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1491319

registered interest
date	21/07/2022
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made for the implications of his policy on food security of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s report entitled Labour shortages in the food and farming sector, published 29 March 2022.
tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
uin	42187
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2022 answer text <p>Enabling an innovative, productive and competitive food supply chain which invests in its people and the skills they need is a priority for this Government</p><p> </p><p>The Government thanks the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee for its report into labour shortages in the food and farming sector. We are aware that there are both short and long-term workforce challenges across the food and farming sector, particularly with respect to seasonal labour. It is with great concern that we have seen evidence of horticulture businesses reducing their plantings, ploughing in crops or considering offshoring production because of concerns over labour availability, all of which have food security implications.</p><p> </p><p>Defra continues to work closely with industry and other government departments to understand labour supply and demand and its implications, including both permanent and seasonal workforce requirements, and to ensure there is a long-term strategy for the food and farming workforce. We extended the Seasonal Worker visa route until 2024 and expanded the number of visas available through this route to 40,000 (now including 2000 visas for poultry workers to meet pre-Christmas demand) as a result of the clear evidence of need this year. Last autumn we delivered emergency, temporary visa schemes for the poultry, pork, and HGV food transportation sectors in response to specific challenges, and introduced an accompanying package of non-immigration measures to alleviate pressures in the pig sector, including Private Storage Aid and Slaughter Incentive Payment Schemes.</p><p> </p><p>As announced in the Government Food Strategy, the Government will soon be commissioning an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain, covering automation, domestic labour and migration. The review will consider the challenges facing food and farming businesses to access the labour they require and will provide recommendations.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 05/09/2022 13:24:13 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1491394

registered interest
date	21/07/2022
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	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Consultants
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on external consultants in each of the last five years; and if he will publish a breakdown of (a) the amount paid to each consultancy contracted, (b) the name of each consultancy contracted, (c) the specific matters on which they were consulted and (d) whether each contract was subject to usual Government procurement rules.
tabling member constituency	Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
tabling member printed	Neale Hanvey
uin	42244
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2022 answer text <p>The department’s spend on consultancy is published each year in the Annual Report and Accounts.</p><p> </p><p>2020-21</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021</a> (page 100)</p><p> </p><p>2019-20</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020</a> (page 87)</p><p> </p><p>2018-19</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2018-to-2019" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2018-to-2019</a> (page 64)</p><p> </p><p>2017-18</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018</a> (page 51)</p><p> </p><p>2016-17</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2016-to-2017</a> (page 42)</p><p> </p><p>The breakdown of this expenditure could only be provided by incurring disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>Details of all Government contracts awarded from 2016 above £10,000 and £25,000 in the wider public sector are published on <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fcontracts-finder&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cemmy.clarkson%40dhsc.gov.uk%7C332dd3e59a5f4b1b1e5308da6b104a3e%7C61278c3091a84c318c1fef4de8973a1c%7C1%7C0%7C637940014946084226%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=EHT%2Bj9EH86g04c73Xn7YYL0Qyi3Lc4Dm8J%2F8B8YuCNE%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Contracts Finder</a>. Each award notice provides information on the name of the supplier, value of the contract, its purpose and information on the type of awarding procedure used. Government departments, their individual agencies and Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) are required to publish all spend against individual suppliers above £25,000 on <a href="http://gov.uk/" target="_blank">GOV.UK</a>.</p><p> </p><p>All Government departments and their individual ALBs and agencies are required to follow the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 in awarding contracts.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 05/09/2022 13:03:44 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4782 label Biography information for Neale Hanvey

1491450

registered interest
date	21/07/2022
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	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Agency Workers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
tabling member constituency	Hemsworth
tabling member printed	Jon Trickett
uin	41938
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2022 answer text <p>(a) agency workers</p><p>Agency workers (more commonly referred to as “contingent labour” or “temporary workers”) are subject to a Cabinet Office controls framework to ensure robust governance of spending in this area.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contingent-labour-spend-control" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contingent-labour-spend-control</a></p><p> </p><p>Commentary on contingent labour usage, if applicable, is available in departmental annual reports.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-reports-and-accounts-for-central-government-departments" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-reports-and-accounts-for-central-government-departments</a></p><p> </p><p>The Crown Commercial Service provides two frameworks specifically for the supply of Contingent Labour which are used by central government departments. These are:</p><p> </p><p>RM3749 - Public Sector Resourcing.</p><p><a href="https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/rm3749" target="_blank">https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/rm3749</a></p><p> </p><p>This provides a managed service for departmental use including low supplier margins, regular pay rate benchmarking, comprehensive tracking and reporting of contingent labour assignments, full timesheeting and approvals technology and onboarding, contracting and payroll services.</p><p> </p><p>RM6160 - Non Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff</p><p><a href="https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6160" target="_blank">https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6160</a></p><p> </p><p>This provides access to a range of generalist, specialist and niche contingent labour agencies offering a wide range of suppliers, maximum margins, free transfer to permanent after 12 weeks and onboarding, contracting and payroll services.</p><p> </p><p>Use of these frameworks provides robust governance, visibility, value for money and flexibility in meeting departmental contingent labour needs.</p><p> </p><p>(b) agency retainer fees</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have interpreted agency retainer fees as the fees charged at the commencement of the provision of a search recruitment service. This is only applicable when recruiting for a permanent or fixed term post.</p><p> </p><p>Agency retainer fees are not applicable to the contingent labour market.</p><p> </p><p>There is no recorded expenditure on agency retainer fees.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 05/09/2022 14:49:50 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	410 label Biography information for Jon Trickett

1490996

registered interest
date	20/07/2022
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of trends in the level of food insecurity as a result of rising food prices on households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	40797
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2022 answer text <p>We are working hard to support everyone facing cost of living concerns. We continue to monitor food prices using the ONS inflation figures. Recent pressures have been sustained and we have seen food price inflation rise to 12.7% in July, up from 9.8% in June. Defra analysis, based on ONS data, shows that every one percentage point increase in food price inflation increases the average annual food bill of UK households by £34.</p><p> </p><p>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. For example, we have introduced labelling flexibility to reduce additional cost burdens resulting from the availability of sunflower oil. Defra is also holding regular discussions with industry to explore ways in which they can support low-income households by ensuring affordable food remains available, for example by maintaining value ranges, price matching, price freezing measures and the use of loyalty card offers.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. We recently announced a new £15 billion support package to help families with the cost of living, bringing the total support for households this year to £37 billion. This includes an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of household essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England this will take the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula. Details of allocations to Upper Tier and Unitary Councils can be found at: <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F1072446%2Fhousehold-support-fund-grant-determination.pdf&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C9fe4598b05aa4eae5ada08da8c26d647%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637976395678378553%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=abpi%2FPVNqwlTOVj496tbCT%2FxsYB036U346gbIjd1h4I%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">Household Support Fund Grant Determination 2022 No 31/3096 (publishing.service.gov.uk)</a>.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 05/09/2022 12:59:47 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1491022

registered interest
date	20/07/2022
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: Red Diesel
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 18 July 2022 to Question 35899 on Fuels: Prices, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in the price of red diesel on (a) farming and (b) other agricultural businesses; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Hemel Hempstead
tabling member printed	Sir Mike Penning
uin	40750
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2022 answer text <p>Defra engages extensively with the farming sector and other agricultural businesses and continues to do so through various forums including the Agri-Supply Coalition and the Arable Chain Advisory Group. Through these forums, we closely monitor live issues, including the increase in the price of red diesel, and their impact on farming and other agricultural businesses. Defra also works closely with other Government departments, particularly HM Treasury, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Transport, to relay the information gathered from industry.</p><p>In the Spring Statement 2022 and in response to fuel prices reaching record levels, the Government announced a temporary 12-month cut to the full rate of duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre and an equivalent percentage cut on the rates for rebated fuels. This is a significant tax cut that will deliver considerable savings to consumers and businesses over the next year, including those that use diesel, and is the first time in over a decade that the main rates of petrol and diesel have been cut.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 05/09/2022 13:17:50 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning

1490707

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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	Fishing Catches: White Fish
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to ICES Advice 2022 on UK cod stocks, if he will establish catch limits for cod at sustainable levels.
tabling member constituency	Waveney
tabling member printed	Peter Aldous
uin	39831
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>The UK advocates an approach towards setting total allowable catches (TACs) for cod stocks and other species that is founded on the best available scientific advice, which seeks to maintain or rebuild sustainable fish stocks and fisheries in the long term. For many whitefish stocks, such as cod, a further key consideration when setting the TAC is their interaction with other stocks caught in the same mixed fishery.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/08/2022 09:59:07 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4069 label Biography information for Peter Aldous

1490708

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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: Nature Conservation
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 effectiveness of his policies on the protection of deep sea species from overexploitation.
tabling member constituency	Waveney
tabling member printed	Peter Aldous
uin	39832
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>Each year, the UK publishes the sustainability outcomes of the annual fisheries negotiations. This sets out the number of Total Allowable Catches (TACs) that have been set in line with the International Council for the Exploration Sea (ICES) advice. The UK is committed to promoting the sustainability for all fisheries stocks including deep sea species.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/08/2022 09:48:31 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4069 label Biography information for Peter Aldous

1490710

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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	Saltwater Fish: Conservation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in light of its assessment as critically endangered by the IUCN, if the Government will work towards a zero Total Allowable Catch for roundnose grenadier (a) in UK-EU negotiations and (b) at the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission.
tabling member constituency	Waveney
tabling member printed	Peter Aldous
uin	39833
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>The UK relies on advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) when negotiating sustainable total allowable catches for fish stocks, including for roundnose grenadier. We are committed to restoring stocks to healthy states including taking a precautionary approach where necessary. To reflect this, the UK unilaterally applies a bycatch provision and does not actively target this stock. The UK will continue to make use of the best available science in developing our approach for deep sea stocks in both the UK and EU consultations, and our representations at the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/08/2022 09:42:30 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4069 label Biography information for Peter Aldous

1490711

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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	Saltwater Fish: Conservation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in light of recent scientific advice published by ICES, whether the Government will (a) support a position of zero catch of blackspot seabream, (b) introduce additional unilateral measures for their conservation in UK waters and (c) introduce closures to protect spawning sites.
tabling member constituency	Waveney
tabling member printed	Peter Aldous
uin	39834
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>Blackspot seabream (western red seabream) is recognised as seriously depleted by the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The recent catch advice issued by ICES, for zero catches of blackspot seabream, will form a central part of the UK position for this stock for the forthcoming consultations. This approach is consistent with the UK’s commitments to make the best use of scientific advice for the management of fishing activities. Blackspot seabream is a shared stock with the EU. The UK and EU are developing improved management measures to support its long-term recovery through the Specialised Committee on Fisheries.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/08/2022 09:38:29 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4069 label Biography information for Peter Aldous

1490712

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
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	Fish: Conservation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which species the UK considers to be forage fish; and whether the Government will adopt a more precautionary approach to the management of the species based on their wider ecological importance.
tabling member constituency	Waveney
tabling member printed	Peter Aldous
uin	39835
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/08/2022 answer text <p>Forage fish are important to the ecosystem as they provide food for predator fish and sea birds. We are reviewing our policy on forage fish that are caught for industrial purposes. In the context of the Northeast Atlantic, there are specific fleet segments that specialise in this type of fishing, and their effort within UK waters is targeted on particular species, principally sandeel and Norway pout.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/08/2022 09:35:12 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	4069 label Biography information for Peter Aldous