Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of attenuation ponds in reducing both the volume and flow of run from major roads where such works were not considered necessary pre-1990.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Attenuation ponds are deployed by Risk Management Authorities as a flood alleviation measure; they are determined by a range of factors including cost to benefit ratio and the standard of protection that can be achieved. In recent years, the highway sector has been innovative in its use of sustainable drainage and green infrastructure to help manage road flooding.
A new three-year £4.2 billion Flood and Coastal Risk Investment Programme will start in April 2026, where new projects will align with the strategic objectives set out in the Government’s new funding rules announced in October 2025. This means investment goes where it is most needed, accounting for flood risk, value for money, natural flood management opportunity and additional contributions to make Government investment go further. This investment will benefit properties, infrastructure and agriculture.
The Government and the Environment Agency are committed to improving England’s picture of flood and coastal erosion risk, including from surface water. The Environment Agency published its new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) data in 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the relative cost benefit of attenuation ponds compared with repeated flood damage to (a) properties, (b) infrastructure and (c) agricultural land.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Attenuation ponds are deployed by Risk Management Authorities as a flood alleviation measure; they are determined by a range of factors including cost to benefit ratio and the standard of protection that can be achieved. In recent years, the highway sector has been innovative in its use of sustainable drainage and green infrastructure to help manage road flooding.
A new three-year £4.2 billion Flood and Coastal Risk Investment Programme will start in April 2026, where new projects will align with the strategic objectives set out in the Government’s new funding rules announced in October 2025. This means investment goes where it is most needed, accounting for flood risk, value for money, natural flood management opportunity and additional contributions to make Government investment go further. This investment will benefit properties, infrastructure and agriculture.
The Government and the Environment Agency are committed to improving England’s picture of flood and coastal erosion risk, including from surface water. The Environment Agency published its new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) data in 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the full deployment timeline will be for the roll out of female body armour in the Armed Forces; and what feedback mechanisms will be established to help improve users’ experiences.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The current Tactical Ballistic Plate (TBP) project, which is currently in its assessment phase, will deliver hard armour plates in a range of different sizes, thus ensuring greater comfort and integration for all users across Defence. Multiple Human Factors Integration (HFI) trials have been completed with female representation. Further information regarding the timelines for the roll out of TBP will be available as the project progresses.
The Army will continue to investigate options to procure complex geometry plates, working alongside both industry and Dstl. However, the technology is new, and the market does not currently offer complex geometry plates which meet current requirements.
With regards to feedback mechanisms, there are opportunities for users to provide feedback however they will become more established with time.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned legislative timetable is for the Defence Readiness Bill.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Defence Readiness legislation is being considered to ensure the Government has the powers it needs to keep the UK safe in crisis or war, as recommended in the Strategic Defence Review. Legislation will be brought forward when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the evidential basis is for his Department's position that all of the Atherton Report’s recommendations have been implemented in full.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 December 2025 to Question 98153 to the hon. Member for Lewes (James MacCleary).
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-12-08/98153
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of school milk consumption on children’s oral health, including rates of dental decay.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Water and milk are the only recommended drinks to give children regarding their oral health. Milk and dairy foods, or dairy alternatives, are an important part of a healthy balanced diet, as depicted by the United Kingdom’s national food model, the Eatwell Guide. The School Food Standards state that lower fat milk and lactose-reduced milk must be available every school day, during school hours. Whole milk may be provided for pupils up to the end of the school year in which they turn five years old. Sugars naturally present in unsweetened milk and milk products are not classed as ‘free sugars’, which should be limited to reduce the risk of tooth decay. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-types/how-does-sugar-in-our-diet-affect-our-health/
We have invested £11 million in 147 local authorities in 2025/26, alongside a five-year partnership with Colgate-Palmolive, to rollout a national supervised toothbrushing programme for up to 600,000 three- to five-year-olds in the 20% most deprived areas of England. The programme will tackle poor oral health by ensuring children learn positive habits and prevention of tooth decay.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when representatives from her Department last met with milk producers to discuss farmgate milk prices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials regularly engage with stakeholders from across the UK dairy industry on a wide range of issues including farmgate milk prices. Engagement is undertaken in various forms including through ad hoc and regular meetings with industry bodies and individual dairy businesses and milk producers, farm visits and attendance at industry events.
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Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the average cost of producing a pint of milk in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The average cost of production for milk is shown below. Data is from the Farm Business Survey which covers farm businesses in England with a Standard Output of more than £21,000. Whilst it captures the majority of agricultural activity, it excludes smaller businesses (which account for 2% of output).
Production costs include all financial aspects of dairy enterprises such as unpaid labour, herd depreciation and an estimated rental equivalent for owned land. An allowance is also made for non-milk revenue (mostly the sale of dairy calves), which is applied as a reduction to cost. This reflects the value of by-products from milk production. The production costs therefore represent the price that would have to be paid on all milk produced for dairy enterprises to break even. The data includes organic production which is likely to incur higher production costs.
Average cost of milk production (pence per litre) 2020/21 to 2024/25
2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
28.3 | 36.4 | 48.6 | 44.2 | 44.9 |
Source: Farm Accounts in England
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average farmgate milk price was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes monthly and annual milk prices on GOV.UK (Latest UK milk prices and composition of milk - GOV.UK). UK annual farmgate milk prices for the last five years are shown in the table below.
Table: UK annual farmgate milk prices 2021-2025, pence per litre (ppl)
Year | Price (ppl) |
2021 | 31.07 |
2022 | 43.98 |
2023 | 39.50 |
2024 | 41.17 |
2025 | 44.05 |
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made on the potential impact of restricting bird sales through changes to bird show and gathering licences for (a) breeding Type Canaries and (b) protecting Britain’s native wild canary population.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Regulation 6 of the Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (England) Regulations 2006, as amended, sets out the legal basis for permitting gatherings of poultry or other captive birds. In England, a licence to hold a bird gathering may be granted by Defra if a veterinary risk assessment has been carried out, and if the gathering, including the movement of birds to and from it, would not significantly increase the risk of the transmission of avian influenza virus. Detailed risk assessments can be found on Gov.UK.
As legislation requires this to be a risk-based decision, assessments of the financial or breeding impacts have not been made. The restrictions on certain types of gatherings do not prevent direct sales of breeding birds or their progeny from a breeder’s own premises. There are no native wild canary populations in Britain.