Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons why the Woodlands for Water project delivered 9 per cent of the target hectares of tree planting.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Woodlands for Water project, funded by Defra and delivered by the Riverscapes Partnership, ran from October 2021 to March 2025. At the end of the project, 288 hectares had been planted, with over 2,200 hectares of sites identified for planting. These are being pursued through other means, including through support from Rivers Trust and progressing planting through the Community Forests where appropriate.
Defra reduced funding to the project in financial year 2024/25 and the project is now closed.
Reasons for planting being below target include particular challenges around riparian planting, which typically involves small land parcels with multiple land managers alongside practical challenges of planting alongside linear features such as rivers.
We are continuing to support riparian planting through the England Woodland Creation Offer, which has stackable supplementary payments for woodlands that improve water quality, reduce the risk of flooding, and riparian buffers that improve water habitat. Our Water Environment Improvement Fund also supports targeted woodland creation for water benefits.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the press release by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 4 February, Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses, how the pledge that homes will be better protected from flooding is being measured.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 – the largest flood programme in history – a record investment that is projected to benefit nearly 900,000 properties.
We are on track to protect more than 66,000 properties by March 2026 as announced on 4 February (see attached): 52,000 properties better protected through building new defences and an additional 14,500 properties better protected by reprioritising £108 million into maintenance. The metric used is properties better protected, which identifies the total number of properties with a reduced probability of flooding or coastal erosion.
We have developed new outcome and output metrics to drive the best FCERM outcomes and explain the benefits of the FCERM investment to different audiences. These metrics will be used for the new programme starting in April 2026. The outcome metrics are economic benefits and risk to properties. The output metrics are properties benefitting from different levels of risk reduction, and the condition of FCERM assets.
Asked by: Lord Pack (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 4 December (HL Deb col 1907), whether they will publish the animal welfare legislation and consultation recommendations that have not yet been commenced or acted on.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out by the Prime Minister, we will publish our Animal Welfare Strategy this year which will set out our priorities for animal welfare.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government the (1) number, and (2) value of grants issued from the Conservation and Enhancement Scheme in the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For the financial years 2023/24 to 2025/26, the number of Conservation Enhancement Scheme (CES) grants issued, and their value is as follows:
Financial Year | New CES issued | Value |
2023/24 | 50 | £796,137 |
2024/25 | 45 | £1,925,180 |
2025/26 | 47 | £1,930,866 |
Total | 142 | £4,652,183 |
Notes:
1) Number issued includes direct land manager agreements and SSSI investigations. The latter establish what work may be required to support actions on SSSIs that may be supported through a subsequent CES agreement with the land manager.
2) Value – this is the total value spent on CES agreements in each year. Some of this value is for multi-year CES agreed in previous years.
3) Figures for 2025/26 are expected end of year figures. However, only around £130k of this is still to be agreed in January 2026.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate has she made of the number of cider makers operating in the UK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Association of Cider Makers, who represent the UK cider industry, estimate that there are 450 cider makers in the UK (2025/2026 Cider Manifesto).
The Government celebrates the UK’s cider making traditions and recognises the industry’s important contribution to the UK’s economy.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that consumers are provided with sufficient information to make informed choices regarding the method of slaughter used in producing meat sold in UK supermarkets.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government expects industry to provide consumers with information on which to make an informed choice about their food. Any information provided on the method of slaughter must be accurate and not misleading to the consumer.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) name, (b) job title, (c) annual remuneration, (d) time commitment and (e) expected end date is for each direct ministerial appointment in her Department.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are four current Direct Ministerial Appointees.
Andrew Morlet is Chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce. He is remunerated at £15,600 per year with a time commitment of one day per week. His appointment is due to end on 3 February 2026.
Paul Ekins is Deputy Chair of the Circular Economy Taskforce. He receives £15,600 annually with a time commitment of one day per week. His appointment is due to end on 3 February 2026.
Philip Stocker is the Chair of the Dartmoor Land Management Group. He is paid £20,114.88 per annum with a commitment of four days per month. His appointment ends 28 April 2026.
Peter Troughton is appointed as a Chequers Trustee. This is an unremunerated position, the time commitment is not specified, and the appointment is due to conclude on 16 August 2027.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government is providing additional support to crayfish companies affected by recent changes to licensing requirements.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The current licensing requirements have been in place since 2019, and there have been no recent changes. To help businesses adjust at the time, the Government allowed a two-year transition period for licensed exports of live signal crayfish, where import was legal in the destination country. This temporary measure gave businesses time to develop alternative markets such as processed or frozen products.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many such cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following table summarises the information held on the total number of performance ratings where these were available, and the number of cases where a rating was unsatisfactory or below. Please note that the policy for performance management has changed over this period. End-year performance ratings were removed for most staff in April 23. From this date performance ratings are only collected for Senior Civil Servants in APHA, RPA, VMD and Core Defra, senior leaders in NE, and all staff in EA.
Additionally, NE ratings for senior leaders are collated by NE directly and are not included in the data below from April 23 onwards.
The reportable data Defra holds does not include the reason for a dismissal and therefore a link to performance rating cannot be made. This limitation means that the requested information on number of staff who left because of a poor performance rating, and the proportion this represents, is not available.
Organisation | Financial Year | Number of performance ratings | Number of cases where performance was unsatisfactory or below |
Core Defra | 2020-2021 | 4720 |
|
2021-2022 | 5873 | 15 | |
2022-2023 | 5856 |
| |
2023-2024** | 182 |
| |
2024-2025** | 184 | 10 | |
Agencies (APHA, EA, NE, RPA, VMD) | 2020-2021* | 14975 | 29 |
2021-2022 | 17768 | 54 | |
2022-2023 | 20438 | 44 | |
2023-2024** | 12925 | 40 | |
2024-2025** | 13154 | 29 |
*No ratings available for RPA.
**SCS only for APHA, RPA, VMD, Core Defra, no ratings available for NE.
c. These numbers are suppressed in accordance with the Defra data protection policy.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help support dairy farmers in Ribble Valley constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK dairy sector is highly resilient and adaptable and continues to supply healthy and affordable products in spite of the many challenges it has faced in recent years.
This Government recognises that food security is national security, and that it requires a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports farmers. That is why we are introducing new deals for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security.
Ensuring fairness in supply chains is key for UK dairy farmers and supporting the sustainability of the sector. The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024, which fully came into force on 9 July 2025, improve fairness and transparency, requiring dairy contracts to include clear terms on pricing, termination, and prohibiting unilateral changes.