Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2025 to Question 82808 on Water Supply: Newton Abbot, what assessment her Department has made of the capacity of Teignbridge District Council to meet its statutory duties for private water supplies, in light of the number of registered supplies and the associated workload for risk assessments and sampling.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities can recover costs incurred from their work on private water supplies from the relevant person for the supply. Defra expects all local authorities to undertake their statutory duties.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with South East Water on water supply following issues at a treatment works on Saturday 29 November 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Defra Secretary of State and Minister for Floods and Water have had frequent discussions with South East Water’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 29 November. This includes direct phone calls with the CEO by the Secretary of State and Minister for Floods and Water. The Minister for Floods and Water has also chaired three meetings which have been attended by South East Water’s CEO as well as senior leaders from the Local Councils and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Defra officials have held numerous discussions with South East Water CEO and officials, including direct calls with the CEO. They have also participated in Tactical Coordination Groups and Strategic Coordination Groups held by the Kent Local Resilience Forum. These have been attended by South East Water.
Officials from the Drinking Water Inspectorate have also engaged with the company as part of their full investigation into the incident. Further details of which can be found online.
Ministers and Officials will continue to engage extensively with South East Water on this incident until it is resolved.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 protect the welfare of live decapod crustaceans while held in commercial premises prior to sale.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to an evidence-based and proportionate approach to setting welfare standards for decapod crustaceans. Defra has commissioned research to address a knowledge gap about how live decapods move from sea to plate. This is due to finish in 2026. In addition, a project on the welfare of decapod crustaceans across the supply chain is included in the Animal Welfare Committee’s current work plan.
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Source Page: Letter dated 03/12/2025 from Baroness Hayman of Ullock to Lord Krebs regarding a question concerning six large-scale sites where illegal waste dumping occurred, as raised during a parliamentary question on the steps being taken by the government to tackle waste crime. 3p.Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 plans to reduce vehicle generated air pollution in Greater Manchester as an alternative to the now cancelled charging Clean Air Zone proposal.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We agreed in January 2025 an £86m plan for Greater Manchester to help reduce pollution from vehicles and clean up the region’s air. The plan includes support for cleaner buses, local traffic measures and moving Greater Manchester’s taxi fleet to cleaner vehicles. The plan was agreed by Government following assessment of evidence provided by Greater Manchester authorities that it was likely to achieve compliance with legal nitrogen dioxide limits in the shortest possible time, including in comparison to the alternative of a Clean Air Zone.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 funding for canal maintenance.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Canal maintenance, and ensuring funding for it, is the responsibility of navigation authorities. The Government provides the largest navigation authority, the Canal and River Trust, with an annual grant of £52.6 million to support the Trust’s network maintenance programme. This represented 22% of the Trust’s total income of £232 million last year.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Department has established measurable targets for rural business productivity improvements supported by public funding in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have not set productivity targets specifically for businesses in rural areas. Defra provides funding to rural businesses via the Rural England Prosperity Fund. Each individual eligible local authority is responsible for running their own rounds of funding and establishing their own delivery targets based on local priorities.
The Fund is devolved to local authorities, and they have been given responsibility for delivery of REPF – including setting priorities and delivery targets for the funding they have been allocated, assessing and approving project applications, processing payments and the day-to-day monitoring of delivery. Each eligible local authority reports every 6 months on spend and outcomes via the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, who administer the Fund on Defras’ behalf.
The Department provided Buckinghamshire with an allocation of £1.828m in financial years 2023/24 & 2024/25 and a further £548k in financial year 2025/26 via the Rural England Prosperity Fund.