Written questions by Kearns.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory scheme to require drive through fast food outlets to print car registration details on purchased food packaging.

We do not think it would be appropriate to require take-away food vendors to implement a vehicle registration number printing and tracing system for packaging due to the potential costs involved, which may outweigh any benefits. Data protection concerns have been raised. However, we strongly support voluntary initiatives to reduce littering.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department issues guidance on the management of large wild deer populations.

Native deer are an important part of our natural heritage and their activities can benefit some habitats. However, excessive foraging, bark stripping and trampling can have negative impacts on woodlands. Defra therefore provides a range of support for managing deer impacts. The Forestry Commission and Natural England contribute to the production and updating of online guidance on all aspects of managing deer impacts. This is done in partnership with stakeholders, through the Deer Initiative Partnership. Guidance is available via its website. Guidance is additionally available via a team of Deer Officers within the Forestry Commission, who also oversee applications for Countryside Stewardship grants to help with deer impacts management (including by lethal control), at all scales, from local to landscape scale. Natural England publishes guidance on gov.uk on when to apply for a licence to kill or take deer in the close season or at night.

Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will publish the results of the consultation for the Environment Improvement Plan 2023 with specific reference to a national deer management strategy for England.

On the 30th July 2024, we announced a rapid review of the 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan which has now concluded. We published a statement of key findings from the rapid review on 30 January 2025. We will develop a new, statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery information to help meet each of our ambitious Environment Act targets. This will be published later this year. We are considering how to go further to reduce the impacts of deer on our woodlands and shall have an update in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on the Aarhus Convention.

The Aarhus Convention concerns access by the public to environmental information, to participation in environmental decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. Defra does not issue specific guidance to local authorities on the Convention.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) protect the livestock sector from the confirmed outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Germany and (b) prevent the disease entering the UK.

The UK is currently free from foot and mouth disease (FMD) and has a robust contingency plan in place to manage risk as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain. Controls include strict prohibitions on the imports of animals and products of animal origin from countries in which FMD is present; a comprehensive veterinary surveillance system to detect new and emerging disease threats; and active follow up and veterinary investigation of any suspect reports of notifiable disease. Following confirmation of FMD in Germany, Defra has taken rapid action to protect the UK. This includes, suspending the commercial import of susceptible animals from Germany and restricting personal imports of animal products from across the European Union. The need for further controls is being kept under review as further information on the situation in Germany becomes available. FMD guidance is available on GOV.UK and livestock farmers are urged to be extra vigilant and report any suspect disease immediately​.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on developing an improved plant health alert system; and whether the new system will include real time updates on border holds.

For goods that are detained at the border, there are already measures in place to inform the persons responsible for the loads that corrective action may be required or that in the event of a pest finding, certain processes need to be followed. Any non-compliance that results in statutory action is also formally notified to the exporting country, with publication of the non-compliances also published on the Plant Health Portal. Following recent feedback from individual cases, the Animal and Plant Health Agency has reviewed and updated its processes to ensure individuals are aware of any action being taken.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to improve border infrastructure for importing (a) large plants and (b) trees.

Defra continues to work with port operators to ensure that there are effective import inspections of large plants and trees to maintain the UK’s high biosecurity standards, including ensuring equipment is available to handle goods. Defra has laid legislation which will implement an exemption to enable certain large commodities to be unloaded and inspected in outside areas at these facilities, subject to certain requirements. This will come into force on 30 January 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to provide more data to horticulture businesses on (a) sanitary and phytosanitary border movements and (b) inspection rates generated from the Import of products, animals, food and feed system.

Our checks are intelligence-led and based on biosecurity risk. To protect the integrity of this approach, we cannot share granular data on movements and inspections. Traders should continue to follow the published guidance which sets out Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) inspection rates. Regarding communication with horticulture businesses, there is regular official level engagement with the Horticultural Trade Association (HTA) concerning the border and there has been throughout the development of the BTOM; including the recent November 21st roundtable on plants, cut flowers, and the border.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated to support areas at risk of flooding; and when he plans to announce these.

To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences. The list of projects to receive Government funding in 2025/26 will be agreed by the Environment Agency over the coming months in the usual way through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the British Society of Plant Breeders correctly applies the small producer exemption from royalty fees applied to grain crops with diverse genetic

The British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) is the representative body for the UK plant breeding industry. In the collection of royalty fees and farm saved seed payments, the BSPB are acting as independent agents of various breeders and are not contracte...