Asked by: Matt Bishop (Labour - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what action is being taken to address ongoing illegal tipping a) across the country, and b) in the Forest of Dean constituency.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to tackling waste crime from the fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages to the serious and organised crime groups who are exploiting the waste sector. Defra is making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals and have increased the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6 million.
The EA focuses on tackling large-scale waste crime, often linked to organised criminal activity while fly-tipping is managed by local authorities.
The EA is tackling waste crime across the West Midlands region, including the Forest of Dean. All reports are taken seriously, investigating each one and determining the most appropriate intervention, based on the level of risk to communities and the environment. EA Officers use a wide range of prevention and disruption techniques and are not hesitating to use these and to take enforcement action where necessary on any illegal waste sites in the Forest of Dean.
Defra also works with a wide range of interested parties through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group (NFTPG) to promote good practice, including advice on preventing fly-tipping on private land.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 adequacy of data capture and analysis for air quality within England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Assessment of data capture is a routine activity to ensure air quality monitoring meets legislative requirements (data capture of at least 85% of the measurement period (i.e. at least 85% of days in a year) is required for compliance reporting. Networks operated for this purpose have suitable regimes of maintenance and servicing to minimise instrument down time and maximise data capture.
Analysis of air quality in England is presented within our accredited official statistics ( https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-quality-statistics) and our annual compliance report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-pollution-in-the-uk-2024). Both provide more detail on the data capture requirements and data capture statistics achieved in the relevant year.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled UK leads global efforts to help communities save the ocean and beat poverty, published on 26 January 2026, what proportion of the £14 million OCEAN funding will be spent in each recipient country.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
OCEAN Round 2 projects remain subject to final due diligence. The finalised list of projects, along with the countries in which OCEAN works, will be made available on the OCEAN website in due course.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of how well examples of local best practice that exist to enforce existing legislation and regulation to improve local air quality are being rolled out elsewhere in England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
National targets and local actions are aligned through statutory duties that require local authorities to assess air quality, designate Air Quality Management Areas, and produce Air Quality Action Plans tied to national air quality objectives. Local authorities retain flexibility to tailor interventions to local circumstances.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 had made of the adequacy of alignment between national government targets and obligations and local government actions to improve ambient air quality in England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
National targets and local actions are aligned through statutory duties that require local authorities to assess air quality, designate Air Quality Management Areas, and produce Air Quality Action Plans tied to national air quality objectives. Local authorities retain flexibility to tailor interventions to local circumstances.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent conversations her Department has held with animal charities regarding veterinary bills.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Proposed reforms to the VSA support the result of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA’s) market investigation into veterinary services for household pets. The CMA has provisionally recommended making fees more transparent, thus helping owners to make more informed choices on of the type of veterinary care they value.
Defra has engaged closely with several sector stakeholders, including representatives from the charity sector, in relation to our consultation on proposed reforms of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. Defra shall continue to involve animal charities in this work. Proposed reforms will allow veterinary nurses to independently carry out a greater range of work within their skillset. Independently, this will aid animal charities by giving them more choice over who can provide treatment.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an estimate of the amount of capital funding needed to ensure the provision of effective water services in each area of England in each year until 2030.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of Price Review 24, Ofwat, the independent water regulator, has made a thorough estimate of the amount of capital funding water companies will need to deliver services for the current spending period, to 2029. This assessment includes funding for routine costs and for ongoing improvements required to meet new statutory obligations and environmental standards.
Ofwat provides the requested estimate, including a company-by-company breakdown on its website: Final determinations in the 2024 price review - Ofwat.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
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 which countries critical mineral waste and scrap are exported under licence for recycling.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not maintain a list of businesses that export waste from the UK. Any exporter that is not the original waste producer must be registered as a waste broker or dealer. Details of registered brokers and dealers in England can be found on the public register, available at: https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers
Information on the destination of waste exported from the UK is publicly available here: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a list of companies that have a licence to export critical mineral waste and scrap for recycling abroad.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not maintain a list of businesses that export waste from the UK. Any exporter that is not the original waste producer must be registered as a waste broker or dealer. Details of registered brokers and dealers in England can be found on the public register, available at: https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers
Information on the destination of waste exported from the UK is publicly available here: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 adequacy of national targets, requirements and performance standards for air quality and national emission ceilings in protecting public health, climate and the environment.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra regularly assesses the adequacy of national air quality targets and emission ceilings through statutory annual reporting and formal reviews of the Environmental Improvement Plan.