The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 21st October 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the issue of ‘farmwashing’ by retailers; and what steps they intend to take to tackle this issue.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab, DEFRA): The Government will deliver a resilient and healthy food system with a new deal to ensures fairness in the supply chain across all sectors. Where farmers sell directly to retailers, their agreements will be covered within the scope of the sectoral regulations that we are introducing through powers in the Agriculture Act 2020. Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling contractual unfairness wherever it exists.
In terms of how food is presented to consumers, all food sold in the UK must comply with food labelling rules: an underpinning rule of existing legislation is that food information, whether it be mandatory or is provided voluntarily, must not mislead. For example country of origin information is required for any food where its omission, when taking into account the labelling and presentation of the product as a whole, would be misleading to consumers.
Ministers will re-examine these regulations to ensure that they are working properly in due course.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the (1) health, and (2) environmental, implications of the disposal of plastic waste by incineration.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: All energy-from-waste plants in England are regulated by the Environment Agency (EA) and must comply with the strict emissions limits set down in legislation. The EA will only grant a permit if they are satisfied that the proposal would not give rise to any significant pollution of the environment or harm to human health. When the EA receives a permit application for a new plant, they carry out a comprehensive air quality modelling assessment of emissions from the plant and consult the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for their views on the application.
The UKHSA’s position is that modern, well run and regulated municipal waste incinerators are not a significant risk to public health. UKHSA will continue to review its advice in light of any new substantial research on the health effects of incinerators published in peer-reviewed journals. To date, UKHSA is not aware of any evidence that requires a change in the position statement.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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