theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Tony Vaughan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to provide financial support to people in temporary accommodation. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provides support through the social security system for rental costs as well as additional funding to local authorities. DWP provides support with rent and living costs to those who are eligible and living in temporary accommodation through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit. In 23/24, DWP spent £32bn on housing support.

For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) DHPs can be used to help people with a rent deposit, rent in advance, a shortfall in rent or moving costs. This supports people to move out of and can be used to help prevent use of temporary accommodation. For 2025/26, DWP is maintaining DHP funding at £100m for England and Wales. This is in addition to funding local authorities receive from MHCLG, including for the Homelessness Prevention Grant.

DWP also provided funding of £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will ensure low-income households can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water.

We continue to work with MHCLG on the Long-Term Housing Strategy and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, supporting the development of a strategy to tackle the root causes of homelessness.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the report by Joanna Poulton, Jak Richardson, Kathleen Pollitt and Cleo Goodman entitled Sowing the Seeds of Stability: A proposal to use basic income as the system to support the income of farmers and farm workers, published in March 2024. \p Daniel Zeichner: The report cited by the honourable member proposes a system of untargeted farming subsidy based on regular and unconditional cash payments made to farmers. Evidence suggests that untargeted subsidies such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and delinked payments offered poor value for money and introduced distortionary incentives, which inhibited the development of a productive and competitive agricultural sector that delivers optimal environmental outcomes. This is Government is proud to have ended the subsidy model in farming.

Looking forward, this Government’s vision for farming depends on a farming sector where farmers make a fair profit from producing food, and where farm businesses can diversify their income to remain viable in challenging times. To this end, the government has confirmed it will set up a new Farming Profitability Unit within Defra. This will work with farmers and other industry stakeholders from across all sectors and regions to understand the barriers farmers face to increasing profits through farming. It will examine how farmers can embrace innovation, improve productivity and market access, how the supply chain can support a more profitable farming sector through greater transparency, collaboration and a fairer distribution of risk, rewards and responsibility.

The Government is also supporting farmers to grow their businesses by extending the Seasonal Worker visa route for five more years. This will give farms a pipeline of workers. Annual quota reviews will ensure we strike the right balance – supporting farms while gradually reducing visa numbers as we develop alternative solutions.
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Liam Conlon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve the resilience of water infrastructure. \p Emma Hardy: Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 on 19 December, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030. This will deliver substantial, lasting, improvements for customers and the environment through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector.

This is the highest level of investment in the water sector since privatisation. This investment will be crucial to deliver the improvements in the sector that the public expect to see. This includes 3,000 projects to reduce storm overflow discharges, a major expansion in new water assets (including progressing nine new reservoirs), cutting leakage down by 17% and tripling the rate of mains replacement.

This investment will deliver substantial, lasting improvements for customers and the environment and will be crucial to deliver the improvements the public expect to see.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the lifespan of pumping station infrastructure in Cambridgeshire under the Middle-Level Commissioners. \p Emma Hardy: Protecting communities from the dangers of flooding is one of Defra’s top priorities.

The Government fully supports the important work internal drainage boards (IDBs) do in managing water and flood risk, benefiting communities, businesses and the environment.

The Government has invested £50m as part of the one-off £75 million IDB Fund to support greater resilience for farmers and rural communities. The Fund was split into two tranches and is being delivered by the Environment Agency. The second tranche provides grants which will enable IDBs to repair, modernise and improve their flood defence assets.

Grants have been awarded to eight IDB projects in Cambridgeshire, with a value of over £2.7 million. This will support repairs and refurbishments to IDB assets including pumping stations.
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Graham Leadbitter:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the value of single malt English whisky to the economy. \p Daniel Zeichner: No formal assessment has been made by the department, but the English Whisky Guild forecast the volume of spirit produced by English distilleries to grow by 189% from 2019-2024. They forecast that there would be 50,000 maturing casks by 2024 with a value of £1 billion.

English Whisky distilleries welcomed over 250,000 visitors in 2023, and English Whisky is exported to more than 30 countries worldwide.

SOURCES:

https://www.englishwhiskyguild.com/post/english-whisky-guild-appoints-ceo-as-industry-forecast-to-possess-over-1bn-in-maturing-stock

https://www.englishwhiskyguild.com/post/the-english-whisky-guild-nearing-final-stages-in-gi-application

https://www.englishwhiskyguild.com/annual-review
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Graham Leadbitter:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the value of single malt Welsh whisky to the economy. \p Daniel Zeichner: No formal assessment has been made by the department, but upon registration of Single Malt Welsh Whisky as a geographical indication in 2023, it was forecast to generate a revenue of £23 million in the 2023-24 financial year and is exported to more than 45 countries.

SOURCE: https://businesswales.gov.wales/foodanddrink/news-and-events/news/single-malt-welsh-whisky-protected
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Alex Ballinger:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure food allergy labels are visible and legible; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a minimum type size. \p Daniel Zeichner: The UK maintains high standards on the information that is provided on food labels, whether that be mandatory or voluntary, so that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy.

The availability and accessibility of essential food information to all consumers is vitally important. It is already a requirement that food information must be easily visible, clearly legible, and where appropriate indelible, in addition to there being a required minimum font size for mandatory information.

Additionally, if a prepacked or prepacked for direct sale food contains one of the 14 major allergens as an ingredient then this must be emphasised in the ingredients list so that it clearly stands out from the other ingredients.
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Katie White:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the amount of fly-tipping. \p Mary Creagh: Local authorities have enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping, including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, and prosecution action which can lead to significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of their fly-tipping enforcement powers and we are also taking steps so that we may develop further guidance to support local authorities to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.

In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment, and other actions to tackle fly-tipping, in due course.

In the meantime, Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.
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Cat Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of delays to the Environment Agency’s guidance on the operation of crematoria on relevant stakeholders. \p Emma Hardy: The final updated Process Guidance Note 5/2 (24) is currently being reviewed by Ministers.
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David Mundell:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential contribution of (a) science and (b) other innovation to the development of healthier staple food. \p Daniel Zeichner: Science and innovation have a key role in developing a healthy, resilient and sustainable food system. Defra is contributing to a £47.5 million UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-led research programme on food systems for both planetary and human health; and a £15 million UKRI-led ‘Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club’ food sector innovation programme.

In 2024, Defra launched a £15 million 5-year investment in breeding for crop improvement, the Genetic Improvement Networks, which includes enhancing the nutritional quality of UK staple crops.

Innovative technologies such as precision breeding also have a key role to play in enhancing crop nutritional quality. Upcoming competitions within the Farming Innovation Programme include a competition to unlock the opportunities provided by the Precision Breeding Act.
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David Mundell:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of improving the nutritional content of foods through a Government Food Strategy. \p Daniel Zeichner: Our ambitious food strategy will set and deliver clear long-term outcomes that create a healthier, fairer, and more resilient food system, and in doing so will consider elements of the food system that can contribute towards those outcomes
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Mr Andrew Mitchell:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take with local authorities to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in public parks. \p Mary Creagh: Local councils are usually best placed to respond to littering problems, as their response can be tailored to the local community. They have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal including fixed penalty notices and prosecution. We are reviewing how we can further support local authorities to tackle these issues.

We have also taken steps to tackle commonly littered plastic items such as disposable vapes. The sale of single-use vapes will be banned from 1 June 2025. This will help to tackle a huge and growing stream of hard-to-recycle waste and litter, with nearly 5 million thrown away every week.

Plastic drinks containers are also covered as part of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) that will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. The DRS will introduce a redeemable deposit on single-use in-scope drinks containers which can be claimed back by customers when the empty container is returned. This will reduce litter, increase recycling rates, create high quality recyclate for producers, and promote a circular economy.
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Tracy Gilbert:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the percentage of whisky distilleries in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales that mash, ferment, and distil on one site. \p Daniel Zeichner: Accurate figures can only be obtained from those whiskies subject to HMRC verification checks for registered geographical indications, so the figure for English Whisky is an estimate. The percentages are 100% for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and approximately 90% for England.
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Tracy Gilbert:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of whisky distilled in England that is currently labelled as (a) English Whisky and (b) Single Malt English Whisky. \p Daniel Zeichner: From a check of products online, it is estimated that around 20% of English whiskies are labelled as English Whisky, and around 70% are labelled as Single Malt Whisky (not all of which use the term English Whisky).

Use of the English Whisky name is increasing among English whiskies, and if the geographical indication proceeds to registration, this will bring those producers under the HMRC Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme to ensure compliance with the product specification.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published 4 February 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the £2.65 billion on the Environment’s Agency estimate of properties better protected between 2021-2027. \p Emma Hardy: The figure of £2.4 billion was an initial estimate at the time of the Autumn budget as the department worked through the details of the floods’ settlement following the Spending Review.

Following the outcome of the Spending Review and as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government announced we will invest £2.65 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining and repairing flood defences. This compares to £1.05 billion spent in 2023/24.

As part of the £2.65 billion invested the Government announced an additional £140 million to fill funding gaps on schemes for new flood defences.

The record £2.65 billion will better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026, with maintenance of existing flood defences also being prioritised, ensuring a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, a total of 66,500 properties will benefit.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published 4 February 2025, how much and what proportion of the £2.65 billion is new money. \p Emma Hardy: The figure of £2.4 billion was an initial estimate at the time of the Autumn budget as the department worked through the details of the floods’ settlement following the Spending Review.

Following the outcome of the Spending Review and as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government announced we will invest £2.65 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining and repairing flood defences. This compares to £1.05 billion spent in 2023/24.

As part of the £2.65 billion invested the Government announced an additional £140 million to fill funding gaps on schemes for new flood defences.

The record £2.65 billion will better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026, with maintenance of existing flood defences also being prioritised, ensuring a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, a total of 66,500 properties will benefit.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published 4 February 2025, whether the additional funding of £250m funding for flood defences was included in his Departmental budget set at the Autumn Budget 2024. \p Emma Hardy: The figure of £2.4 billion was an initial estimate at the time of the Autumn budget as the department worked through the details of the floods’ settlement following the Spending Review.

Following the outcome of the Spending Review and as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government announced we will invest £2.65 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining and repairing flood defences. This compares to £1.05 billion spent in 2023/24.

As part of the £2.65 billion invested the Government announced an additional £140 million to fill funding gaps on schemes for new flood defences.

The record £2.65 billion will better protect 52,000 properties by March 2026, with maintenance of existing flood defences also being prioritised, ensuring a further 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored, a total of 66,500 properties will benefit.
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Katie White:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning the use of bottom-towed fishing gear within marine protected areas. \p Emma Hardy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby on 3 February 2025, PQ 26547.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to establish new offshore Marine Protected Areas. \p Emma Hardy: In January 2025, Minister Hardy tabled a Written Statement committing to designating new Marine Protected Areas and/or extending existing Marine Protected Areas in Secretary of State waters to deliver strategic environmental compensation for unavoidable damage caused by offshore wind developments to seabed habitats. The location of these Marine Protected Areas is not yet known but some may be in the offshore area.

There is a comprehensive legislative process required to designate Marine Protected Areas which includes gathering evidence through the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Natural England, and consulting with affected industries and communities before taking designation decisions. We will work closely and openly with stakeholders throughout this process.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help reduce sewage in rivers. \p Emma Hardy: For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.

That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Act, which will strengthen regulation, including delivering new powers to ban the payment of bonuses for polluting water bosses and bringing criminal charges against persistent law breakers.

We are also carrying out a full review of the water sector. The Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, will make recommendations to shape further legislation to transform how our water system works and clean up our waterways for good. A public Call for Evidence went live on 27 February for 8 weeks, with all interested parties invited to share their views. This Call for Evidence will play a key role in shaping the Commission’s thinking going forward and into the review's final recommendations to the UK and Welsh Governments.

This forms the next stage in the Government’s approach to ensuring we have a sufficiently robust and stable regulatory framework to attract the investment needed to clean up our waterways, speed up infrastructure delivery to support house building and restore public confidence in the sector.

As part of Price Review 24, Water companies are investing £12 billion, a record amount, to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows across England and Wales, with OfWat requiring them to reduce spills by 45% compared to 2021 levels.

The regulators will continue to take action if any illegality is identified. They have launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever. As part of their investigations, Ofwat has proposed fines of £168 million against three water companies. This investigation is a priority for Ofwat, and it will continue to work as quickly as possible on their investigations into all remaining companies.
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Steve Barclay:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total SFI agreement uptake has been per quarter since the beginning of the launch of the 2021 pilot scheme. \p Daniel Zeichner: The table below shows the number of Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements accepted and started per quarter since the scheme’s launch in 2021. To note that farmers can have more than one SFI Agreement. The application window was paused across Spring and early Summer in 2022.

Quarter

Number of Agreements

Oct 21 to Dec 21

515

Jan 22 to Mar 22

340

Apr 22 to Jun 22

20

Jul 22 to Sep 22

6

Oct 22 to Dec 22

1144

Jan 23 to Mar 23

910

Apr 23 to Jun 23

641

Jul 23 to Sep 23

609

Oct 23 to Dec 23

4044

Jan 24 to Mar 24

9915

Apr 24 to Jun 24

9391

Jul 24 to Sep 24

2875

Oct 24 to Dec 24

6122

Jan 25 to Mar 25

4358

Total

40,890
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help residents protect their property from frequent flooding in South Somerset. \p Emma Hardy: The Government is investing a record £2.65 billion over two years in building, maintaining and repairing our flood and coastal defences, better protecting 52,000 properties. As part of this investment, £72 million is being reprioritised into maintaining Environment Agency flood defences in 2025/26. This reprioritisation will benefit a further 14,500 properties.

Property flood resilience (PFR) is delivered by multiple risk management authorities. We have a local programme of PFR across Somerset to provide resilience to individual properties where a capital scheme is not viable. The Environment Agency have installed resilience measures to properties to move them out of the highest risk of flooding.

A consultation will be launched in the coming months which will include a review of the existing flood policy funding formula to ensure a wider range of measures (such as property level resilience and nature-based solutions) can be supported to improve flood resilience for businesses and rural and coastal communities.

The consultation will be open to everyone, and we will be inviting all stakeholders, including organisations that play a role in flood resilience, community groups and members of the public, to be part of the consultation.
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Harriet Cross:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what lessons his Department has learned from the (a) avian inflluenza outbreak in Scotland in 2022-23 and (b) other avian influenza outbreaks in the UK to help prevent the spread. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra’s approach to avian influenza is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales and the Scottish wild bird highly pathogenic avian influenza response plan. Current policy reflects our experience of responding to previous outbreaks of exotic animal disease and is in line with international standards of best practice for disease control. All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the government’s ongoing work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease.

In addition, to regularly exercising our disease response capabilities lessons identified reviews are undertaken at the conclusion of outbreaks to identify and evaluate where improvements to disease response capability, processes and organisational structures for managing an outbreak of exotic notifiable disease can be made.

The feedback, including that of Devolved Governments, operational partners and stakeholders is collated in lessons identified reports. These reports are published on gov.uk and provide the framework for improvements of the response to and management of disease outbreaks and the review of contingency plans, policies and operational instructions.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of preventative measures to tackle recurring flooding in South Somerset. \p Emma Hardy: £2.65 billion is being invested by the Environment Agency over this year and next to help communities to adapt and build resilience to flooding, this includes building new, repairing and maintaining flood defences. Reoccurring flooding in South Somerset (including Sea and Dowlish Ford) was investigated in 2024 as part of a larger Initial Investigation. The investigation has recently been shared with Ilminster Town Council and the lead local flood authority, Somerset Council.
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Adam Dance:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to help farmers reduce the level of agricultural run-off in Somerset. \p Emma Hardy: We are focused on working with farmers in Somerset and across England to achieve our long-term goals for farming and the environment.

Nationally, support is in place to enable farmers reduce agricultural run-off. Environmental Land Management schemes are available and pay farmers to deliver environmental benefits, including improved water quality. The Catchment Sensitive Farming programme provides farmers specialised advice to help them reduce pollution to water, soil and air. We also regulate agricultural activities which cause harms and require farmers to take necessary steps to reduce and prevent pollution.

Across Somerset, the Environment Agency (EA) has a programme of farm compliance inspections to tackle both diffuse and point source pollution. Engagement events have provided farmers with a clear understanding of the environmental legislation relevant to their practices and regulatory intervention has been crucial in stopping immediate pollution incidents and ensuring long-term environmental protection. In addition, The EA’s Natural Flood Management Co-ordinator works with partners in Somerset catchments to enable farmers to reduce agricultural run-off and provide guidance and links to funding for interventions.
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Steve Barclay:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 July 2024 to Question 1488 on Agriculture: Food Supply, what preparations his Department has made for the 2025 Farm to Fork Summit. \p Daniel Zeichner: The department is planning to engage closely with key stakeholders from across the food system over the coming months. We will confirm the details of possible future events in due course.
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Harriet Cross:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whetherhis Department plans to renew the licence for glyphosate for agricultural use in 2025. \p Emma Hardy: All active substances used in pesticides are periodically reviewed to ensure they meet modern standards which take into account current knowledge. HSE will review the approval of glyphosate for all uses when it is due for renewal in GB. Pesticides are only authorised following a thorough scientific risk assessment that concludes all safety standards are met.
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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, published on 4 February 2025, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of new flood prevention infrastructure on (a) wildlife and (b) river ecosystems. \p Emma Hardy: The Environment Agency ensures that all its flood projects assess their impact on the environment and biodiversity, with support from the National Environmental Assessment Service. The impact of any new scheme will be undertaken in due course as part of each schemes’ assurance process.

Defra has established protocols to assess the potential environmental impacts of flood prevention infrastructure on wildlife and river ecosystems. These assessments are carried out through Strategic Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments, which are integral to the planning and implementation of flood risk management projects.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is using AI software in responding to written parliamentary questions. \p Daniel Zeichner: No, Defra has not used AI software to respond to written parliamentary questions.
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Harriet Cross:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what precautions his Department is taking regarding the ongoing avian influenza outbreak to prevent its spread among (a) commercially kept birds, (b) domestically kept birds and (c) wild birds. \p Daniel Zeichner: Defra’s approach to avian influenza is set out in the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain supported by the Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales. Swift and humane culling of birds on infected premises coupled with good biosecurity are used to prevent disease spread.

Avian Influenza Prevention Zones (AIPZ) mandating enhanced biosecurity are in force across the UK The AIPZs apply to all bird keepers whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock. In addition, mandatory housing for kept birds is in force in England across the unitary authorities of the East Riding of Yorkshire, the unitary authority of York, the City of Kingston upon Hull and all districts in Cheshire, Herefordshire, Merseyside, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Shropshire Suffolk and Worcestershire and all areas of Northern Ireland to mitigate the risk of further outbreaks of disease occurring.

Additional biosecurity measures also apply in disease control zones in force surrounding infected premises. Certain higher risk bird gatherings have also been prohibited. Guidance for keepers on maintaining scrupulous biosecurity to protect their flocks has been published at gov.uk/bird-flu.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_316

Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made of the potential merits of strengthening protections for cruelty against (a) dogs, (b) cats and (c) ferrets. \p Daniel Zeichner: Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is an offence under Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, subject to a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation.

The Department has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of an overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more detail of plans in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_317

Sir Julian Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all dog rescue organisations adhere to a standardised national framework for the safe rehoming of dogs. \p Daniel Zeichner: Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, any person responsible for an animal, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, has a duty to ensure the welfare of the animals in their care. Companion animal rescue and rehoming organisations in England and Wales must therefore comply with statutory welfare requirements set out in the Animal Welfare Act 2006. We would encourage individuals to report any concerns regarding whether these standards are being met to the relevant local authority.

Defra always urges prospective owners to consider rehoming from a reputable organisation in the United Kingdom. Members of the public can check if the rescue centre they use is a member of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes (ADCH), which has set clear standards for animal assessments, neutering and rehoming procedures that all members adhere to.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_318

Harriet Cross:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether compensation will be available for commercial poultry farmers for flock losses due to avian influenza control measures. \p Daniel Zeichner: Compensation paid for birds culled by the Government for disease control purposes is designed to promote prompt reporting of suspicion of disease and is only payable for healthy birds as set out in the Animal Health Act 1981. There is no compensation available for sick birds or birds that have died.

Compensation is not paid for consequential losses, including business interruption caused by control measures, nor for eggs or poultry meat.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_319

Matt Bishop:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to help increase economic growth in the Forest of Dean. \p Emma Reynolds: Economic growth is the number one mission of this Government and ensuring growth is felt in all regions of the UK is a core part of the Growth Mission.

At Autumn Budget, we set out the first major steps in our approach to regional growth through devolution, investment and reform. We have made clear the government’s focus on attracting inward investment across the country, and to investing in the infrastructure needed to support cities and regions to grow.

Fostering an environment where businesses can thrive and reach their potential irrespective of where they are is a core objective of our modern, ambitious industrial strategy.

Through the one-year expansion of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Forrest of Dean will receive £300k to support local economic interventions in 2025/26.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_320

James Cartlidge:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the annual amount of interest accrued on all assets frozen by the Government in relation to the war in Ukraine. \p Emma Reynolds: The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury, published in its 2022-2023 Annual Review that between February 2022 and October 2023, £22.7 billion in frozen funds had been reported to OFSI in relation to the Russia sanctions regime. This is an aggregate figure as to not disclose the value of any funds held by particular designated persons or entities and is a cumulative total of assets report.

Interest accrued on frozen assets is still subject to an asset freeze to be frozen immediately by the person in possession or control of them, but there is no change in ownership of the frozen funds or economic resources, and they are not transferred to HM Treasury. As there is no obligation for a relevant institution to inform OFSI when it has credited interest to a frozen account, OFSI does not hold this information.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_321

Wendy Morton:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she discussed China’s economic practices during her visit to Beijing in January 2025. \p Emma Reynolds: During the 2025 UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, the Chancellor was clear that whilst we must cooperate with China on areas of mutual interest, we will confidently challenge on areas where we disagree. The Chancellor raised UK concerns during meetings with her Chinese counterparts, including about trade imbalances and economic security.

The Chancellor also published a written ministerial statement about her visit to China on the morning of Monday 13 January (found here) and delivered an oral statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 14 January (found here).
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_322

Harriet Cross:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 27456 on Holiday Accommodation: Tax Allowances, what estimate her Department has made of the total tax receipts from properties operating under the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime in 2023-24. \p James Murray: HMRC does not hold data on the total tax receipts from Furnished Holiday Lettings. This is because income tax is calculated and charged based on an individual’s total taxable income, rather than a particular income stream.

Further information on Furnished Holiday Lettings, including the amount of income declared, is published by HMRC here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/property-rental-income-statistics/property-rental-income-statistics-2024#income-from-uk-furnished-holiday-lettings
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_323

Callum Anderson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department has taken to raise awareness of employee share schemes among small and medium-sized businesses. \p James Murray: The Government offers four tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which all enable employers to offer their employees tax-advantaged shares or share options in their business. These are Save as You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plan (SIP), Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI), and Company Share Option Plan (CSOP). These schemes are popular, generous and internationally competitive.

A call for evidence on SAYE and SIP ran from June to August 2023. It sought views on whether the schemes are meeting their policy objectives and opportunities to improve and simplify them. The Government is considering the responses to the call for evidence, and is grateful to those who took the time to respond.

In 2021-22, a review of the EMI scheme found that the scheme remained effective at achieving its policy aims, including employee retention. The review was expanded to consider if CSOP should be reformed to further support companies as they grow beyond the scope of EMI. Following this report, CSOP limits were expanded from April 2023.

The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review, to ensure they continue to meet their policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective. HMRC release annual statistics on the tax-advantaged employee share schemes, which can be found at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/employee-share-scheme-statistics
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_324

Vikki Slade:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of people made bankrupt by the Loan Charge. \p James Murray: HMRC will only ever consider initiating bankruptcy as a last resort, where they have been unable to work with the customer to agree a manageable payment plan. HMRC will also not force anyone to sell their main home or access their pension funds early to pay their Loan Charge or disguised remuneration debts.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_325

Josh Fenton-Glynn:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many social media accounts her Department operates; and how much her Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years. \p James Murray: HM Treasury communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.

Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests.

The department currently operates 6 social media accounts in total, on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Instagram and Discord.

HM Treasury has spent £0 on advertisements on social media platforms in each of the last three years.

HM Treasury has a recruiter licence/subscription with LinkedIn which cost £14,800 in the Financial Year 2022-2023, £15,480 in the Financial Year 2023-2024 and £16,500 in the Financial Year 2024-2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_326

Harriet Cross:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2025 to Question 27711 on Holiday Accommodation: Taxation, what quantitative information her Department holds on (a) the number of properties converting between longer-term rentals and short-term holiday lets, (b) comparative tax advantages between short-term holiday lets and longer-term rentals and (c) property investment patterns that demonstrate potential market distortion. \p James Murray: The Government will abolish the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) tax regime from April 2025. The FHL tax regime has created a distortion that favours short-term holiday lets over longer-term rentals, by providing a tax incentive to invest in and provide the former over the latter. Abolishing it will equalise the tax treatment of FHL and non-FHL landlords' income and gains, making the tax system fairer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-10 conversation_327

Dame Caroline Dinenage:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies on VAT of the British Hair Consortium’s report entitled Securing the future of UK hairdressing and beauty: The economic, fiscal & societal case for VAT reform, published in February 2025. \p James Murray: VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is also the UK’s second largest tax, forecast to raise £171 billion in 2024/25. Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.

Changes to the VAT threshold have to be carefully balanced considering the potential benefits to small businesses, the economy as a whole and tax revenues.