Every parliamentary written question tabled by Helen Morgan this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 81–100 of 132 · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of checks for illegally imported meat at the Port of Dover.
Defra is working closely with the Home Office and the Food Standards Agency to tackle this issue with the support of Border Force, Port Health Authorities and local authorities, to ensure that operations around illegal meat imports are as efficient as possible.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of levels of resourcing for Border Force on food security.
Border Force’s resources are continually assessed to balance all pressures. Resources are deployed dynamically through intelligence and data to intervene any potential threats. Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Local Nature Recovery Strategy mapping on future (a) funding opportunities, (b) land development and (c) land use planning for farmers.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are designed to support more strategic decision-making and investment in nature recovery. They do this by agreeing priorities for nature recovery and mapping where habitat creation or improvement could contribute most towards those. Farmers and land managers are encouraged to deliver the actions proposed on their land but are not required to do so. Developers are incentivised to deliver actions proposed in LNRSs through an uplift in the biodiversity net gain calculation. LNRSs will also provide information that can help farmers and land managers make stronger bids for funding through schemes such as Landscape Recovery, and to help them make choices about how they manage their land. Government is continuing to explore how delivery of LNRS actions might be further incentivised so that environmental targets can be met more cost effectively. LNRSs are also supporting nature recovery to be better reflected in the planning system and in development. Planning practice guidance was published in February 2025 which explains the role of LNRSs in helping planning authorities to conserve and enhance the natural environment.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to support farmers with the cost of bluetongue (a) tests and (b) vaccinations in Shropshire.
From 1 July 2025 the restricted zone (RZ) for bluetongue will be extended to include all areas of England and the current movement restrictions for live animals within England will be lifted. The bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3) Control Framework for England sought to slow the spread of disease across Great Britain through movement controls while safe and effective vaccines were developed. Given the availability now of safe and effective BTV-3 vaccines, low prevalence of severe clinical signs in affected domestic animals, and the impact restrictions have had on a very large number of keepers in England, sustaining or increasing controls on BTV-3 into the future is neither sustainable nor proportionate. Defra is not able to provide any financial assistance to farmers in Shropshire for costs associated with pre-movement tests required by the Scottish and Welsh Governments after this date. Farmers will need to make commercial decisions regarding the costs associated with moving their animals out of the All-England Restricted Zone into Scotland and Wales. Vaccination is the most suitable long-term approach to controlling disease and is consistent with the approach taken in Europe. The decision to vaccinate is a matter for farmers based on the possible impacts for their businesses. In the current situation we do not believe there is a case for mandatory vaccination, nor for the Government to provide or fund vaccination for BTV.
Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps with his Welsh counterpart to prevent different bluetongue regulation policies from being in place from 1 July 2025.
Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the Devolved Governments to assess the disease risks and impacts in relation to their national herds, alongside the impacts of controls, and respond accordingly. However, Defra works closely with the Devolved Governments with the aim of providing, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. A key forum for this is the Animal Disease Policy Group, which is a UK-wide policy decision making group. Defra and Devolved Governments also engage closely with industry to inform policy development and implementation through the Livestock Core Group. It is encouraging to see that Wales is now joining Scotland in allowing some exemptions for pre-movement testing for cattle which have been vaccinated with a product that prevents viraemia - which will reduce costs for movements of these animals between England and Wales. Defra will keep the approach to bluetongue control under review in 2025 and are grateful for the continued engagement of Devolved Governments and industry stakeholders.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help minimise the potential impact of bluetongue regulations on markets trading livestock on the border between England and Wales.
Disease control is a devolved matter, and it is for the Devolved Governments to assess the disease risks and impacts in relation to their national herds, alongside the impacts of controls, and respond accordingly. However, Defra works closely with the Devolved Governments with the aim of providing, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. A key forum for this is the Animal Disease Policy Group, which is a UK-wide policy decision making group. Defra and Devolved Governments also engage closely with industry to inform policy development and implementation through the Livestock Core Group. It is encouraging to see that Wales is now joining Scotland in allowing some exemptions for pre-movement testing for cattle which have been vaccinated with a product that prevents viraemia - which will reduce costs for movements of these animals between England and Wales. Defra will keep the approach to bluetongue control under review in 2025 and are grateful for the continued engagement of Devolved Governments and industry stakeholders.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has updated its contingency plans following foot and mouth disease outbreaks in mainland Europe in 2025.
Defra’s approach to foot and mouth disease (FMD) control is set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England.Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) keep preparedness under continual review but have refocused efforts following the recent outbreaks of FMD in mainland Europe. To this end, the FMD Control Strategy is being reviewed and will be published on GOV.UK in due course. The Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England is reviewed annually, and the next update is due to be laid before parliament in late autumn this year.APHA, which leads Government action on animal disease control in Great Britain, is in the planning stages of a national tier 2 exercise to test and validate our response to an outbreak of FMD, scheduled for late 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of foot and mouth disease outbreaks in Hungary, Slovakia and Germany in 2025.
Defra has closely monitored the 2025 foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Hungary, Slovakia, and Germany. Following Germany’s confirmed FMD case in January, its FMD-free status was temporarily suspended but reinstated by the World Organisation for Animal Health in April after swift containment. Hungary and Slovakia reported FMD outbreaks in March 2025, prompting immediate action. Defra assessed the risk of FMD entering Great Britain from these countries as medium, citing potential spread via wild animals and human activity. As a result, the UK imposed temporary import bans on live animals and certain products from affected regions. Defra also reinforced biosecurity messaging to livestock keepers and increased disease surveillance. To strengthen long-term resilience, the UK is investing £200 million into its animal health infrastructure, including Weybridge’s national reference laboratory. Defra continues to adapt its policies in response to developments and remains committed to protecting the UK’s biosecurity and livestock sector.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of a foot and mouth disease outbreak on the dairy sector.
The impacts of a reasonable worst-case scenario outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) were assessed in 2023 for the National Risk Register which is available on GOV.UK. These national risks are reviewed on a regular basis, taking into account new developments. Defra has robust contingency plans in place to manage the risk of FMD as set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England. Defra continues to adapt its policies in response to developments and remains committed to protecting the UK’s biosecurity and livestock sector. In response to the outbreaks of FMD in Europe, this includes working with Dairy UK to update the milk code of practice for FMD, which is a set of guidelines for milk hauliers, processors, and buyers to prevent the spread of FMD through milk and dairy products.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has produced a risk assessment in relation to the potential spread of foot and mouth by hostile actors.
Maintaining biosecurity is a key priority for the Government and biosecurity risks are assessed on a regular basis, including through the National Risk Register, to ensure preparedness plans align with the threat landscape. The Biological Security Strategy provides an effective framework to ensure UK resilience against a range of malicious and naturally occurring biosecurity risks. Defra possesses effective measures to detect new and emerging threats, including the incursion of FMD and actively works with other government departments and the sector through the Veterinary Risk Group (VRG) and the Human and Animal Infections Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) Group. Defra continues to adapt its policies as required and remains committed to protecting the UK’s biosecurity and livestock sector. Robust measures to maintain and improve Defra’s ability to understand, detect, prevent, respond and recover from foot and mouth disease outbreaks are set out in the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support dairy farmers in North Shropshire constituency.
This Government recognises that food security is national security, and that it requires a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports farmers. That is why we are introducing new deals for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security. Ensuring fairness in supply chains is key for UK dairy farmers in supporting the sustainability of the sector. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024 apply to new dairy contracts from 9 July 2024 and all dairy contracts from 9 July 2025. These regulations improve fairness and transparency, requiring clear terms on pricing, termination, and prohibiting unilateral changes.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment the potential merits of implementing recommendation 10a of the report by Policy Connect entitled Bricks and Mortar: flood and coastal erosion risk management policy for a new Government, published on 22 January 2025.
We thank Policy Connect for their report and will consider its findings as we continue to review our flood and coastal erosion policies. This work includes a review of the current floods funding formula, and we will be launching a consultation this spring. This will ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection, including consideration of alternative resilience approaches such as natural flood management and property flood resilience. The consultation will be open to everyone, and I welcome your, and your constituents’, participation. In January 2025 the Environment Agency commissioned an independent review of Property Flood Resilience. The review will identify current gaps and opportunities to grow the property flood resilience market, resulting in a new action plan for all relevant parties to take forward. Report due in Autumn 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's planned timeline is for bringing forward a consultation on the funding formula for allocation of money for new flood defences.
We have set out plans to consult on a new approach for floods investment. A consultation will be launched shortly which will include a review of the existing formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by Policy Connect entitled Bricks and Water: Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Policy for a New Government, published on 22 January 2025.
We thank Policy Connect for their report and will consider its findings as we continue to review our flood and coastal erosion policies. This work includes a review of the current floods funding formula, and we will be launching a consultation this spring. This will ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection, including consideration of alternative resilience approaches such as natural flood management and property flood resilience. The consultation will be open to everyone, and I welcome your, and your constituents’, participation. In January 2025 the Environment Agency commissioned an independent review of Property Flood Resilience. The review will identify current gaps and opportunities to grow the property flood resilience market, resulting in a new action plan for all relevant parties to take forward. Report due in Autumn 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2025 to Question 29014 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Written Questions, when he plans to respond to Question 24518 on Farming Recovery Fund, tabled on 16 January 2025 by the hon. Member for North Shropshire.
Question 24518 was answered on 4 March 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the reduction of the Rural England Prosperity Fund in the 2025-26 financial year on rural areas.
The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas. The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the government spending review.
Food and Rural Affairs, how the level of funding for the Rural England Prosperity Fund was decided for 2025-26.
The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas. The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the government spending review.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the readiness of businesses in the hospitality industry for the implementation of the mandatory separation of food waste from recycling from 31 March 2025.
We are working closely with industry partners such as UK Hospitality, the Hospitality Sector Council, and Food and Drink Federation to raise awareness of the requirements and understand the sector’s readiness, which has included hosting a sector specific webinar with the hospitality sector. Our understanding of readiness of the sector is also informed by ongoing discussions with the waste collection industry. Furthermore, we are actively responding to queries and publishing guidance in partnership with WRAP to further support the sector’s readiness.
Food and Rural Affairs, what limits his Department plans to set on effluent released into waste water from commercial food waste extraction and drying systems.
Trade effluent discharges to the public sewerage network are the responsibility of the discharging party to agree consent to discharge with the local sewerage undertaker. Under s.118 of the Water Industry Act 1991, the occupier of any trade premises in the area of a sewerage undertaker may discharge any trade effluent proceeding from those premises into the undertaker’s public sewers if they do so with the undertaker’s consent. Under s.121 of the Act, the sewerage undertaker may place conditions on the consent to discharge Disposal of food waste to landfill or into the sewer system (even if pre-treated) should only be carried out as a last resort in accordance with the food and drink waste hierarchy. Any additional food waste that is not disposed of on-site must be collected separately for recycling as per the Simpler Recycling requirements. Defra has commissioned research into the various technologies that treat and discharge food waste to sewer to better understand their respective environmental impacts.
Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using grass pasture for carbon storage.
Defra is informed by work in its advisory bodies on this topic. Natural England produced an assessment of carbon storage by different habitats in 2021 and found that old species-rich grasslands with minimal inputs can store significant amounts of carbon. There are many factors that influence the amount of carbon storage including historical management, grassland types, soil types and climate. In view of ongoing uncertainties, Defra is funding ongoing research on carbon in grasslands within the Nature Returns programme (https://www.kew.org/science/nature-returns). The role of grazing and fertiliser inputs also needs to be taken into account in assessing the value of pasture as carbon stores. The most recent report of the Climate Change Committee (The Seventh Carbon Budget Advice for the UK Government, 2025) addressed this. It reports that ‘nearly two-thirds (63%) of agricultural emissions (and all agricultural methane emissions) in 2022 were directly emitted from livestock, with 49% from the digestive process (enteric fermentation) of cattle and sheep and 14% from the management of livestock waste and manure. Agricultural soils, mainly from the application of organic and chemical fertiliser onto grassland and cropland, accounted for a further 24%’. References & Reports Natural England (2021) Carbon Storage and Sequestration by Habitat 2021 (NERR094)https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5419124441481216 Climate Change Committee (2025). The Seventh Carbon Budget. Advice for the UK Governmenthttps://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/The-Seventh-Carbon-Budget.pdf