Written questions by Naish.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure that food producers are not undercut by imports produced to lower standards.

The Government shares the public’s high regard for the UK’s environmental protections, food standards and animal welfare. We recognise farmers’ concerns about imports produced using methods not permitted in the UK. We have been clear that we will use our Trade Strategy to promote the highest food production standards. We will protect farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of veterinary professionals in the farming sector; and what plans he has to reform the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 to enable more use of paraprofessionals.

Defra is exploring various avenues to improve the short- and long-term capacity issues in the veterinary sector. We have engagement with the veterinary profession and other relevant stakeholders, including veterinary schools and government organisations to work together to find sustainable solutions, ensuring the ongoing provision of high-quality veterinary surgeons both in the private and public sectors. The Government is also engaged with the veterinary profession and stakeholders to review opportunities for reform of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 (VSA), including the role of allied professionals.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ringfencing funding for local authorities from planning fees for (a) monitoring and (b) enforcing on-site biodiversity net gain.

The Government has provided over £35 million of new burdens funding to Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), county councils and combined authorities thus far to help them implement mandatory biodiversity net gain (BNG). The uses to which the funding can be put are broad and there is no definitive list as requirements will differ across authorities. Some of this funding may be used for monitoring and enforcement responsibilities, including for ‘on-site’ BNG requirements. Decisions on any further funding are subject to the outcome of the spending review. All significant on-site BNG must be legally secured by a planning condition, planning obligation or conservation covenant for 30 years. If a developer does not meet BNG requirements they may be in breach of the planning condition or legal agreement, and the LPA has a range of planning enforcement powers and may take enforcement action. Where significant on-site gains are secured by a conservation covenant, the responsible body is responsible for enforcing the agreement.

Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) resources, (b) mechanisms and (c) funding his Department plans to make available to enable effective (i) monitoring and (ii) enforcement of on-site biodiversity net gain.

The Government has provided over £35 million of new burdens funding to Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), county councils and combined authorities thus far to help them implement mandatory biodiversity net gain (BNG). The uses to which the funding can be put are broad and there is no definitive list as requirements will differ across authorities. Some of this funding may be used for monitoring and enforcement responsibilities, including for ‘on-site’ BNG requirements. Decisions on any further funding are subject to the outcome of the spending review. All significant on-site BNG must be legally secured by a planning condition, planning obligation or conservation covenant for 30 years. If a developer does not meet BNG requirements they may be in breach of the planning condition or legal agreement, and the LPA has a range of planning enforcement powers and may take enforcement action. Where significant on-site gains are secured by a conservation covenant, the responsible body is responsible for enforcing the agreement.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure on-site biodiversity net gains offsets are (a) formally registered and (b) adequately monitored.

The Government has provided over £35 million of new burdens funding to Local Planning Authorities (LPAs), county councils and combined authorities thus far to help them implement mandatory biodiversity net gain (BNG). The uses to which the funding can be put are broad and there is no definitive list as requirements will differ across authorities. Some of this funding may be used for monitoring and enforcement responsibilities, including for ‘on-site’ BNG requirements. Decisions on any further funding are subject to the outcome of the spending review. All significant on-site BNG must be legally secured by a planning condition, planning obligation or conservation covenant for 30 years. If a developer does not meet BNG requirements they may be in breach of the planning condition or legal agreement, and the LPA has a range of planning enforcement powers and may take enforcement action. Where significant on-site gains are secured by a conservation covenant, the responsible body is responsible for enforcing the agreement.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his speech at the NFU conference on 25 February 2025, whether the requirement for government catering contracts to favour high-welfare products will be determined with reference to the highest welfare tiers set out in his Department's proposed animal welfare label in the Fairer Food Labelling consultation which closed in May 2024.

The National Procurement Policy Statement underscores the Government's commitment to increasing the procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards, supporting local suppliers and upholding ethical sourcing practises across public sector contracts. This includes sourcing products from all farmed animals which have been raised to high UK welfare standards as defined in current animal welfare legislation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to tackle (a) wildlife crime, (b) hare coursing and (c) badger baiting.

Wildlife crime is unacceptable. Defra is providing £424,000 for the National Wildlife Crime (NWCU) in 2025-2026. The NWCU helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats and assisting law enforcers with investigations. This government recognises the importance of tackling rural crimes such as hare coursing. A package of measures introduced in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 broadened the circumstances in which police can investigate and bring charges for hare coursing-related activity. This legislation, as well as improved police tactics, intelligence and information sharing and the use of community protection notices and criminal behaviour orders appears to be having an impact on reducing hare coursing offences. Badger persecution is one of the seven UK wildlife crime priorities. A police-led Badger Persecution Priority Delivery Group works to tackle horrific criminal offences like badger baiting. Anyone found guilty of these activities should be subject to the full force of the law. The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provide protection against certain methods of killing, injuring, or taking of badgers, or interference with their setts.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Animal Welfare Committee’s December 2024 report recommendation to ban any further deliberate breeding of domestic cats with any non-domestic felid species.

The Government welcomes the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of current and emergent feline breeding practices. We are carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure that sugar beet growers receive an adequate price for their product.

The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers who are vital to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production. We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.

Food and Rural Affairs, when the last time was that Animal and Plant Health Agency IT systems were upgraded.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has a wide range of applications and IT systems all of which require maintenance, update, and refresh As these activities are regular and carried out independently per system, each year work is continually undertaken to assess and then either remediate, modernise or replace IT systems The level of development undertaken depends on several factors including government investment during a Spending Review period, evidence from formal IT Health Checks and an assessment of the level of risk held within the IT estate Defra has different programmes underway which invest in the APHA's IT estate, including the Legacy Application Programme and the APHA's Delivering Sustainable Futures programme. The Delivering Sustainable Futures programme seeks to enhance the APHA's IT estate by developing modern, stable, lower cost and more interoperable IT architecture.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of (a) veterinarians, (b) veterinary technicians and (c) other veterinary experts to manage potential future outbreaks of foot and mouth disease.

Defra and APHA appreciates the incredibly valuable work completed by veterinarians, technicians, and support staff, recognising their essential roles in achieving our ambitious goals of upholding high standards of animal welfare, supporting trade, and safeguarding public health and food security. The Government acknowledges the high demand for veterinary services and is working collaboratively across departments and with the profession to explore additional measures that will ensure sufficient staffing levels to support and sustain the sector effectively during times of disease outbreaks.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Animal and Plant Health Agency has carried out scenario planning for potential (a) outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and (b) other significant biosecurity breaches.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) scenario modelling has been completed, and initial outputs received. A report is being drafted with the deadline being end of March. APHA is undertaking assessments in relation to other diseases including ASF. FMD scenario modelling has been carried out multiple times, for such reasons as Contingency Exercises (Exercise Rowan) and to support development of livestock traceability systems. The majority of APHA exercises are based around a plausible scenario, developed from expert opinion, and/or demonstrated incursion, and/or simulation model. Scenarios are designed to reflect plausible, whilst testing, conditions. APHA have carried out assessments of the risk of incursion of FMD from the continent and publish these via GOV.UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the capability of the Animal and Plant Health Agency IT equipment.

The APHA and Defra leadership teams have benefited from internal audits undertaken each year which look at issues including spend, governance, resilience, cyber security, and asset management. Additional insight into the need for investment in the APHA's IT capability has also come from 3 recent Government Internal Audit Agency audits on; Disaster Recovery, Cyber Security and a more targeted APHA Shadow IT Audit.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has in place to ensure that urgent biosecurity information reaches farmers quickly.

Biosecurity is a priority for this government. Urgent biosecurity information, such as alerts about animal and plant health disease incidents, any geographic restrictions in place as a result, and signposting to information on what farmers should do to maintain good biosecurity measures – are shared frequently across the sector. During the current bluetongue virus outbreak, text messages and email alerts are regularly sent to those registered via livestock keeper databases so that they are aware of their responsibilities. We have made bird registration mandatory for those with poultry or other captive birds, so that we can inform them of the biosecurity risks, for example from Avian Influenza. We maintain continued communications through our industry partners, on gov.uk, social media and, where possible, through the national and trade press, to increase awareness and action to help protect the UK from biosecurity risks.

Food and Rural Affairs, what role he envisages community and voluntary organisations such as community gardens playing in the food system going forwards; and whether funding is available for existing community and voluntary organisations for this purpose.

The Government will be considering the role of place-based initiatives, including the role of community and voluntary organisations, as we develop our plans for a food strategy that will create a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system. The development of a food system strategy, in partnership with the food sector itself, sets out to map the system-change that is needed. It is too early to list confirmed actions or activities, and therefore funding decisions.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many veterinarians or veterinary experts were employed by Animal and Plant Health Agency in each of the last five years.

The following table shows the number of veterinary roles in the Animal and Plant Health Agency in England, Scotland and Wales. These include veterinary roles in science, field and service delivery, and veterinary advice. Year (January)Number of veterinary staff in APHA20253462024337202332620223162021367

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the readiness of UK agencies to respond in the event of a Foot and Mouth outbreak.

All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease. The framework for this is set out in the Contingency plan for exotic notifiable diseases of animals in England, supported by the Foot and Mouth Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain. Current Government policy reflects our experience of responding to past outbreaks of exotic animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control. The Animal and Plant Health Agency, APHA, leads government action on animal disease control and has outbreak response plans in place. When outbreaks of FMD or other exotic notifiable disease occur Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) stand up their well-established outbreak structures to control and eradicate disease, restore normal trade, and assist local communities’ recovery. These include measures to contract companies to support eradication and provide additional veterinary capacity. Response times are kept under regular review, and APHA is in the planning stages of a national exercise to test and validate our response to an outbreak of FMD, scheduled for 2025/26.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of necessary vaccinations to support the government’s commitments regarding biosecurity and animal health.

Defra is aware that the new government has inherited ongoing issues with the availability of some veterinary vaccines, and concerns regarding potential detrimental impacts on animal health and welfare. In the short term, Defra helps facilitate the use of alternative products via a special imports scheme that enables vets to access vaccines authorised outside of the UK. Defra held a roundtable with the pharmaceutical industry and stakeholders on 11 February 2025 where it was announced that work with wider stakeholders to develop and publish an action plan will be prioritised and launched this year. This is supported by Baroness Hayman, who is keen that the UK becomes a global leader in veterinary vaccines.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason 31 councils were granted Transitional Provisions under The Environment Act 2021 (Commencement No. 9 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024.

We have set out that every local authority will be required to collect food waste for recycling by 31 March 2026. In some exceptional circumstances, certain local authorities may need longer to implement separate food waste collections for households due to long-term waste disposal contracts that run beyond 31 March 2026. We engaged extensively with affected local authorities and required that they provide evidence that their waste disposal contract presents an unavoidable barrier to the introduction of food waste collections by 31 March 2026. We will continue to work with local authorities to identify whether they can bring forward food waste collections and the associated benefits before the end of their transitional arrangement.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the provisions of the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 forbidding the handling of chickens by their legs on farms and during transportation and loading are followed.

The Government is firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and wants to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. Having reviewed the advice and recommendations in the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on the welfare implications of different methods and systems for the catching, carrying, collecting and loading of poultry, the Government is considering next steps and will announce these in due course.