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1676534

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Woodlands
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 hold discussions with the Forestry Commission on promoting woodland creation.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	5935
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2023 answer text <p>Woodland creation is regularly discussed between the Forestry Commission and the Forestry Minister on behalf of the Secretary of State.</p><p> </p><p>The Forestry Commission continues to keep Defra ministers up to date on the progress of woodland creation. Defra and Forestry Commission officials meet regularly to coordinate efforts to promote the creation of woodlands, supporting schemes such as the Forestry Commission’s flagship England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO).</p><p> </p><p>EWCO and Woodland Creation Planning Grant will transition to become part of the Countryside Stewardship scheme – one of the new environmental land management schemes. The future Countryside Stewardship woodland creation offer will largely mirror the EWCO offer.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 21/12/2023 17:05:55 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1676543

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Pigs: 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 recent assessment he has made of the impact of farrowing cages on the welfare of pigs.
tabling member constituency	Somerton and Frome
tabling member printed	Sarah Dyke
uin	6046
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2023 answer text <p>Defra’s 2018 statutory welfare code of practice for pigs confirms that “the aim is for farrowing crates to no longer be necessary and for any new system to protect the welfare of the sow, as well as her piglets”. The UK already has a significant outdoor pig sector with 40% of the national sow breeding herd farrowing freely on outdoor units with no option for confinement.</p><p> </p><p>We are firmly committed to maintaining our strong track record on animal welfare and continue to work with the farming industry to maintain and enhance our high standards. The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, part of our new domestic agricultural policy, supports farmers to produce healthier, higher welfare animals. The Government’s welfare priorities for the Pathway include supporting pig producers to transition away from confinement systems.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 18/12/2023 13:26:09 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	4995 label Biography information for Sarah Dyke

1676568

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Food Supply: Committees
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 the publication by the Agricultural Industries Confederation entitled Powering productivity for sustainable food security, published on 15 November 2023, whether he plans to accept the recommendation on the creation of an independent food security committee.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5953
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2023 answer text <p>The Government takes food security very seriously. The UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) contains a suite of indicators linked to the five food security themes outlined in the report. Defra is in the process of preparing the next iteration of the UKFSR which will be published by December 2024. We have well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor, prepare for and respond to risks to food security. We do not have plans to create an independent food security committee.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 15/12/2023 13:57:20 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676569

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Flood Control: 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, with reference to his Department's policy statement entitled Flood and coastal erosion risk management, published in July 2020, how much and what proportion of the £5.2 billion of funding for flood mitigation has been allocated to nature-based flood-prevention solutions.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5954
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2023 answer text <p>The Environment Agency has estimated that between March 2015 and April 2021 it spent £20 million on natural flood management elements of wider flood defence schemes. This was in addition to the £15m natural flood management programme. There will be even more natural flood management in the £5.2bn flood defence programme from 2021-27, including £25 million funding to improve flood resilience through natural flood management, launched by the Environment Agency and Defra in September 2023.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 20/12/2023 12:03:18 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676570

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Agriculture: 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, how much funding his Department has provided to farmers for the implementation of flood prevention solutions on their farms in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5955
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/12/2023 answer text <p>The six-year £5.2 billion floods investment programme is provided to Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) rather than providing funding directly to farmers. Although many RMAs work with farmers to reduce flood risk, we do not hold a central record for this information.</p><p> </p><p>Current offers to support farmers include the Countryside Stewardship (Cs) scheme, which supports farmers to improve water quality and manage flood risk through a range of grants and advice from Catchment Sensitive Farming. Support from the CS scheme to manage flood risk includes grants to reward farmers to control runoff and make space for water. The yearly breakdown for the costs is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 28/12/2023 11:35:43 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676571

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Food Supply: Climate Change
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 help increase food security in the context of trends in the level of flooding brought about by climate change.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5956
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2023 answer text <p>The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, as demonstrated throughout the Covid-19 response. It 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.</p><p> </p><p>These figures have changed little over the last 20 years, and the Government is committed to maintaining the amount of food produced domestically to support our farmers and uphold our high food security.</p><p> </p><p>Recent wet weather has created challenging conditions for farmers; however, the food industry is adept at managing disruption and securing alternative sources of supply when necessary.</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>The government is in regular contact with the food industry to ensure it is well prepared for a range of scenarios, and we continue to take all the necessary steps to ensure people across the country have the food and supplies they need.</p> answering member constituency Sherwood answering member printed Mark Spencer question first answered 20/12/2023 16:46:36 answering member 4055 label Biography information for Sir Mark Spencer
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676573

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Agriculture: 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, what funding his Department has provided to mitigate flooding on agricultural land in each year since 2018.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5957
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2023 answer text <p>As well as protecting more than 300,000 homes, the 2015-2021 £2.6bn flood investment programme worked with farmers to reduce the risk of flooding to nearly 600,000 acres of agricultural land.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 19/12/2023 14:46:18 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676574

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Agriculture: 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, what proportion of agricultural land at each agricultural land classification grade was at (a) risk and (b) high risk of flooding in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5958
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2023 answer text <p>Approximately 12% of agricultural land in England is at flood risk from rivers or the sea. Due to the complexity and processing required it is not possible to provide a breakdown over the last five years or at different risk bands within the time frame of a Parliamentary Question.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 18/12/2023 17:22:26 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676575

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Agriculture: 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, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the proportion of Grade 1 agricultural land at high risk of flooding.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/12/2023 answer text <p>As well as protecting more than 300,000 homes, the 2015-21 £2.6 billion flood investment programme worked with farmers to reduce the risk of flooding to nearly 600,000 acres of agricultural land. The 2021-27 capital programme will also offer increased protection to agricultural land. The Environment Agency does not break down the figure by land classification grade.</p><p> </p><p>Current offers to support farmers include the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme, which supports farmers to improve water quality and manage flood risk through a range of grants and advice from Catchment Sensitive Farming. Support from the CS scheme to manage flood risk includes grants to reward farmers to control runoff and make space for water. The yearly breakdown of these costs is not centrally held.</p><p> </p><p>We are also introducing our new environmental land management schemes, which reward environmental benefits, including protection from environmental hazards such as flooding.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 28/12/2023 11:30:46 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

1676576

registered interest
date	08/12/2023
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	Agriculture: 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, if his Department will take steps to implement a comprehensive agricultural water management strategy.
tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
tabling member printed	Tim Farron
uin	5960
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2023 answer text <p>Defra recently published its Plan for Water to deliver a safe, reliable, resilient supply of clean and plentiful water – for our homes, businesses, for leisure and for wildlife that rely on.</p><p> </p><p>We are working with the sector to put in place funding to encourage the establishment of Water Abstractor Groups for agriculture. These groups will conduct supply-demand balance assessments for Agricultural Water Resource Management Planning and conduct Local Resource Options studies to identify potential local infrastructure projects, to improve agricultural water supply resilience.</p><p> </p><p>The Government and the Environment Agency also support the agricultural sector through the Water Management Grant, under the Farming Transformation Fund, for the construction of new irrigation reservoirs and the adoption of best practice irrigation application equipment, helping to ensure farmers have access to water when they need it most. Over the coming months, Defra will consider the option of launching a third round of the grant in the future.</p><p> </p><p>To drive progress to reduce water pollution from agriculture, we have set a new legally binding target under the Environment Act 2012 to reduce nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment by 40% by 2038. We have published our Plan for Water, which sets out our commitment to implementing a suite of actions to tackle agricultural pollution including increasing the Environment Agency’s farm inspection capacity, doubling the Catchment Sensitive Farming advice programme, investing in slurry management to help farmers improve practices and introducing Environmental Land Schemes to pay farmers for the delivery of environmental benefits.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Robbie Moore question first answered 19/12/2023 14:50:27 answering member 4861 label Biography information for Robbie Moore
tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron