Written questions by Shannon.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Official Controls Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on trends in the level of trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Northern Ireland goods move freely to Great Britain and are unaffected by regulation 2017/625. Regulation 2017/625 is explicitly disapplied for goods moved via the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the number of dairy farmers in the last ten years.

Information relating to the question on the number of UK dairy producers can be found publicly available here: (Livestock populations in the UK, Latest UK milk prices and composition of milk, Structure of the agricultural industry in England and the UK at June, Results by size of Farm in the UK) From 2021 to 2023, data on the milk production-to-supply ratio showed a stable trend, consistently remaining at 105%. This indicates the UK produces a milk surplus, exceeding domestic consumption needs. The production-to-supply ratio is generally understood as a broad measure of national self-sufficiency, indicating the ability of UK agriculture to meet consumer demand. We lack detailed farm type and labour data for the UK, however, hold this for England. While not all dairy herds are on these holdings, the majority are. Over the last decade (2014 – 2023), the number of dairy farm holdings in England decreased by 24%, while the number of agricultural workers on holdings classified as dairy farm type decreased by 15%. Although production of milk in the UK has increased in the last decade, the number of UK producers and employment on English dairy farms has fallen. Defra Officials Statistics: Agriculture in the UK 2023 Chapter 14: The food chain Defra Officials Statistics: Numbers of holdings and agricultural activity by farm type at 1 June each year in England

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the condition of water supplied by Thames Water.

Drinking Water quality in England is regulated through the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations. The Drinking Water Inspectorate is the enforcing regulator. The Regulations require a programme of random samples to be taken from consumers’ taps, and the results are reported to the Inspectorate. Any breaches are investigated by the company and assessed by the Inspectorate and enforcement action taken as appropriate. Thames is required to notify the Inspectorate of any unusual event which could be a risk to consumers - each event is investigated by the Inspectorate, and enforcement action taken as required. The Inspectorate assessed 61 events reported by Thames Water in 2024. Thames Water adopts a water safety planning approach to drinking water, in line with the WHO recommendations. This ensures risks are identified and mitigated before there is any impact on consumers. In 2024, the Inspectorate completed technical audits at seven sites and conducted a further desktop audit of bespoke network assets. There are currently 26 improvement notices issued by the Inspectorate to improve water quality across Thames’ asset base.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the outbreak of TB in Northern Irish farms.

Policy on bovine tuberculosis (TB) is devolved to Governments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Administration is able to adopt specific animal health policies in certain cases which are different from the other UK Administrations, in order to achieve the aim of bovine TB eradication in Northern Ireland. Defra liaises closely with all three devolved administrations, including Northern Ireland, on matters of common interest. It is important that all four administrations can learn from our collective experiences, and we have effective arrangements in place to make sure that happens.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the safety of zoos.

The Secretary of State’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice (the Zoo Standards) set out, amongst other things, requirements which licensed zoos in England are expected to meet with regard to public and animal safety. Defra is currently working to update the Zoo Standards, including considering updates to public safety requirements. Updated Zoo Standards will be published shortly. Zoos must also comply with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 which ensures the safety of staff. The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) also publish Health & Safety Guidelines for Zoos & Aquariums which focus on the health and safety of employers, employees and the public within zoos.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of income for farmers in 2024.

The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years, including £2.4 billion in 2025/26. We publish regular accredited official statistics on farm income in England and other data related to farm businesses. For example, on 14 November 2024, we published our Farm Business Income statistics (Farm business income - GOV.UK), which looked at how Farm Business Income has changed in 2023/24, including the contribution of Direct Payments and agri-environment payments to farm incomes and analysis by farm type. Farm Business Income has seen substantial year-on-year fluctuations over the past 15 years driven by a multitude of factors which include weather and market fluctuations. For most farm types, Farm Business Income in 2023/24 saw very large falls relative to exceptional highs in 2022/23. At the all-farm level and a longer-term view, the average Farm Business Income of approximately £82,000 for the agricultural transition (2021/22-2023/24) remains above the pre-transition average of approximately £58,000 (2018/19-2020/21). Further, farming evidence packs have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance (Farming statistics evidence packs - GOV.UK). These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK, and the contribution of farm payments to farm incomes, including analysis by sector, location in England and type of land tenure. The Secretary of State discussed the department’s approach to the problem of low farming income across Britain at the Oxford Farming Conference on 9 January, and his full remarks can be found here. We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of avian flu across the UK in the last 12 months.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) lead Government action on animal disease control in Great Britain and Northern Ireland respectively. This includes carrying out routine surveillance of disease risks in the UK and globally. As part of this work, assessments of risk from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to both wild birds and poultry and how those risks are changing seasonally are made and published on gov.uk and daera-ni.gov.uk. To support these assessments, the International and National Reference Laboratory for avian influenza at APHA Weybridge work closely with international colleagues to monitor for any changes in the strains circulating or changes in viral sequences indicative of adaptation. In the last 12 months, two strains of HPAI (H5N5 and H5N1) have been confirmed in commercial poultry in the UK. This was not unexpected and follows recent detections of both strains in continental Europe and detections in wild birds in Great Britain through the wild bird surveillance scheme. However, the number of findings of HPAI in wild birds and the number of cases confirmed in kept birds remain far lower than in previous years.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of job security in rural areas.

Rural policy is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The UK Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas. To achieve this, we are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of policymaking including in the government’s economic growth agenda. Defra has a team dedicated to developing the evidence base on rural areas. It publishes the Statistical Digest for Rural England to provide up-to-date analysis across a wide range of subjects including information on employment and redundancy rates in rural areas. In Q2 2024, the percentage of working-age people (16-64) in employment was 79.1% in Rural areas and 73.9% in Urban areas. Redundancy rates in England have fluctuated over time, although both Rural and Urban areas have shown an overall decrease in redundancies over the period 2007 to 2024 (falls of 2.5 and 2.3 redundancies per 1,000 employees respectively). In Q2 2024 redundancy rates were lower in Rural areas than in Urban areas, at 3.8 and 4.0 redundancies per 1,000 employees respectively.

Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on how many registered farmers there are in each constituency in Northern Ireland.

This is a devolved matter and the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of local authorities charging homeowners to dispose of garden waste.

Local authorities have had the option to charge for a garden waste collection since 1992, as per the Controlled Waste (England & Wales) Regulations [2012]. As stated in our most recently published Final Impact Assessment for Simpler Recycling, around 65% of local authorities charged for garden waste collections in 2018/19. In 2021, the Government consulted on introducing free garden waste collections for all households in England. We explored the impact of this policy in our Final Impact Assessment which included evidence that the average garden waste yield for local authorities who provide a charged service is lower when compared to yields associated with a free service. However, the impact assessment identified that overall, there was not a sufficient economic or environmental case to require local authorities to offer a free garden waste collection service. Officials are working with WRAP to develop guidance on what is a reasonable charge for garden waste collection and will continue to review the evidence on uptake on garden waste services.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on tackling fly tipping.

I have not discussed fly-tipping specifically with the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland. Environmental policy making, including with respect to fly-tipping, is devolved. The Secretary of State chaired the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in September 2024 which the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs attended. The group discussed reducing waste and pollution.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the implementation of sustainable drainage systems to reduce flood risk.

The Government is committed to improving the implementation of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) to help mitigate flood risk and reduce the quantity of water that ends up in our drainage infrastructure. SuDS also provide filtration, amenity and biodiversity benefits. The current implementation route for SuDS in new developments is via the National Planning Policy Framework, see paragraphs 173 and 175. We believe that stronger SuDS outcomes can be achieved through either improving the current planning led approach using powers now available or commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. It is also important to ensure that appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place. To help inform thinking, the Government asked a question on flooding in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation that concluded in September 2024. A response will be published by the end of the year.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Northern Ireland Water on water quality in Northern Ireland.

Water is a devolved policy area and so engagement with Northern Ireland Water is a matter for Northern Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of recent rends in the level of butterfly numbers, in the context of the results from the recent Big Butterfly Count 2024.

The recently published Butterflies in the United Kingdom and in England: 2023 provides statistics on UK butterfly abundance and includes an assessment of population trends for different groups of species, and habitat type as well as the major drivers of decline. The detailed report is published on GOV.UK (Butterflies in the United Kingdom and in England: 2023 - GOV.UK). It contains data up to and including 2023; robust data for estimates of change in abundance of butterflies for 2024 will be available to Defra in summer 2025. In summary, on average the abundance of butterflies across the UK continues to show a long-term decline. This is due to a range of factors including weather patterns, habitat loss, pollution and the use of pesticides.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of salmon stocks in the last 12 months.

The latest assessment of Atlantic salmon stocks in England and Wales, produced by the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Centre for Fisheries, Environment and Aquaculture was published on 7 October and can be found here.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on changes in the level of rural crime in Northern Ireland.

There is regular engagement with the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland on a range of issues and we will explore opportunities to discuss this shared challenge and options for future collaboration.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions on using farm effluage and sewage for anaerobic digestion instead of importing wood chippings as biomass.

There are anaerobic digestion plants across the UK that generate electricity through the combustion of biogas produced through the breakdown of sewage or agricultural waste. Biomass generators, in contrast, generate electricity through the combustion of solid fuel. As biomass is a different type of technology, it uses different types of feedstock. In general, sewage cannot substitute for solid biomass fuel.