Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 13 January 2026 to WPQ 103427 about fly tipping, whether the recommendations of the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group will impact fly-tipping policy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials chair regular meetings of the National Fly-tipping Prevention Group and whilst various aspects of fly-tipping are discussed at these meetings, the group does not develop formal recommendations to Defra. The aim of the group, whose members include various local councils, the Environment Agency, National Police Chiefs Council and others, is to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. The work of the group informs our evidence base.
The group has developed various practical tools including guides on how councils and others can present robust cases to court, set up and run effective local partnerships to tackle fly-tipping and raise awareness of the household and business waste duty of care. These are available at: https://nftpg.com/.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the supermarket industry on tackling food waste in supermarkets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra funds the groundbreaking UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste in supply chains. The Pact has developed the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which helps businesses to identify and measure their surplus and waste and take steps to reduce it. Through the Pact, we have regular engagement with food businesses, including supermarkets, to better understand and overcome the barriers to tackling food waste.
Defra also supports retailers and food businesses to play a key role in making sure their products help consumers to waste less food at home. This includes through appropriate storage advice, packaging design, and how food is labelled.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive to develop the Circular Economy Growth Plan.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Circular Economy Growth Plan will be England only in scope (aside from policy areas that are reserved matters), but we recognise that the Devolved Governments, including the Northern Ireland Executive, either have or are developing similar circular economy plans.
The Growth Plan will set out the biggest opportunities to support growth in sectors right across the economy, including: agri-food; built environment; chemicals and plastics; electrical and electronic equipment; textiles; and transport.
We recognise the overlap between these sectors and the circular economy packages being taken forward by Devolved Governments. Ministers have engaged with their counterparts in Northern Ireland on areas of shared interests and opportunities for collaboration through both the Inter-Ministerial Group and the British-Irish Council. This engagement has been further continued at official level too in order to support alignment.
The Secretary of State will continue to discuss the progress of our Circular Economy agenda with the Northern Ireland Executive and all devolved governments, as we are actively looking to work collaboratively and closely across the four nations, recognising that consistency throughout the UK also has benefits for industry and other stakeholders.
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 was the total Environment Agency expenditure on waste crime in each year since 2015.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is unable to track total expenditure on waste crime as waste crime is delivered by a range of multi-functional teams.
The EA can only report on what is allocated, not what is spent. The table provided sets out the EA’s Grant in Aid income that has been specifically allocated to waste crime activities since 2015. Wider core grant has historically contributed to enforcement work across all EA functions but is not allocated in a way that can be specifically linked to waste crime, so is not included.
Year | Waste Crime Allocation |
2014/15 | £3.3m |
2015/16 | £2.4m |
2016/17 | £6.0m |
2017/18 | £6.4m |
2018/19 | £10.5m |
2019/20 | £10m |
2020/21 | £10m |
2021/22 | £10m |
2022/23 | £10m |
2023/24 | £10m |
2024/45 | £10m |
2025/26 | £12m *Plus, additional £3.6m for enforcement of new duties including extended producer responsibility. |
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on proposals to prohibit the import into the UK of hunting trophies; and when she expects to bring forward legislation to implement such a prohibition.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern.
The department continues to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can implement a robust ban.
Timeframes for introducing legislation will be provided once the Parliamentary timetable for future sessions is determined.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 have discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on adding chalk streams to the list of irreplaceable habitats in the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Chalk streams are a large source of national pride. As one of Britain’s most nature-rich habitats, they support some of our rarest wildlife.
During the passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill last year, the Government committed to consulting on National Planning Policy Framework to give explicit recognition to chalk streams in the new suite of planning policies for decision making and seek to ensure that chalk streams are explicitly recognised as features of high environmental value. Also, Local Nature Recovery Strategies statutory guidance will be amended to encourage chalk streams to feature prominently.
The Government has has also set out clearer expectations for development proposals to assess and mitigate adverse impacts to water quality on these sensitive waterbodies.
The consultation on changes to the NPPF is available here: National Planning Policy Framework: proposed reforms and other changes to the planning system - GOV.UK and will remain open for responses until 10th March 2026.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the delay in publishing the Greening Government Commitments for the period 2025-2030 on (a) the timetable for achieving Net Zero within the civil service and (b) the Government's environmental policies.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities, including on the use of AI. Departments are expected to continue to take action to reduce their impact on the environment.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
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 potential impact of AI technologies on the environment as part of her Department's work on the Greening Government Commitments for the period 2025 to 2030.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities, including on the use of AI. Departments are expected to continue to take action to reduce their impact on the environment.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the Greening Government Commitments for the period 2025 to 2030; and for what reasons this has not already been published.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities, including on the use of AI. Departments are expected to continue to take action to reduce their impact on the environment.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether an impact assessment was carried before withdrawing Government Procurement Cards from staff working in the Forestry Commission.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Cabinet Office required all Civil Service organisations to cancel or freeze all Government Procurement Cards (GPC) by 31 March 2025. In response, the Forestry Commission set up a review panel to assess which GPCs should be retained. A limited number of cards considered essential for operationally critical, health and safety, or legal compliance purposes were allowed to continue. All cardholders were notified of the decision regarding their GPC, and staff have been given guidance on alternative purchasing methods including using the travel management system, expense reimbursement, cash advances and other supplier contracts. This ensured that necessary operational activity could continue without disruption.