The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published its annual report, in June 2020, on progress in reducing UK emissions. The Rt Hon Alok Sharma, Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Energy, and The Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng, Minister for State for Business Energy and Clean Growth responded to the CCC’s annual report on behalf of the UK Government.

Whilst the CCC acknowledged that the Covid-19 Pandemic had a massive impact for businesses and families as a whole, the UK Government confirmed that the target was still in place to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and this was at the heart of the UK’s economic recovery, whilst also supporting families and businesses impacted by the pandemic.

The Government agreed with the CCC that 2021 would be a critical year for climate control, both internationally and domestically but the UK is well-placed with international co-operation through COP26 and G7 presidencies and will drive ambition to reduce emissions, build resilience and support each other. This is reflected by a robust domestic policy.

The response concluded that the UK Government would continue to work closely with the CCC in the drive to transition to net zero by 2050 and looked forward to receiving further advice from the CCC on Carbon Budget 6 later this month.

For the full UK Government’s response – please click here.

Northern Irish politicians have united over fears for food supplies following new regulations that will be implemented when the UK leaves the EU single market on 1^st January 2021. This has been reinforced by Marks & Spencer who warn that as much as 15% of their product lines may not be available in NI branches from January.

These new regulations will cause issues as Northern Ireland will remain within the EU in order to protect cross-border trade with the Republic of Ireland (ROI).

High risks foods, such as eggs, meat and fish, will require a EHC (Export Health Certificate), signed by an approved vet, in order to enter the EU and, therefore, Northern Ireland and could prove very expensive. This has led M&S questioning whether they are able to run some product lines. They have stressed that they remain committed to providing the same range of products to Northern Ireland but they need urgent answers on several aspects from the UK Government, including labelling and certification processes, to avoid a risk to their ability to supply products to NI from the UK. Other Retailers, including Sainsburys, have expressed similar concerns.

The European Commission Vice President, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein sent an open letter to the EU’s representative on the Joint Committee, and stated that there had been a meeting with representatives of the main supermarkets who stressed how ‘critical the current situation is’ and that there is a real threat to the continuity of food supply to the NI market – solutions need to be found urgently.

The EU commission confirmed that it was aware of the concerns raised and was taking the situation very seriously.

The government has changed its mind on providing free school meals to children in England during the Christmas holidays.

It comes after the ongoing campaign by Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. Henry Dimbleby had also criticised the UK Government on not extending the free meal voucher scheme fearing that disadvantaged children would go hungry as Covid-19 pushes more families into poverty.

The Food Foundation report in September 2020 (survey of 2,300 people) revealed that 1 in 7 families, 4 million people, have experienced food insecurity since March when the UK first went into lockdown. It also showed that:

• one million children were eating less healthy, lower cost foods
• 900,000 were not having balanced meals
• 400,000 were not eating enough
• 400,000 were completely skipping meals

Dimbleby called upon the Government to address the problem by spending £1.2 million and sent a plan outlining three key recommendations:

1. Increase value of Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 a week and for the scheme to be extended to pregnant women and households with children under 4 where the parent/guardian in the household receives Universal Credit or equivalent benefit.
2. Extend the Holiday Activity and Food Programme to all areas in England.
3. Eligibility of the Free School Meals Scheme to include children up to age 16 from a household where parent/guardian is in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent benefit.

The Prime Minister later announced £170 million of extra funding which will pay for the Covid Winter Grant Scheme to support families over the festive season, while the Holiday Activities and Food programme will be extended to cover next year’s Easter, summer and Christmas breaks. Expectant mothers and those on low incomes with young children, will see their benefits payments to buy fresh fruit and vegetables grow from £3.10 to £4.25 a week from April, after the Healthy Start payments were boosted.

You can read more about the Winter support package here

On 7^th December, Defra and the APHA published their 8^th update on the outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the UK and Europe.

Further to declaring an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone across England, Scotland and Wales, there have been further cases of HPAI of the strain H5N8 in poultry, and many reports in wild birds.

Elsewhere in Europe, since 1st December, H5N8 has been reported in poultry and captive birds in Germany, Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine (H5), and in wild birds in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway.

The presence of H5N8 in the UK was not unexpected given the annual autumn migration of wild birds, and the rapidly developing situation in Russia and Europe. Also, although the Netherlands has a far higher number of wintering water birds than the UK, cold weather on the continent can force birds to move across the North Sea to the British Isles.

In Great Britain, the sensitivity of surveillance of wild birds has been increased and several systems are in place, including working through NGOs (non-governmental organisations), and members of the public reporting wild bird mortality.

Housing measures also came into force on 14th December in England, Scotland and Wales which mean that it is now a legal requirement for all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease.

However, Public Health England has confirmed that the risk to public health is very low, and the Food Standards Agency has said that avian influenza does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.

You will find all latest information here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu#latest-update

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) have recently published advice on the use of country of origin claims in advertising. As consumers may be keen to support the UK economy by purchasing products manufactured in Britain from British-based companies,  CAP are keen to ensure that any advertising output complies with the relevant rules.

The advice covers three key areas – the provision of the name and address of the marketer, the use of national flags and emblems and use of Royal Arms and Emblems.

You can read the advice here and If you would like to check whether your non-broadcast advertising is likely to comply with the CAP Code, you can also contact the Copy Advice team