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.
Jan. 26 2026
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