Written questions by Jogee.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with her Commonwealth counterparts to help improve animal welfare.

As set out in this Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, Defra is committed to working collaboratively in international fora, including with Commonwealth countries, to champion the importance of high standards of animal welfare and promote best practice. ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of fishing quotas in the Atlantic on a) the price of cod and b) fish and chip businesses in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Quotas are set in line with scientific advice to ensure the long-term sustainability of stocks and can influence supply, which may place upward pressure on cod prices. However, the UK is a net importer of whitefish and prices are largely driven by global ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent victims of waste crime having to bear the cost of any required clean-up in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (b) Staffordshire.

Landowners are responsible for preventing and clearing illegally dumped waste on their land. While landowner responsibility protects against perverse incentives, we recognise that innocent landowners can and often do face unaffordable remediation costs. T...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to ensure effective action is taken against organised criminal networks in the waste sector.

Defra works closely with the Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council to ensure an aligned and effective response to waste crime. The Home Office sets the overarching serious and organised crime strategy and tasking framework, with waste crime trea...

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a single national reporting system for incidents of waste crime.

Comprehensive guidance on how to report waste crime is available on GOV.UK here. The guidance provides clear signposts towards different reporting routes, based on the nature of the crime and which authority is responsible for enforcement. A single, natio...

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on tackling rural crime.

The Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime. That is why the Home Office and Defra collaborated with the National Police Chiefs’ Councils to deliver their renewal of the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy, which was ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the financial impact of rural crime on a) farmers and b) rural communities.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support farmers in Staffordshire with energy costs.

Government is actively monitoring the developments in the Middle East, including their impact on the supply and price of red diesel. This Government is taking decisive action to support farmers and fishers by cutting the duty on red diesel to its lowest r...

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions a) Ministers and b) officials in her Department have had with the Soft Power Council.

Since the Soft Power Council was established in January 2025, it has met four times. Information about the Soft Power Council and its meetings is available on GOV.UK, including meeting dates, terms of reference, and abridged minutes of discussions.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Badger vaccination scheme.

Multiple published studies indicate that badger vaccination is safe and can reduce TB infection and transmission in badgers. Vaccination is now being deployed across a number of large areas, including through a newly contracted Badger Vaccination Field Fo...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help communities in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire restore nature.

Defra funds nature restoration across the country. This includes woodland creation grants such as England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) that provides financial support for tree planting, providing 100% of standard woodland creation capital costs; with ad...

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to support farmers in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire to export British beef.

Defra has a global network of 16 agrifood attachés who work to expand market access and create new export opportunities for the UK’s high quality agri-food produce, including beef, delivering benefits to businesses in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire a...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the (a) development and (b) use of innovative technology in farming in Staffordshire.

The Farming Innovation Programme is Defra’s programme for supporting research and innovation in farming. Its investment in innovative technology from concept to deployment aims to derisk adoption and widen access. Support was reinforced with the Modern In...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that effective penalties are imposed on people that illegally dump waste in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (b) Staffordshire and (

On 20 March the Government published its Waste Crime Action Plan, a major step up in its efforts to tackle waste crime. The Plan commits Defra to working closely with the Ministry of Justice to explore what more could be done to ensure that those who ille...

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Office for Environmental Protection.

Defra and the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) share an ambition to protect and enhance the environment. Nature is at the very foundation of growth, as nature’s recovery is a prerequisite of prosperity, health and wellbeing. It is Defra’s urgent ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Government of Gibraltar about the processing of raw sewage in Gibraltar.

Ministers meet regularly with the Government of Gibraltar to discuss a range of environmental matters including wastewater management.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support farmers whose livestock are affected by bovine tuberculosis outbreaks in a) Audley, b) Newcastle-under-Lyme and c) Staffordshire.

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) has a devastating impact on farming communities. That is why the Government is working with farmers and scientists to co-design a new bovine TB strategy, expected in the coming weeks, to deliver the step change needed to achieve d...

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the (a) effectiveness and (b) performance of the Rural Payments Agency.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs regularly meets with Cabinet colleagues to address farming and food security, underlining the Government’s commitment to supporting British agriculture; ensuring the Rural Payments Agency (RPA...

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the cleanliness of Lough Neagh.

We are closely engaged with our counterparts across the UK, including the Northern Ireland Executive, on the shared challenge of improving water quality. Baroness Hayman visited Lough Neagh with Minister Muir in March 2025 to see and discuss the particular challenges faced locally. Ministers from across the UK subsequently met in November 2025 at the Interministerial Group for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to discuss the challenge of improving our waters, agreeing to establish enhanced sharing of research data and behavioural change evidence to support policy making and delivery across the UK.