The Government are continuing to provide up to £900 of cost of living support throughout 2023-24 to help vulnerable households, which is an increase on the £650 that we provided the previous year, as well as targeted support such as £150 through the warm home discount.

My hon. Friend is a champion for Shropshire and for the farming industry. Farmers in Shropshire constituencies and across the UK have already benefited from the energy bill relief scheme, which ended on 31 March and provided more than £7.4 billion of support.

The Government recognises the potential value of enhanced rail connectivity for the people and economy of Shrewsbury and Shropshire.

We have received a Strategic Outline Business Case for improvements to the railway between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury and will continue to work with the scheme’s promoters to consider whether schemes such as this or wider aspirations for an hourly direct Shrewsbury to London train service, would represent good value for public money, are affordable, and aligned to the Government’s strategic priorities.

Agricultural commodity prices are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs, including for fertiliser, feed and fuel. We are monitoring the situation closely, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group. Defra is in regular contact with key industry figures including the National Farmers Union, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and key sector representatives.

The Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs.

The announcement also included new infrastructure grants to help farmers improve slurry storage and management from Autumn 2022 under the Farming Investment Fund ; alongside measures in the Farming Innovation Programme to boost research, including on nutrient management; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of ammonia inhibitors rather than a complete ban.

We recognise that fertiliser pressures on the livestock and arable sectors may differ, particularly over the farming seasons. On 31 March, Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Task Force with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further fertiliser round-table sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.

Support in the form of guidance from fertiliser suppliers and agricultural organisations such as National Farmers Union can be found from various public sources. Defra is aware that AHDB have published many helpful public pieces of guidance, advice and webinar recordings on mitigating high fertiliser prices. They can be found on the AHDB website.

The Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs.

The announcement also included new infrastructure grants to help farmers improve slurry storage and management from Autumn 2022 under the Farming Investment Fund; alongside measures in the Farming Innovation Programme to boost research, including on nutrient management; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of urease inhibitors and timings of application rather than a complete ban.

Given current fertiliser prices, our priority must be to pioneer new technologies to manufacture more organic-based fertiliser products in future and we will support the development of these through the Farming Innovation Programme.

We must also look at alternatives to fertiliser, using techniques like nitrogen fixing legumes and clovers. We have therefore announced that the Government will pay farmers, through the Sustainable Farming Incentive, to help them with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in their crops – or in advance of their crops – to substitute some of their fertiliser requirements.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The government is committed to help protect households from price spikes and is very aware of the difficulties that families are experiencing as a result of the rise in energy prices. The government is providing significant financial support – up to £350 – to the majority of households, which will cover more than half of the April rise in energy bills for the average household. This support is worth £9.1bn in 2022-23.

The government is also providing an additional £500m for the Household Support Fund from April, on top of the £500m we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £1 billion. In England, Local Authorities are best placed to direct this help to those in their areas who need it most and will receive £421m, whilst the devolved administrations will receive £79m through the Barnett formula.

Agricultural commodity prices are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs, including for fertiliser, feed and fuel. We are monitoring the situation closely, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group. Defra is in regular contact with key industry figures including the National Farmers Union (NFU), the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and key sector representatives.

The Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs; increased grants funding to help farmers and growers boost research and development; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of ammonia inhibitors rather than a complete ban.

We recognise that fertiliser pressures on the livestock and arable sectors may differ, particularly over the farming seasons. On 31 March Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Taskforce with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further Fertiliser Taskforce sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.

Support in the form of guidance from fertiliser suppliers and agricultural organisations such as NFU can be found from various public sources. Defra is aware that AHDB have published many helpful public pieces of guidance, advice and webinar recordings on mitigating high fertiliser prices. They can be found on the AHDB website.

We are aware that due to the increase in cost of natural gas across the globe, which is a key input for the production of ammonium nitrate-based fertiliser products, the cost of production of these fertiliser types has increased significantly due to higher energy prices. This has also increased the cost of other alternative fertiliser types. This is an issue affecting Europe and the global market with fertiliser companies reducing production due to high input costs. However, the recent deal announced with industry and CF Fertilisers ensures continued production of fertiliser in the UK and will help alleviate the pressure on the domestic market by helping to ensure continued supply.

Defra has been in regular contact with industry including the NFU and fertiliser producers and importers, and we have frequent contact with the key sector representative body for fertilisers, the Agricultural Industries Confederation. The situation and impact on farmers in particular and industry more widely is being monitored closely. However, decisions on pricing and supply of fertilisers are a matter for the market.

Alternatives to ammonium nitrate do exist and farmers will be looking closely at these options and how best they can be used. Support from producers of these products on how best to use them and to get the best nutrient uptake for crops has been offered to the sector.

Ammonium nitrate prices are at 12-month highs, having increased by around a half since last August. From August 2020 through to July 2021, the most recent month for which we have data, the price of imported ammonium nitrate has risen progressively from £202 per tonne to £311. This represents an increase of 53%. Over the same time period, the price of UK-produced ammonium nitrate has also risen, from £218 per tonne to £326, an increase of 50%.

The average price since January 2017 is £247 per tonne for UK-produced ammonium nitrate, and £235 for imported ammonium nitrate. Focussing on UK-produced ammonium nitrate, prices initially rose after January 2017, peaking at £293 per tonne in November 2018. Prices then fell, bottoming out at £200 per tonne in June 2020, before commencing their current increase. Prices are now at the upper end of their 5-year range and are returning to levels last seen in the early years of the previous decade.

The data on ammonium nitrate price movement is already in the public domain and there are no plans to publish any deeper assessment of the trends.

The country is well prepared to deal with any impacts of COVID-19 and we have stockpiles of generic drugs in the event of any supply issues or significant increases in demand.

The Government does not set prices of generic medicines. Instead we rely on competition to drive prices down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the United Kingdom can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients.

The Department is working closely with industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to help ensure patients can access the medicines they need, and precautions are in place to reduce the likelihood of future shortages.

The steps being taken to protect UK supplies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak were set out in the Department’s press statement issued on 11 February 2020. This statement is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-monitor-impact-of-coronavirus-on-uk-medicine-supply

Following the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) communique on 16 October 2017, on agreed principles, Defra and the devolved administrations started discussions in November 2017 on where a common approach or framework may be needed. Officials have met several times since then to discuss the internal market in relation to the agriculture sector. We intend to have in place an administrative framework for co-ordinating agricultural support spending and changes to marketing standards to ensure effective co-ordination and dialogue between the administrations on how any changes to policy in one part of the UK may affect other parts.