries: Regulation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what date the Hand Gathering (Restrictions and Permitting) Bylaw 2021 will be approved.
	tabling member constituency	East Worthing and Shoreham
	tabling member printed	Tim Loughton
	uin	26026
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2024 answer text <p>The Hand Gathering (Restrictions and Permitting) Bylaw 2021 has not yet been submitted to Defra for approval.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 17/05/2024 10:41:12 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
	tabling member	114 label Biography information for Tim Loughton