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1715014

registered interest
date	30/04/2024
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 his expected timetable is for reviewing the use of cages for laying hens.
tabling member constituency	Crawley
tabling member printed	Henry Smith
uin	24223
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/05/2024 answer text <p>We have delivered an ambitious legislative programme since the publication of the Action Plan for Animal Welfare, which will deliver significant improvements for animals in the UK and abroad. We are firmly committed to maintaining our strong track record on animal welfare and to delivering continued improvements, both in the course of this Parliament and beyond.</p><p> </p><p>Mindful of the challenges facing the sector, we are not consulting on cage reforms. The market is already driving the move away from using cages for laying hen production. Egg producers and consumers should rightly have pride in the quality of British eggs, with about 75% coming from free range, barn and organic production systems.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to work with the farming industry to maintain and enhance our high standards of animal welfare. The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, part of our domestic agricultural policy, supports farmers to produce healthier, higher welfare animals. The Government’s welfare priorities for the Pathway include supporting producers to transition away from confinement systems.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Sir Mark Spencer question first answered 07/05/2024 13:06:57 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1694725

registered interest
date	07/03/2024
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Animal Welfare Committee report Opinion on the welfare implications of different methods and systems for the catching, carrying, collecting and loading of poultry, published in March 2023, whether they have any plans to introduce the recommendation contained in that report to amend the law so that "it is legally permitted to lift chickens, and turkeys weighing less than 10-kg, by two legs".
tabling member printed	Lord Trees
uin	HL3136
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2024 answer text <p>The Animal Welfare Committee Opinion on the welfare implications of different methods and systems for the catching, carrying, collecting and loading of poultry was published in February 2024. We are carefully considering its findings before deciding on next steps and are working with the Welsh and Scottish Governments to ensure a consistent approach across Great Britain.</p> answering member printed Lord Douglas-Miller question first answered 28/03/2024 14:12:43 answering member 5006 label Biography information for Lord Douglas-Miller
tabling member	4260 label Biography information for Lord Trees

1642330

registered interest
date	06/06/2023
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 progress his Department has made on reducing the use of cages for hens.
tabling member constituency	York Outer
tabling member printed	Julian Sturdy
uin	187959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2023 answer text <p>The egg sector is making good progress in moving away from cages. The proportion of eggs that come from caged hens has steadily decreased from 47% of total throughput in Q4 2017, to 21% in Q1 2023.</p><p> </p><p>We will continue to work with retailers and producers to ensure we maintain and enhance the high standards of animal health and welfare we have in this country, including on our farms. The Government’s animal welfare priorities for its Animal Health and Welfare Pathway include supporting producers to transition away from confinement systems.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 19/06/2023 14:41:39 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4079 label Biography information for Julian Sturdy

1542227

registered interest
date	15/11/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 she will make it her policy to change the requirement for ducks to be swabbed before each movement and instead require only a visual inspection.
tabling member constituency	Central Suffolk and North Ipswich
tabling member printed	Dr Dan Poulter
uin	87813
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2022 answer text <p>Defra requires assurance that birds, poultry products or materials associated with their keeping are not affected by avian influenza prior to them being moved out of disease control zones. Testing for avian influenza prior to movement is not required outside disease control zones.</p><p>Ducks can be sub-clinically infected with avian influenza and clinical inspection alone would not provide sufficient evidence that birds were not infected hence swabbing and negative results from diagnostic testing undertaken at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) avian influenza national reference laboratory are required prior to each movement as a condition of a movement licence being granted. However, we do not require testing of day-old ducklings prior to movement because we can rely on the success of hatching of a batch of ducks to indicate whether avian influenza is present in the eggs.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 21/11/2022 19:28:51 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter

1518479

registered interest
date	26/09/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what progress the Animal and Plant Health Agency has made in its investigation into the deaths of millions of factory farm chickens during heatwaves in summer 2022; when the results of the investigation are expected to be published; and what plans they have to prevent future such events.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL2321
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/10/2022 answer text <p>The Animal and Plant Health Agency is supporting local authorities in investigating what took place on individual poultry units. Ongoing investigations are confidential as any information released may prejudice any potential legal action in the future.</p><p>HM Government takes breaches of animal welfare legislation very seriously. Prior to and during this summer's heatwaves, we reiterated advice to livestock keepers to ensure their contingency plans took full account of the need to protect health and welfare during hot weather. We are very concerned about the significant mortalities in broiler chickens that occurred. We are discussing what happened with the poultry sector and looking carefully at what measures could be put in place in future to help prevent a recurrence of mass mortalities and improve broiler chicken welfare.</p> answering member printed Lord Benyon question first answered 10/10/2022 16:36:16 answering member 1547 label Biography information for Lord Benyon
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle

1455938

registered interest
date	30/03/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 ban the use of cages for laying hens.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	150190
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2022 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 23 March 2022 to the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown, PQ UIN <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-02-25/129858" target="_blank">129858</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill grouped question UIN 150191 question first answered 20/04/2022 07:52:56 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1455939

registered interest
date	30/03/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 his Department's Action Plan for Animal Welfare, published on 12 May 2021, when he plans to examine the use of cages for laying hens.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	150191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2022 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 23 March 2022 to the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown, PQ UIN <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-02-25/129858" target="_blank">129858</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill grouped question UIN 150190 question first answered 20/04/2022 07:52:56 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1455940

registered interest
date	30/03/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 representations to the devolved Administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on the use of banning cages for laying hens.
tabling member constituency	Solihull
tabling member printed	Julian Knight
uin	150192
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2022 answer text <p>I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 23 March 2022 to the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown, PQ UIN <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-02-25/129859" target="_blank">129859</a>.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 20/04/2022 07:43:07 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1440194

registered interest
date	11/03/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
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 Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, whether it is his Department's policy that farmed ducks should have access to an open body of water.
tabling member constituency	Bristol East
tabling member printed	Kerry McCarthy
uin	138272
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/03/2022 answer text <p>Defra has published a statutory duck welfare code which encourages high standards of husbandry for the keeping and breeding of farmed ducks. We recognise the welfare benefit of providing open water for ducks. However, in a commercial setting the provision of open bathing water for ducks is a difficult issue, as a balance needs to be struck between the welfare needs of the birds and the risks to duck health, hygiene and food safety if ducks are given unlimited access to open bathing water, which can become easily contaminated. Defra's code recommends that ducks should always have easy access to fresh water and that consideration should be given to the provision of water troughs, which are deep enough to allow the ducks to get their heads completely under water.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 17/03/2022 10:58:36 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
tabling member	1491 label Biography information for Kerry McCarthy

1435636

registered interest
date	25/02/2022
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	Poultry: Animal Welfare
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Rural and Food Affairs, with reference to his Department's Action Plan for Animal Welfare published on 12 May 2021, what his timescale is for examining the use of cages for laying hens.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Lloyd Russell-Moyle
uin	129858
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2022 answer text <p>The UK Government is delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare. We are actively exploring options to phase out the use of cages in farming, including the use of cages for laying hens. In coming to an assessment of the potential merits of banning cages for laying hens we will wish to consult all interested organisations.</p><p>Animal welfare is a devolved issue and we continue to work closely with our devolved counterparts when considering future policy.</p><p>The EU Commission announced its intention to bring forward legislative proposals by 2023 to prohibit the use of cages for all farmed livestock, including colony cages for laying hens. The Commission’s stated aim is to introduce legislation in 2027, but under pressure from some Member States we anticipate the phase in period for banning enriched cages may be several years. The EU’s programme of work will address many issues which we are already looking at, for example, cages for farmed animals and long journeys.</p><p>The UK Government has made a clear manifesto commitment that in all of our trade negotiations we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. We will need to consider trade aspects of any ban to avoid the risk of exporting production of eggs for catering/processing to third countries which continue to allow enriched cages.</p><p>We are establishing an Animal Health and Welfare Pathway as an all-encompassing approach to the health and welfare of farmed animals in England. Establishing a new partnership between Government and farmers, the Pathway maps out how farmers and Government will work together to continually improve the health and welfare of farmed animals now and in the future. Farmers will be able to choose whether to take part in Pathway and may take flexible routes through the schemes available depending on what is most relevant to them and their system. As set out in the <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fanimal-health-and-welfare-pathway%2Fanimal-health-and-welfare-pathway&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7Cc5fc01200f4642450f5c08da0cb3ff37%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C637836264458317072%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=frTPF3csCs4L1cS1BV%2F1qw8rIdZ8qFTvIOmd6U6e7pA%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">22 <sup>nd</sup> February publication </a>on the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, one of the Pathway's priorities will be to support a transition away from enriched cages for laying hens. At this stage, there has been no decision on allocation of funding.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill grouped question UIN 129859 129860 129861 question first answered 23/03/2022 15:47:40 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	4615 label Biography information for Lloyd Russell-Moyle