Written questions by Moore.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential contribution of black soldier fly bioconversion to delivering the Environmental Improvement Plan’s objectives on circular economy and landfill reduction, the implementation of Simpler Recycling for food waste, and the National Planning Policy Framework’s aims for farm diversification and rural economic growth; what evidence underpins the classification of black soldier fly insects kept solely for organic waste bioconversion as farmed animals under the Animal By-Products Regulations; and whether the Department has considered alternative regulatory classifications for such systems where the insects and their outputs are not intended to enter the human or animal food chain.

We are committed to ending the throwaway society, boosting recycling rates which have stalled for too long, and driving growth through the Government’s Plan for Change. There are no current plans to review regulations that restrict insects from being used to process organic waste streams. Our waste management regulations also play a crucial role in protecting UK biosecurity and reducing the risk of disease. Defra commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment to assess the sustainability of insect protein compared to other animal feeds. This research also considered the use of food waste as a substrate for the insect larvae, although not the extent to which this would contribute to food waste diversion from landfill. Black soldier fly is in scope of the animal by-products (ABP) regulations as a farmed animal when reared for food or feed production, or when deceased. It then becomes Category 3 ABP, which is defined as low-risk material, provided it came from healthy animals. Controls are required for the prohibition on feeding catering waste to farmed animals as well as handling, processing, and permitted uses of Cat 3 material.

Whether, as part of Recommendation 2 of the Casey Audit, the Cabinet Office has yet issued a formal instruction or preservation notice requiring the retention of records relevant to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.

In her Audit, Baroness Casey made clear that local authorities, police forces and other relevant agencies should be required not to destroy any relevant records, and we expect this to be the case. The Home Office has made the requirement clear to departments across government with responsibility for relevant agencies. The Terms of Reference for the inquiry, once established and agreed with the Chair, will set the scope of the inquiry in more detail, at which point a more detailed request for the retention of records can be made.

What plans he has to include mirror clauses in future trade agreements for agricultural products.

The government will continue to seek fair and balanced trade deals which include new export opportunities to grow the UK’s world class agri-food and drinks sector.We recognise concerns about production methods that are not permitted in the UK. While production practices differ internationally due to climate, disease pressures, and other local factors, we will always consider whether such differences create an unfair advantage and any resulting impacts.We will always maintain UK levels of statutory protection in relation to human, animal or plant life or health, animal welfare, and the environment.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has modelled the cumulative impact on domestic egg production profits margins of permitting egg imports that do not face equivalent (a) animal welfare and (b) food safety costs.

The UK imports a small proportion of its annual supply of eggs, to meet domestic demand. The Government consistently considers the impact of imports on the UK market from all countries. As set out in the UK’s Trade Strategy, the Government will not lower food standards and will uphold high animal welfare standards. The Government recognise concerns about methods of production, such as battery cages, which are not permitted in the UK. While methods vary in line with different climates, diseases, and other contextual reasons, the department will always consider whether overseas producers have an unfair advantage and any impact that may have. Where necessary, the department will be prepared to use the full range of powers at our disposal to protect our most sensitive sectors including permanent quotas, exclusions, and safeguards.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of extending tariff-free access for Ukrainian eggs on the level of domestic food security.

Under our Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine, tariffs on all goods are temporarily removed until March 2029, except for poultry and eggs, where the liberalisation is due to end on 31 March 2026. Ukrainian imports of poultry and eggs currently constitute a small proportion of the UK’s total imports of these products. The Government consistently considers the views of industry and impact of imports on the UK market from all countries, including from Ukraine. The department will continue to take these views into account as part of our policy development process.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of permitting eggs imports from barren battery cage systems on the viability of the domestic egg production chain.

The UK imports a small proportion of its annual supply of eggs, to meet domestic demand. The Government consistently considers the impact of imports on the UK market from all countries, including on domestic egg production chain. The department will continue to take account of UK imports as part of our continued monitoring of the egg production chain.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress his Department has made on implementing recommendation three.

It is horrific that any person was convicted as a child for loitering and soliciting for prostitution. The Government has announced immediate steps to disregard such convictions.Also, my officials are working with the Criminal Cases Review Commission to ensure they are properly resourced to review the applications of the wider cohort of victims of child sexual exploitation who believe they were unjustly convicted when their position as a victim was not properly understood.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress her Department has made on implementing recommendation seven.

The Home Office has been working closely with the Department for Education to understand how the proposed Unique Identifier will operate in order to plan for upgrades to police IT systems.In June we conducted a Preliminary Market Engagement to understand how the market could support the need to better integrate data across policing. We are currently evaluating those responses against the existing policing landscape to determine the best way forwards.We also awarded a contract to deliver a Police Technology Strategy and Roadmap.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress her Department has made on implementing recommendation nine.

Baroness Casey’s Audit into Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse highlighted a decline in child sexual abuse and exploitation within the department’s children in need data, which is published annually. We are undertaking work to better understand how children who experience child sexual abuse and exploitation are represented in both child in need assessment data and child protection data and will publish analysis by the end of the year.This will include analysis of demographics, outcomes, trends, local area variation over time and analysis of serious incident notifications.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress she has made on implementing recommendation 11.

The Department for Transport will legislate to address the important issues raised in the report, tackling the inconsistent standards of taxi and private hire vehicle driver licensing. We are considering all options – including out of area working, national standards and enforcement – seeking the best overall outcomes for passenger safety. Careful consideration of the options is needed as we do not want any change to decrease the availability of highly vetted licensed drivers and vehicles and inadvertently increase the use of those offering illegal services that evade these licensing checks.We intend to consult shortly on making all local transport authorities responsible for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing. Administering taxi and private hire vehicle licensing over larger areas could greatly increase consistency in standards across England, reduce out-of-area working and result in a better match between licensing revenue and compliance and enforcement burdens.We are also reviewing licensing authorities' compliance with existing DfT guidance and considering how the statutory guidance can be strengthened to further protect the public. As part of this work, all licensing authorities in England have reported that they require the highest level of criminal background checks for taxi and PHV driver licence applicants – an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check with a check of the children’s and adults’ barred lists. Where other recommendations are not being followed, particularly those linked to safeguarding, we intend to hold authorities to account.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress she has made on implementing recommendation 5.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduces a new duty for statutory safeguarding partners and other bodies to share information for the purposes of safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children, including from child sexual abuse and exploitation. This new duty is designed to complement the mandatory reporting duty set out in the Crime and Policing Bill. Together, these measures ensure that once a disclosure is made, the relevant information is not only received but is shared swiftly and appropriately with the bodies best placed to protect the child. In the ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published in April, the department set out that we would consult on a roadmap to a Child Protection Authority by the end of this year.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress his Department has made on implementing recommendation 1.

The Government accepted recommendation 1 of the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. We are committed to changing the law and we are aware of the need for urgency. This is a complex area of law and we are carefully considering how we change it to best meet the commitment. We will update Parliament soon about our proposed approach, including when we intend to legislate.

With reference to the National Audit on Group-Based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, published in June 2025, what progress she has made on implementing recommendation 4.

The government has committed to make it a requirement for the police to collect ethnicity and nationality data of perpetrators of group-based child sexual exploitation. This data is vital in enabling us to develop the most accurate and robust picture of the nature of this offending.In July this year, the former Home Secretary wrote to all Chief Constables to set out the clear expectation that ethnicity data on grooming gang suspects should be collected in every case, and to urge them to make sure they are fulfilling their obligation to collect suspect ethnicity data as part of the government's commitment to transparency and accountability. The Home Office is closely monitoring data collection and provision from forces, and continues to engage with individual forces on where improvements are required.If we do not see improvements, we will not hesitate to put this requirement into legislation.

Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects to receive the final report of the Farming Profitability Review from Baroness Batters; and what her planned timetable is for publishing (a) the report and (b) the Government's response.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, the recommendations of the Farming Profitability Review will inform Defra policy including the Farming Roadmap, Food Strategy and Land-use Framework.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to reopen the Sustainable Farming Incentive programme for new applications; and whether she will ensure that farmers do not go a full year without access to the programme.

Defra is working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that will better target SFI in an orderly way towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. Further information about the reformed SFI will be provided shortly.

Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for opening the next application round for (a) Capital Grants, (b) the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, (c) the Farming Innovation Programme's Farming Futures R&D competition and (d) the Improving Farm Productivity Grant.

As of 1 August, strong demand for the Government’s £150 million Capital Grant offer means that all available funds for this round have now been allocated. We plan to make further improvements to the offer for future rounds. We expect to open a new round for farmers to secure more funding during 2026. Other Countryside Stewardship capital grants which remain open for applications now are Woodland Tree Health grants, Capital grant plans, woodland management plans, Protection and Infrastructure grants and Higher Tier capital grants. We continue to work to simplify and rationalise our wider capital grant funding from 2026 onwards. We want to ensure our grants are targeted towards those who need them most and where they can deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. We also welcome the announcement within the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy to allocate at least £200 million to the Farming Innovation Programme up to 2030 which will offer continued targeted funding to drive innovation in agriculture.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support young farmers.

Encouraging more young people into farming and land-based careers is vital to ensure a skilled workforce is in place and the longer-term viability of the sector. Defra works closely with The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH) which is encouraging young people and new entrants into farming in its capacity as an industry led professional body for the farming industry. This includes leading a cross-industry initiative to address common negative misconceptions about the sector and providing free TIAH membership for students. Furthermore, the Government has launched Skills England to ensure there is a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications for individuals and employers to access, which are aligned with skills gaps and what employers need. It will work with its partners to ensure that regional and national skills needs are met.

Food and Rural Affairs, to which organisations his Department has allocated discretionary grants for the 2026-27 financial year.

We have allocated discretionary grants to a wide range of organisations for 2026/27.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for implementing the proposed reforms to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013.

The Government announced reforms to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013 on 12 March 2025 following a public consultation. In this, we outlined plans for three core reforms, nine technical amendments, and two wider reforms to the bathing water Regulations. A Statutory Instrument is being prepared to implement the core and technical reforms, including removing automatic de-designation, assessing feasibility of improving water quality to ‘sufficient’ for designation, and removing fixed bathing season dates from the Regulations. We have also begun policy development and research for the wider reforms: expanding the definition of ‘bathers’ and introducing multiple monitoring points to assess water quality. We will work closely with stakeholders to shape our approach, and a timetable for implementation will be planned for this next piece of work in due course.

Whether her Department plans to increase capacity for housing asylum seekers within the Bradford Council district.

When this Government came to office, we inherited a system where hotels had become one of the primary means of providing asylum accommodation – with more than 400 in use in Autumn 2023 at a cost of almost £9 million per day – and where a 70 per cent collapse in asylum decision-making in the last months of the previous administration had driven that pressure up further.We have taken rapid action to address that chaos, in particular by speeding up the volume of asylum decision-making so that fewer people are stuck in limbo, dependent on support from the state, and so that more failed asylum-seekers can be removed from the UK, along with foreign national offenders and others with no right to be in our country.The number of hotels in use is now around half the peak reached under the previous Government, and we will take further action over the rest of this Parliament to end the use of asylum hotels entirely.We are continuing to work with a range of stakeholders to pursue that goal, while fulfilling our statutory obligations in the interim. Where the Home Office needs to use dispersed accommodation, it does so in accordance with the principle of Full Dispersal, announced by the previous government in 2022 to ensure that asylum seekers were more fairly distributed across the UK.We also continue to consult with local authorities, the police, and other interested parties to ensure that – wherever there are concerns over the impact of particular asylum accommodation sites on the local community, public safety and public amenities – all necessary actions are taken to address those concerns, and protect the security of each local area.