theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_192

Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will review eligibility rules to allow grandparents to take out share based ISAs for grandchildren. \p Emma Reynolds: To ensure that the Junior Individual Savings Accounts (JISA) regime remains simple and sustainable, HMRC specify who can open and manage an account to prevent more than one JISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error. It also ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Given the nature of the role, the ISA rules require this to be someone with parental responsibility for the child. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild but can add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year.

The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Noah Law:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that banks are applying (a) Know Your Customer and (b) other compliance checks transparently for humanitarian charities operating in vulnerable countries. \p Emma Reynolds: Banks are required to apply ‘know your customer’ and other checks to mitigate the risk that banks accounts may be used for money laundering or terrorist financing. The Treasury works closely with the Financial Conduct Authority and industry groups such as UK Finance to ensure that financial crime controls are applied proportionately and on a risk-sensitive basis.

The Treasury and the Home Office are currently updating the National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (NRA). This sets out the latest assessment of threats, including in relation to the risks to which charitable organisations operating overseas may be exposed, to help regulated firms to take account of these risks when applying financial crime controls. The updated NRA will be published later this year.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many hereditaments are used for (a) distribution and (b) warehousing by Amazon in England and have a rateable value of £499,999 or below. \p James Murray: Due to legislation protecting taxpayer confidentiality, I am unable to disclose information about individual ratepayers or properties.

The Non Domestic Rating Lists are publicly available to view and can be searched by postcode and Special Category Code.

The Valuation Office Agency also publishes statistics on the Non Domestic Rating Stock of Properties on gov.uk.
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Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of applying a 10p increase in the business rate multiplier for all hereditaments in Greater London with a rateable value of £500,000 or more on business rate income in (a) the City of London and (b) each of the London boroughs in the (i) 2023-24, (ii) 2024-25 and (iii) 2025-26 financial year. \p James Murray: The Government will confirm the rates for the new multipliers at Budget 2025, taking account of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation as well as the broader economic and fiscal context.

Tax policy and legislation is not subject to the Better Regulation Framework Guidance which requires an Impact Assessment to accompany policy decisions.  Nevertheless, when the new multipliers are set at Budget 2025 – to take effect in the 2026-27 billing year – HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.
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Alex Burghart:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is her policy to implement in full all of the recommendations of the Bellamy Review of Criminal Legal Aid. \p Sarah Sackman: The previous Government commissioned the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), chaired by Lord Bellamy KC, to provide analysis of the criminal legal aid system and explore the ways in which the Government could ensure its long-term sustainability. This Government continues to keep the Review’s findings under consideration as we look at options for reform in the criminal legal aid sector.

For example, in November 2024, in response to the Crime Lower consultation, we announced fee uplifts totalling £24 million. That included £18.5 million to uplift police station fee schemes to begin the process of removing financial disparities between police station schemes to establish uniformity, meaning most police station fee schemes in the same region attract one fixed fee as recommended by CLAIR.

We also introduced a separate Youth Court fee scheme, responding to CLAIR’s recommendation for the importance of youth work to be reflected. We invested £5.1 million, enhancing fees for the most serious cases. This will help to reduce the disparity between the Youth and Crown Courts by prioritising cases that would be paid at the Crown Court rates if the defendant were an adult.

In December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system. This is in addition to the £24 million and will take the total uplift in funding for criminal legal aid solicitor fees since CLAIR to 24%.

The previous Government established the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board (CLAAB) in October 2022. This followed the CLAIR recommendation that an advisory board be created to encourage a more joined-up approach to criminal legal aid within the criminal justice system. CLAAB published its first annual report in November 2024 which the Government is considering and Ministers remain committed to working with the sector, including representatives from the solicitor and barrister professions, on further opportunities for reform.
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Laurence Turner:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2012 to Question 124834, on Criminal Injuries Compensation, if she will uprate the figures given in that Answer to 2024 prices. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The following table sets out the value of each of the tariff bands in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) along with how much each of the tariff bands would be worth in 2012 and 2024, if they had increased by the rate of inflation since 1996 using each of the indices (a) RPI and (b) CPI:

Band

Tariff amount [1996]

(a) Inflated amount (RPI) [2012]

(b) Inflated amount (CPI) [2012]

(a) Inflated amount (RPI) [2024]

(b) Inflated amount (CPI) [2024]

1

£1,000

£1,540

£1,358

£2,532

£1,946

2

£1,250

£1,925

£1,697

£3,166

£2,433

3

£1,500

£2,310

£2,036

£3,799

£2,919

4

£1,750

£2,695

£2,376

£4,432

£3,406

5

£2,000

£3,081

£2,715

£5,065

£3,892

6

£2,500

£3,851

£3,394

£6,331

£4,866

7

£3,300

£5,083

£4,480

£8,357

£6,423

8

£3,800

£5,853

£5,159

£9,623

£7,396

9

£4,400

£6,777

£5,973

£11,143

£8,563

10

£5,500

£8,472

£7,467

£13,928

£10,704

11

£6,600

£10,166

£8,960

£16,714

£12,845

12

£8,200

£12,630

£11,132

£20,766

£15,959

13

£11,000

£16,943

£14,933

£27,857

£21,408

14

£13,500

£20,794

£18,327

£34,188

£26,274

15

£16,500

£25,415

£22,400

£41,785

£32,113

16

£19,000

£29,265

£25,793

£48,116

£36,978

17

£22,000

£33,886

£29,866

£55,713

£42,817

18

£27,000

£41,587

£36,654

£68,375

£52,548

19

£33,000

£50,829

£44,799

£83,570

£64,225

20

£44,000

£67,772

£59,732

£111,426

£85,634

21

£55,000

£84,715

£74,665

£139,283

£107,042

22

£82,000

£126,303

£111,319

£207,658

£159,590

23

£110,000

£169,430

£149,330

£278,566

£214,084

24

£175,000

£269,548

£237,571

£443,173

£340,589

25

£250,000

£385,069

£339,387

£633,104

£486,555
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Laurence Turner:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funds have been raised through the victim surcharge in each year since its creation. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The surcharge (often referred to as the victim surcharge) was first introduced in April 2007 and changes were introduced on 1 October 2012, 1 September 2014, 8 April 2016, 28 June 2019, 14 April 2020 and then again on 16 June 2022.

When a court passes a sentence, it must also order that the relevant surcharge is paid. The amount of the surcharge depends on the sentence and whether at the time the offence was committed the offender was an adult or a youth (under 18 years of age), or if the offender is an organisation.

Revenue raised from the surcharge provides a contribution towards Ministry of Justice-funded victim and witness support services.

HMCTS accounts for the amount of victim surcharge imposed and collected in the annual HMCTS Trust Statement. The Trust Statement was introduced in 2010-11, prior to that the data was not collated centrally. The table below illustrates the amounts imposed and collected each year since April 2010. The amounts collected will include receipts for amounts imposed in prior years.

Financial Year

Victim Surcharge Imposed £000

Victim Surcharge collected £000

2010-11

12,552

10,516

2011-12

11,234

10,165

2012-13

14,331

10,518

2013-14

30,970

19,548

2014-15

35,203

24,569

2015-16

37,866

28,307

2016-17

44,785

31,029

2017-18

46,603

35,022

2018-19

45,521

33,529

2019-20

44,424

39,689

2020-21

36,647

35,039

2021-22

46,654

37,852

2022-23

65,270

41,314

2023-24

104,032

65,496
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Laurence Turner:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the expenditure of her Department's criminal injuries hardship fund has been in each year since its creation. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The below table shows the compensation spend under the Hardship Fund in each financial year. It does not include the running costs of the Hardship Fund. The Hardship Fund opened on 27 November 2012.

Financial Year

Amount Paid

2012/13

£883.03

2013/14

£1,116.05

2014/15

£1,475.85

2015/16

£312.68

2016/17

£313

2017/18

0

2018/19

0

2019/20

0

2020/21

0

2021/22

0

2022/23

0

2023/24

0
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time was between application to the Employment Tribunal and hearing in each of the last three years. \p Sarah Sackman: HM Courts and Tribunals Service does not hold the requested information.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when she expects the inquiry into Valdo Calocane to commence. \p Sarah Sackman: As previously stated by the Prime Minister, the Government is committed to establishing a judge-led inquiry in relation to the issues raised by the attacks in Nottingham. Work is underway to establish the Inquiry and Ministers will update Parliament on it in due course.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of migrants who arrived in the UK in the last five years who are not in education, employment or training in (a) the UK, (b) Leicestershire and (c) Mid Leicestershire constituency. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 6th February is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 112.3KB)
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Mr Mark Francois:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued on the disclosure of past earnings for members of the Cabinet appointed from the House of Lords. \p Georgia Gould: Information about the process by which ministers declare interests, including details of the categories of interest declared, is available in the introduction to the List of Ministers’ Interests published on Gov.uk
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of ending the vetting transformation programme on (a) national security and (b) staff recruitment delays. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The security of our people, assets and information is a Government priority.

The Vetting Transformation Programme (VTP) was first announced in October 2020. The programme was subject of a number of reviews and audits under the previous administration, including by the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) and Cabinet Office Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) Hub. These reviews concluded that there were weaknesses in governance and stakeholder engagement. As a result, the programme was closed in September 2024.

In its place, this Government is undertaking a range of initiatives to modernise and improve vetting services, delivered through three core workstreams:

1. Rationalising Policy and Process - Government Security Group (GSG) and UK Security Vetting are working with departments to standardise and centralise decision making.

2. Enhancing Digital and Cyber Security - UKSV are currently in the process of migrating the National Security Vetting System (NSVS) platform to the cloud to enhance the reliability of the current service and bring capabilities in line with industry best practice.

3. Increasing Assurance - GSG and UKSV are moving to an approach of continuous improvement across the assurance offered by vetting investigations.

In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the level of population growth in Bromsgrove constituency in the next five years. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 142.2KB)
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of immigrants were international students in the latest period for which data is available; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of including international students in those figures. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 171.8KB)
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2025 to Question HL3924 on Brexit, what steps he is taking in response to each of those active infringement proceedings. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: We are committed to the full and faithful implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and fulfilling our international obligations. Disputes are a normal part of a mature relationship with international partners. It is not appropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much (a) her Department and (b) each of its Arm’s Length Bodies has spent on external public relations since 5 July 2024; and which firms that funding went to. \p Georgia Gould: Public relations activity is a subset of communication spend. As such, this data is not held. The Government Communication Service encourages the prioritisation of low and no cost public relations activities wherever possible.

It is recommended that all external communications support should be procured through approved government frameworks, with strict controls in place to ensure cost-effectiveness.
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Uma Kumaran:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2025 to Question 23666 on Cabinet Office: Media, which Ministers received that training. \p Georgia Gould: Information about attendees of the training sessions is not being disclosed to protect individual confidentiality.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2025 to Question 22993 on Cabinet Office: Directors, for what reason the declaration of political activity was not published with the announcement of the appointment. \p Georgia Gould: As was the case under the previous administration, the relevant interests of non-executive board members and public appointments will continue to be updated and published bi-annually as part of an established process as set out in the Non-Executive Board Member declaration of interests process - GOV.UK. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-executive-board-member-declaration-of-interests-process/non-executive-board-member-declaration-of-interests-process)
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 9 August 2024 to Question 1667 on Prime Minister: Special Advisers, whether special advisers who (a) are part of a trade union and (b) not part of a trade union are permitted to go on strike. \p Georgia Gould: Special advisers are employees of their appointing minister's department and as such have the same legal rights as other employees.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2024 to Question 8434 on Prime Minister: Aviation, which (a) company and (b) commercial facility the Government uses to carbon offset its (i) domestic and (ii) international flights for Ministerial air travel. \p Georgia Gould: All travel using the HMG wet-leased A321 aircraft (known as GBNI) is fully offset. This is done at the end of the financial year to correctly reflect the emissions.

The Cabinet Office utilises the HMG Crown Commercial Services (CCS) RM6251 Energy Supply Framework with EDF to offset these emissions.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, published on 15 March 2018, which of the three tests in Chapter 2 the Industrial Strategy Council meets. \p Georgia Gould: The Department for Business and Trade is currently working through the approval process to establish the Industrial Strategy Council as an Arm’s Length Body.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21401 on Public Bodies: Finance, if he will list specific hyperlinks for where this information is published on gov.uk. \p Georgia Gould: The Cabinet Office does not hold a central list of where sponsoring departments publish information regarding public bodies reviews and efficiency savings.

Sponsoring departments determine the format, contents, and publishing location of this information.
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Bradley Thomas:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants across Government are compressed hours workers on a four day week. \p Georgia Gould: This information is not held centrally.

Decisions on terms and conditions of employment, including flexible working, are made by the employing department, depending on their specific business requirements and the nature of the role.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 8126 on Trade Union Officials: Facilities Agreements, for what reason the public sector trade union facility time data was not published before the end of 2024; and when that data will be published. \p Georgia Gould: The latest public sector trade union facility time data for the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 has been published on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/public-sector-trade-union-facility-time-data)
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the total cost to the public purse for the provision of diversity, equality and inclusion courses for staff in her Department in 2024. \p Georgia Gould: The total cost to the public purse for the provision of diversity, equality and inclusion courses for staff in Cabinet Office in 2024 was £0.
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Pippa Heylings:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2025 to Question 25004 on Infected Blood Compensation Scheme: Hepatitis, what assessment he has made of the sufficiency of funding for compensation for the affected families of people with hepatitis B and hepatitis C. \p Nick Thomas-Symonds: In the Autumn budget, the Government announced £11.8 billion of funding to compensate eligible infected and affected people. Each eligible person will get the compensation they are due.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2024 to Question 6093 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, what is the process by which a Minister can request a department (a) appoint and (b) consider appointing a specific individual to the Civil Service without open and fair competition. \p Georgia Gould: The Commission’s Recruitment Principles allow for specific time-limited ‘Exceptions’ to the legal requirement to recruit on merit on the basis of a fair and open competition.

Appointment by exception must be either to meet the needs of the government or to enable the Civil Service to participate in a government employment initiative. In such instances, ministers are important stakeholders in the appointment process.

Ministers can also, with agreement from the Civil Service Commission, bring in experts and specialist talent without competition - for up to two years – to meet an urgent business need.

In most cases, departments determine the case for an Exception themselves. The Civil Service Commission audits departmental use of exceptions as part of its audit programme.

The Commission’s approval is however required for:

Any appointment by Exception at Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2

Any extension or variation of any fixed-term appointment previously agreed by the Commission at Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2 or above

The use of an Exception within 12 months of an earlier Exception for the same individual

Any fixed-term appointment by Exception in excess of two years
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the UK Statistics Authority plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the National Wealth Fund's statistical outputs as official statistics. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th February is attached.

Letter from UK National Statistician (PQ28568) (pdf, 108.0KB)
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department’s policies of the recent Employment Tribunal settlement between Mrs Eleanor Frances versus the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology. \p Georgia Gould: As a Civil Service Department, the Cabinet Office’s policy in this area is aligned with the Government People Group’s Civil Service model policy. As such, the Cabinet Office policy will be revised in due course to reflect planned updates to the model policy and guidance, which is currently under review.
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Rebecca Paul:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what involvement the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel had in drafting the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill in (a) 2023 and (b) 2024. \p Georgia Gould: The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill from both 2023 and 2024 are Scottish bills. Therefore, there has been no involvement from the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel draft Government legislation for Westminster.
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Euan Stainbank:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the National Procurement Policy Statement on the domestic bus manufacturing industry. \p Georgia Gould: The government is committed to supporting the UK’s domestic bus manufacturing industry and ensuring a fair, competitive procurement process. The new National Procurement Policy Statement will be focused on our missions, growing the economy, creating high-quality local jobs, driving innovation and opening up opportunities to small businesses and social enterprises. Contracting authorities are encouraged to consider how their procurement strategies can support domestic supply chains, including the bus manufacturing sector.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what purposes the Crown Commercial Service has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months. \p Georgia Gould: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) vision is to integrate AI tools and models into its operational fabric, to deliver insights to commercial decision makers, make CCS simpler, quicker and easier to use, and create efficiencies.

CCS is currently experimenting with AI-driven solutions in development environments to improve customer access and usability of its services. Pending successful testing and evaluation, CCS plans to integrate these tools into our services and processes.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued to Ministers on declaring dual nationality to (a) their department and (b) the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. \p Georgia Gould: There is an established process in place for the declaration and management of ministers’ private interests, which ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

More information about the process by which ministers declare interests and the categories of interests declared is available in the List of Ministers’ Interests, which is published on Gov.uk
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 23894 on Eurostat: Office for National Statistics and the associated correspondence of 17 January 2025 from the National Statistician, if he will make it his policy to (a) publish on gov.uk and (b) deposit in the Library of the House the agreement with Eurostat. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th February is attached.

Letter from the UK Statistics Authority (pdf, 105.9KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any contracts for the lead members of the Strategic Defence Review team have been extended beyond their original termination date. \p Luke Pollard: The Reviewers will make their final report to in the this Spring. The Secretary of State will then subsequently report to Parliament. The Strategic Defence Review will then be implemented by the Ministry of Defence.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_228

James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to increase the provision of all types of mortar rounds to Ukraine. \p Luke Pollard: We continue to work closely with the Ukrainian Government to ensure the capabilities we provide meet the priorities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Since 2022, we have provided over 12,000 mortar rounds to Ukraine across various calibres.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_229

Mary Kelly Foy:To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to support veterans in City of Durham constituency. \p Al Carns: This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country, no matter which community they are based in. I am working across government and with civil society to ensure veterans, including those in the City of Durham, and throughout the North East of England, get access to the health, housing, employment and other support they need. The 2021 census recorded 3623 veterans in the City of Durham constituency, representing 4.2% of the population aged 16 and over.

A range of support is in place for veterans. In England Op RESTORE provides specialist care to veterans who have physical health problems, and Op COURAGE, a mental health specialist service helps veterans and their families. Over 100,000 veterans have used Op RESTORE to date. The Government is investing more than £800,000 each to run this service. Op COURAGE has received over 35,000 referrals. The Government is investing more than £21 million each year to run this service.

Housing support is available across the United Kingdom via Op FORTITUDE, a single referral pathway to connect veterans with help and support. This system provides housing guidance and assistance to veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness. As of 9 February 2025, over 3100 referrals have been made and over 880 veterans have been supported into housing.

Veterans can also access a range of tailored employment support, including the Career Transition Partnership, which is the initial point of provision for those leaving military service in search of new job opportunities.

Armed Forces Champions are also based across the UK’s JobCentre Plus network to help support members of the armed forces community into work.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average cost was of compensating farmers for cattle culled due to bovine tuberculosis in (a) 2023 and (b) 2024 to date. \p Daniel Zeichner: In 2023 a gross amount of £29,450,689.00 was spent on compensating farmers for cattle culled due to Bovine Tuberculosis in England. The average gross amount of compensation per animal culled was £1,454.86.

Data for 2024 is currently only available for the period 1 January to 30 September inclusive. During that period a total of £23,411,612.00 was spent on TB compensation for cattle, meaning an average gross payment per animal of £1,464.23.

TB compensation is determined by the GB average market value for cattle.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_231

Bradley Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many successful prosecutions for (a) fly tipping and (b) environmental crime there were in 2024 in Bromsgrove constituency, by category. \p Mary Creagh: Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions, such as prosecutions, to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. This data isn't available at a constituency level and excludes the majority of private-land incidents.

Data for the 2023/24 reporting year will be published on 26 February 2025. Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected.

The Environment Agency investigates fly tipping where the waste is more than 20 tonnes, a specified amount of hazardous waste, or is suspected to be linked to organised.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Alison Hume:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to introduce mandatory labelling of food products. \p Daniel Zeichner: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Newton Abbot, Martin Wrigley, on 28 January 2025, PQ 25017.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Sarah Olney:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 21168 on Amazonia: Rainforests, if he will provide a breakdown of the funding to the Andes-Amazon Biodiverse Landscape Fund. \p Mary Creagh: The UK funded Biodiverse Landscapes Fund supports developing countries to fight poverty, protect nature, and tackle climate change in six landscapes, spanning 18 countries. In the Andes Amazon landscape, covering parts of Ecuador and Peru, the £12.3 million funding will be targeted to deliver three aims including: strengthening Indigenous Peoples and local community organisations; developing bio-business value chains that drive nature-friendly economic growth; and improving the connectivity and quality of conserved areas. Implementation is through a consortium of international and national organisations led by the global development charity Practical Action, selected through a competitive bid exercise, working in partnerships with the Governments of Ecuador and Peru. It is not possible to give a full breakdown of funding per activity at this stage as this will change over the course of delivering the seven-year programme.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_234

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to establish a cross-government working group on food. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Government recognises the importance of innovation and technologies in supporting farmers to drive productivity and profitability, boosting Britain’s food security and improving nature’s recovery.

The Government is supporting the development of agricultural technologies through a range of policies.

Defra has announced the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) Fund which will launch in Spring 2025, enabling farmer-led trials to bridge the gap between new technologies and their real-world application.

Legislation to implement the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023 will be introduced in Parliament before the end of March. When in force, this will enable farmers to grow crops with higher yields and that are more resistant to drought, pests and diseases.

Defra will collaborate closely with industry partners, such as The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture, a professional body established in 2021 that aims to drive greater uptake of professional skills, including in relation to new technologies, among farmers and growers for a more prosperous Sector.

Defra will continue to look carefully at how to position future investment and support to enable the benefits of new technologies to be fully realised and integrated into farming practices.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_235

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce mandatory reporting by food and beverage companies on nutrition, health and sustainability metrics. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra, DHSC and FSA have worked in partnership with food and beverage businesses and academics through the Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP) to identify approaches to health and sustainability reporting. Minutes from the FDTP’s working groups are available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/food-data-transparency-partnership.

The FDTP’s eco workstream, led by Defra, is currently developing an approach to standardise how environmental impacts are quantified and communicated across the food system. This will empower agri-food businesses to make data-driven actions to reduce environmental impacts and meet net zero goals.

The Government is not planning to introduce a sector-specific legislative requirement for food and beverage companies to report on sustainability metrics. The Government is currently considering the endorsement of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, led by the Department of Business and Trade, to create UK Sustainability Reporting Standards that include reporting against some sustainability metrics. The Government and Financial Conduct Authority will consider whether to mandate these standards for certain economically significant entities across all sectors.

The FDTP’s health workstream, led by DHSC with support from the FSA, was to explore how businesses with more than 250 employees across retail, manufacturing and the out of home (OOH) sector, could report on the healthiness of their sales. Work on the health workstream of FDTP paused for the general election, and DHSC are reviewing FDTP alongside other policies.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-02-13 conversation_236

Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, 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. \p Daniel Zeichner: 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
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Sir Ashley Fox:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2024 to Question 13354 on Dangerous Dogs, if he will take steps to set out a more detailed timeline on when he plans to publish guidance on withdrawing a Certificate of Exemption for XL Bully dogs. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra is currently working to develop a withdrawal scheme and will provide more information about this process soon.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Sarah Bool:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a permanent personal imports policy for travellers entering the UK from the EU in the context of African swine fever. \p Daniel Zeichner: Preventing an outbreak of African swine fever in the UK is one of Defra’s key biosecurity priorities. The department keeps policy on personal imports under constant review and works closely with the devolved Governments on contingency planning and preventing an incursion from possibly infected goods.

We have already strengthened controls on personal imports of pork and pork products from the EU through the measures we introduced in September last year. We are working to develop a long-term policy on personal imports of products of animal origin and animal by-products, taking account of international examples.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Rebecca Long Bailey:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of private equity acquisitions in the groceries retail sector on trends in the level of employment across the food supply chain. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra does not hold any information on the impact of private equity acquisitions in the groceries retail sector on trends in the level of employment across the food supply chain. Any impact on competition as a result of private equity acquisitions are the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority. Levels of employment across the groceries retail sector are commercial decisions to be taken by retailers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-02-13)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of suspending participation in the arbitration mechanism of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in disputes over sustainable fishing policies on (a) trade and (b) legal outcomes. \p Daniel Zeichner: The EU has raised a dispute that the UK’s decision to prohibit fishing for sandeel within UK waters is not compliant with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The UK is defending its decision. The dispute proceedings are ongoing.