Written questions by Riddell-Carpenter.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline is for the roll-out of the new pet passport scheme.

We have agreed to establish a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Zone, which will mean taking pets on holiday into the EU will be easier and cheaper. Instead of getting an animal health certificate each time you travel, you will be able to get a multiuse pet passport valid for travel to the EU. It’s important that we get the right agreement for the UK, so we’re not putting an arbitrary deadline on negotiations. We will provide more information on pet passports valid for travel to the EU in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing an accessible food labelling system to improve transparency.

The availability and accessibility of essential food information to all consumers is vitally important. It is already a requirement that mandatory food information must be easily visible, clearly legible and where appropriate indelible, in addition to there being a required minimum font size for mandatory information. We are aware of moves by some retailers to provide information on food in braille format, and the government is interested in seeing how this works.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to (a) improve responsible access to nature and (b) increase the right to roam.

Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride and boost public health and wellbeing, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We are continuing to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, for example through our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests, and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy. In addition, the Government has made the decision to repeal the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way, preventing the loss of hundreds of miles of unregistered paths. This will ensure that these paths remain available to the public for future generations.

Food and Rural Affairs, when the Improving Farm Productivity solar grant will be made available for farmers.

We are committed to supporting all farming sectors to increase levels of productivity whilst increasing their sustainability and resilience. We are looking carefully at how to position further investment and support to enable the delivery of this Government's objectives. We plan to simplify and rationalise our grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. We will confirm any future grant rounds in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to review the current Shoreline Management Plans.

Protecting all communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities. This Government set up the first ever Floods Resilience Taskforce, on 12th September. The Taskforce marks a new approach to preparing for flooding, and working between national, regional and local government. As announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the Government will invest £2.4 billion over two years to improve flood resilience and better protect communities across the country, including from coastal erosion. Shoreline Management Plans are developed and owned by the local councils and coastal protection authorities. These provide long-term strategic plans which identify approaches for managing the flood and coastal erosion risks at every stretch of coastline. Shoreline Management Plans have recently been refreshed with updated action plans. This follows several years of collaborative work between the Environment Agency and coastal groups.