Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applications that were started but are unsubmitted are held by the Rural Payments Agency for SFI24.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer (SFI EO) is an online application and as of the 12 March there are 6,626 applications currently started but not submitted on the Rural Payments Portal.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) extended producer responsibility fees and (b) other tax increases on the viability of UK breweries.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The 2024 pEPR impact assessment can be found here.

The impact assessment estimated the pEPR producer fees would generate over £1 billion annually to support local authority collection and disposal services, including recycling services. We expect Greenhouse Gas Emissions savings of approximately 0.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the 10-year appraisal period.

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government has decided to offer a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025-26 and frozen the small business multiplier.

By tapering RHL relief to 40%, rather than letting it end, the Government has saved the average pub, with a rateable value (RV) of £16,800, over £3,300 in 2025.

At Budget, the Government also announced that from 2026-27, it intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government intends to fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on the most valuable properties, which includes the majority of large distribution warehouses, including warehouses used by online giants.

The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) extended producer responsibility fees and (b) other tax increases on the viability of UK breweries.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The 2024 pEPR impact assessment can be found here.

The impact assessment estimated the pEPR producer fees would generate over £1 billion annually to support local authority collection and disposal services, including recycling services. We expect Greenhouse Gas Emissions savings of approximately 0.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over the 10-year appraisal period.

Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government has decided to offer a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025-26 and frozen the small business multiplier.

By tapering RHL relief to 40%, rather than letting it end, the Government has saved the average pub, with a rateable value (RV) of £16,800, over £3,300 in 2025.

At Budget, the Government also announced that from 2026-27, it intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. The Government intends to fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on the most valuable properties, which includes the majority of large distribution warehouses, including warehouses used by online giants.

The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to delay the implementation of extended producer responsibility.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

No. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 came into effect on 1 January 2025, PackUK, the Scheme Administrator has been appointed, and producers will start to accrue scheme costs from 1 April 2025.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not reduce investment in UK manufacturing.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.

Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on environmental targets, particularly species abundance and reducing river nutrient pollution.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have paused the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ahead of reforming it. This is the third time SFI has been paused. We will confirm plans for the reformed SFI in the summer and we expect that scheme to contribute to these outcomes. There are also tens of thousands of farmers in SFI for three years, supporting those outcomes.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department considered alternatives to extended producer responsibility.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government consulted on the principles, objectives, and proposals for extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, and these received high levels of support. This followed initial lobbying in 2018 from the sector, which preferred extended producer responsibility, in which funds are invested back into the sector, to other fiscal measures such as a non-hypothecated tax.

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 estimate of the change in the number of miles of (a) public footpaths, (b) bridleways, (c) restricted byways and (d) other public (i) walkways and (ii) cycleways in the UK since 2015.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The public rights of way network provides approximately 140,000 miles of linear access in England and Wales, with 83% found in England and 17% in Wales. In England this consists approximately of:

• 91,000 miles of footpaths
• 20,000 miles of bridleways
• 3,700 miles of restricted byways
• 2,300 miles of byways open to all traffic (BOATs).

In addition, when both the King Charles III England Coast Path and Coast to Coast National Trail are complete, the total length of National Trails in England will be 4,952 miles. Permissive paths also give the public access to large amounts of the English countryside.

The National Cycle Network spans 12,000 miles of signed routes for walking, wheeling and cycling including over 5,000 miles of traffic free paths. There are 2,000 miles of canal towpaths in England and Wales.

Information on overall lengths of publicly maintainable cycleways and footways, along with changes to the public rights of way network and other walkways and cycle paths since 2015 in England is held by the respective local authority. Further information on public rights of way and other public paths or routes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Welsh and Scottish Governments and Northern Ireland Executive respectively.

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 estimate of the number of miles of (a) public footpaths, (b) bridleways, (c) restricted byways and (d) other public (i) walkways and (ii) cycleways in the UK.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The public rights of way network provides approximately 140,000 miles of linear access in England and Wales, with 83% found in England and 17% in Wales. In England this consists approximately of:

• 91,000 miles of footpaths
• 20,000 miles of bridleways
• 3,700 miles of restricted byways
• 2,300 miles of byways open to all traffic (BOATs).

In addition, when both the King Charles III England Coast Path and Coast to Coast National Trail are complete, the total length of National Trails in England will be 4,952 miles. Permissive paths also give the public access to large amounts of the English countryside.

The National Cycle Network spans 12,000 miles of signed routes for walking, wheeling and cycling including over 5,000 miles of traffic free paths. There are 2,000 miles of canal towpaths in England and Wales.

Information on overall lengths of publicly maintainable cycleways and footways, along with changes to the public rights of way network and other walkways and cycle paths since 2015 in England is held by the respective local authority. Further information on public rights of way and other public paths or routes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Welsh and Scottish Governments and Northern Ireland Executive respectively.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of hectares of forestry land that will be made available for energy generation, in the context of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The forestry renewables measure, announced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, aims to integrate renewable energy into our natural landscape. Provisions will be in place to ensure that renewable energy developments on forestry land are not at the expense of our natural environment. Forestry England’s general duty to promote the interests of forestry and development of afforestation, as set out by the Forestry Act, will be unchanged.

The Public Forest Estate comprises a mixture of woodland and non-woodland areas. Only projects at suitable locations within the Public Forest Estate will be taken forward to deliver energy generation projects. Renewable energy developments will be subject to the planning process which will include environmental screening, surveys, and mitigation measures on any potential impacts on landscapes and ecology. The estimated footprint of these projects will be relatively small, and we expect no net loss of woodland area.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the ability of the Rural Payment Agency to process changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) in recent years has delivered improvements to accessibility of their services, streamlined application processes and delivered improvements in the issuing of agreements and payment performance and are well placed to continue to deliver the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The RPA continues to engage with farmers, stakeholders, and Defra policy makers, to ensure the right support is provided to help farmers and rural business deliver their outcomes.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers that were intending to apply for the Sustainable Farming incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers who are not registered to the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to ensure that (a) the River Frome and (b) other chalk streams outside of designated protected landscapes receive equal consideration for (i) conservation and (ii) restoration.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is committed to the restoration of our cherished chalk streams. With 85% of the world’s chalk streams found in the UK, these unique water bodies are not just vital ecosystems but a symbol of our national heritage.

The Government is committed to restoring our rivers, lakes and seas, including chalk streams. This is why on 23 October 2024 the UK and Welsh Governments launched an independent commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe and supported by expert advisors, to recommend reforms to reset the water sector regulatory system. The commission aims to build consensus for a resilient and innovative water sector and a robust wider regulatory framework that will deliver long-term benefits to ultimately serve both customers and the environment.

The main pressures on the Dorset Frome are point-source and diffuse pollution, historic land use and water management changes such as weirs and channel straightening, and water resources balance. The Environment Agency is working with partners in the Frome Headwaters catchment this year to further understand and address some of these issues with a focus on reducing fine sediment input and improving habitat.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to support farmers who did not apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme before its closure.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help support farmers following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applicants.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers no longer able to apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Natural England on a restoration policy for Atlantic salmon populations in chalk streams designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has not discussed a restoration policy for salmon in chalk streams that are Sites of Special Scientific Interest with Natural England.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the viability of farming businesses (a) whose government funding has reduced by 70% or more and (b) which are currently unable to apply for the (i) Sustainable Farming Incentive, (b) capital grants or (c) higher tier schemes.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Whilst applications for the SFI24 scheme have closed, the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated. We have large-scale uptake of the scheme, with over 37,000 live SFI agreements which commit money for at least three years, and more than half of all farmed land is now being managed under SFI and other farming schemes. We plan to reopen the SFI applications service once we have a reformed SFI offer in place.

Ongoing schemes are already supporting farm businesses to remain viable as they adjust to the reduction of farm subsidy. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year, and Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025. We continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcomes.

New figures published recently showed that the proportion of commercial farms with income from agri-environment schemes rose from 49% in 2020/21 to 70% in 2023/24.

Furthermore, funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide guidance to forestry authorities on prioritising energy generation in the context of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The forestry renewables measure, announced as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, aims to integrate renewable energy into our natural landscape. Provisions will be in place to ensure that renewable energy developments on forestry land are not at the expense of our natural environment. Forestry England’s general duty to promote the interests of forestry and development of afforestation, as set out by the Forestry Act, will be unchanged.

The Public Forest Estate comprises a mixture of woodland and non-woodland areas. Only projects at suitable locations within the Public Forest Estate will be taken forward to deliver energy generation projects. Renewable energy developments will be subject to the planning process which will include environmental screening, surveys, and mitigation measures on any potential impacts on landscapes and ecology. The estimated footprint of these projects will be relatively small, and we expect no net loss of woodland area.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to review the regulatory framework governing Southern Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority to improve protections for Atlantic salmon entering Poole Harbour.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is not planning to review the regulatory framework for Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs). IFCAs already have a duty to manage inshore fisheries sustainably, balancing socioeconomic factors with protecting the marine environment, including Atlantic salmon. Southern IFCA have published a Salmonid Good Handling Code of Practice and introduced a Net Fishing Byelaw in 2023, both of which help to protect salmon in Poole Harbour.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many properties received Farming Recovery Payments in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (i) 2023 and (ii) 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) can confirm that no payments were made to properties under the Farming Recovery payments in a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (i) 2023

RPA can confirm that 1889 payments were made to properties under the Farming Recovery payments in a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in (ii) 2024.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what communications his Department plans to send to farming businesses affected by changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive; and what support he plans to provide to staff in his Department that support vulnerable farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A letter from Minister Zeichner was sent to all farm businesses on 12 March advising them of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applications. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will be writing to farm businesses affected shortly with more information on what this means for them. Staff in the RPA have access to tools and training to help them support vulnerable farmers, including signposting to farming welfare organisations, and content to support their own wellbeing. The agency also engages with a network of supporting organisations across the sector.

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 17 January 2025, to Question 22329, on Noise: Pollution Control, whether his Department has published guidance on established use in statutory nuisance complaints for (a) long-standing chiming clocks and (b) church bells.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Statutory Nuisance Regime under Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) is designed to provide protection from nuisances including noise, odour, smoke, fumes, artificial light, infestations and accumulations. Local authorities are responsible for investigating nuisance problems brought to their attention under the EPA.

If local authorities consider that a statutory nuisance is happening, has happened or will happen in the future, they must serve an abatement notice (usually on the person responsible).

Further guidance on planning policy on noise, which includes advice on the agent of change’ principle, is published by MHCLG.

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 21 February 2025 to Question 30440 on Housing: Construction, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling developers to meet biodiversity net gain through off-site credits.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The biodiversity gain hierarchy makes clear that a developer should first look to deliver their 10% BNG on-site. If they cannot achieve all or part of the 10% on-site, they must achieve the BNG off-site either on their own land, or by purchasing biodiversity units through the off-site market. If the type of units they need are unavailable in the market, they can purchase statutory biodiversity credits as a last resort.

Developers must follow this hierarchy as set out in legislation. The Government is working with stakeholders to monitor the implementation of BNG to make sure it is working as intended.

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 21 February 2025 to Question 30643 on Nightclubs and Public Houses: Planning, what guidance his Department has issued on noise and statutory nuisance; and whether his Department has issued guidance on the agent of change principle.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Statutory Nuisance Regime under Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA) is designed to provide protection from nuisances including noise, odour, smoke, fumes, artificial light, infestations and accumulations. Local authorities are responsible for investigating nuisance problems brought to their attention under the EPA.

If local authorities consider that a statutory nuisance is happening, has happened or will happen in the future, they must serve an abatement notice (usually on the person responsible).

Further guidance on planning policy on noise, which includes advice on the agent of change’ principle, is published by MHCLG.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility fees being (a) illustrative and (b) not intended for business planning purposes on the ability of business to plan for these costs.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The four UK administrations have published three sets of illustrative base fees to help businesses prepare for the implementation of extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging. Thanks to regular engagement and input with a wide range of businesses for the first time we published the third set of illustrative fees showed point estimates as opposed to ranges, providing further certainty.

Large producers are required to submit the next round of 2024 data by 1 April 2025 to ensure the fees are based on accurate data, following this and pending satisfactory regulatory checks, we intend to use these data to publish pEPR base fees by June 2025.

PackUK will continue to monitor the expected base fees as more packaging data is submitted for 2024, and will release a new set of illustrative base fees before June if there are significant changes.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the capability of the Animal and Plant Health Agency IT equipment.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The APHA and Defra leadership teams have benefited from internal audits undertaken each year which look at issues including spend, governance, resilience, cyber security, and asset management. Additional insight into the need for investment in the APHA's IT capability has also come from 3 recent Government Internal Audit Agency audits on; Disaster Recovery, Cyber Security and a more targeted APHA Shadow IT Audit.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish new guidance on the exemption process for indirect sales of non-household waste under the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme before fees are calculated for the year starting in April 2025.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since Autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders to consider potential future amendments to the definition of household packaging, which includes the exemption process for indirect sales of non-household waste under the pEPR scheme. The Government will provide an update on progress made and next steps shortly.

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 meet with the Seasonal Worker Interest Group to discuss worker welfare on the Seasonal Worker visa.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Home Office, in collaboration with Defra, is arranging a meeting on seasonal worker welfare issues hosted by the Minister for Farming, Daniel Zeichner, and the Minister for Migration, Seema Malhotra MP, later this month. Invitations have been sent to the Seasonal Worker Interest Group, and other interested parties, for this event, which will provide an opportunity to discuss these matters further.

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 5 March 2025 to Question 34165 on Food and Livestock: Transport, how many times the Border Control Post has contacted people responsible for a load in relation to (a) concerns and (b) concerns about non-attendance in each of the last twelve months.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Due to the intelligence led and dynamic nature of our biosecurity controls, and to ensure operations are not impacted, we are unable to share this data.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people will be employed at ports in Great Britain to work on monitoring, supervising or implementing the Northern Ireland pet travel scheme for pet animals moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Officials will be available at the GB ports to support and assist those travelling under the Northern Ireland Pet Travel Scheme. To simplify non-commercial pet movements (cats, dogs, including assistance dogs, and ferrets) from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the scheme will enable travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with a simple lifelong pet travel document.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to reduce barriers to and facilitate cross-border travel without physical checks for thoroughbred horses since 6 February.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

There have been no changes to the rules for importing thoroughbred horses into Great Britain since 6 February 2025. Imports of thoroughbred horses from the European Union (EU) do not currently need to enter Great Britain via a Border Control Post and are not subject to physical checks at the border. Guidance on importing horses into Great Britain is available on GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many live animals have been exported for slaughter in each year from 2022 to date from Northern Ireland to (1) countries within the EU other than the Irish Republic, and (2) countries outside the EU.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This is a devolved matter and the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the operation of Thames Water; and whether they intend to intervene to ensure fair prices for customers.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is carefully monitoring the situation with Thames Water and the company remains stable. It is Ofwat's responsibility to independently scrutinise water company business plans, ensure that the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate and monitor and hold water companies accountable for delivery.

Thames Water has sought a referral to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for redetermination. Just as Ofwat conducts the price review process at a distance from the Government, the CMA also conduct their redetermination process independently and it would therefore be inappropriate for the Government to comment on the precise details of each company’s case.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department made projections on the number of Sustainable Farming Incentive applications it would receive in financial year 2024-25.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We monitor forecasts of scheme uptake and spend against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. We committed to spending £2.6 billion in 24/25 and are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.

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 the oral contribution by the hon. Member for Yeovil during the Ministerial Statement on Sustainable Farming Incentive on 12 March 2025, if he will visit farmers in Yeovil constituency to discuss this matter.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Secretary of State believes in the importance of continued engagement with the sector and has spoken with several farmers since his appointment. He will be happy to speak to those in the Yeovil Constituency.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers through the agricultural transition following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, existing agreements will continue. Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

Whilst we are developing the reformed SFI offer, other schemes will still be available.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers, in the context of the closing of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, existing agreements will continue. Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

Whilst we are developing the reformed SFI offer, other schemes will still be available.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help support farmers following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, existing agreements will continue. Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.

We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

Whilst we are developing the reformed SFI offer, other schemes will still be available.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to introduce a replacement scheme following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have closed Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.

Now is the right time for a reset: supporting farmers, delivering for nature and targeting public funds fairly and effectively towards our priorities for food, farming and nature.

We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment. This will allow us to align SFI with our work on the Land Use Framework and the 25-year farming roadmap to protect the most productive land and boost food security, whilst delivering for nature.

A budget will be set for the coming year in the Chancellor’s spending review. Now the scheme is fully allocated it will temporarily close to new applicants while we will work with the farming sector to prioritise funding for future years so we can target those who will benefit most before reopening to new applicants.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the replacement scheme for the Sustainable Farming Incentive will be (a) index-linked to inflation and (a) provide greater financial support than the SFI scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Prices in schemes have increased in the last 3 years to reflect inflation and pay a fair price for action.

The overall budget has been set in the context of the Spending Review and is sufficient to continue rolling out schemes and paying farmers as planned this year.

The budget for future years will be set in phase 2 of the Spending Review. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer following the Spending Review.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how he plans to support upland farmers who were intending to move onto the Sustainable Farming Incentive following the closure of the scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We fully recognise the importance of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for upland farmers – and we strongly want the scheme to be available to them as we move forward.

We have closed SFI for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.

We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

In the meantime, as announced on 25th February, we’re increasing HLS payment rates. We believe this uplift better reflects the contributions made by those with HLS agreements and will support the continued protection and management of these sites.

We will also open the rolling application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier this summer and have published information that sets out what upland farmers can do now to prepare to apply for CSHT.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the funding for the new National Biosecurity Centre is being paid for out of the agricultural budget which was previously committed to go towards farmers directly as public payments for public goods.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has committed to setting up a new National Biosecurity Centre to transform the Animal and Plant Health Agency animal health facility at Weybridge, investing £200 million to improve our resilience against animal disease to protect farmers and food producers. This is funded from a budget separate from the record £5 billion of funding in the farming budget for this year and next.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on meeting environmental targets for (a) species abundance and (b) improving water quality.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have paused the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) ahead of reforming it. This is the third time SFI has been paused. We will confirm plans for the reformed SFI in the summer and we expect that scheme to contribute to these outcomes. There are also tens of thousands of farmers in SFI for three years, supporting those outcomes.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on (a) small farms, (b) upland farmers and (c) commoners.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We publish regular statistics on Farm Business Income. Farming evidence packs for example have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance. These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK. We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to publish (a) the Elephant Welfare Group's report, (b) the Government's response to the Elephant Welfare Group's report; and what his Department's policy is on the future of elephants in UK zoos.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government’s policy on the keeping of elephants in zoos will be set out with the publication of the new Standards of Modern Zoo Practice for Great Britain. The new Standards, which will replace the current Secretary of State’s Standards of Modern Zoo Practice, will be published shortly.

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 (a) efficiency and (b) effectiveness of how local authorities use extended producer responsibility revenue.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

From 2028, the pEPR scheme administrator, PackUK, must assess whether each local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste. If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they are able to give notice to the local authority, work with them to determine how the services could be improved, and where necessary reduce the payments available to them in the following year by up to 20%. In relation to cost efficiency, local authorities will receive payments representing their estimated efficient costs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish the final Land Use Framework.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has launched a 12-week consultation on land use in England, the outcomes of which will inform the publication of the Land Use Framework this year. A timeline for publishing Land Use Framework will be set out in due course, after the consultation has closed and the feedback has been considered.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Nature Restoration Fund on the size of populations of (a) great crested newts, (b) bats, (c) dormice and (d) other protected species.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.

We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Nature Restoration Fund on district licensing schemes.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.

We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.

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 his Department's blog post entitled Update on the farming budget, published on 12 March 2025, whether the £2.4 billion budget for the 2025-26 financial year will be used for farming; whether the split between budget lines is subject to change; and whether any other factors might affect the size of the budget.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We remain committed to investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget this year and next (£2.6 billion for 24/25 and the £2.4 billion for 25/26, as previously announced), are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

We monitor forecasts against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.

The farming blog published on Wednesday 12 March set out Defra’s spend over the next two years (24/25 and 25/26). These are not ring-fenced figures and have the potential to change. Defra manages the farming budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare

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 take steps to review the Border Target Operating Model to introduce mandatory spot checks on all vehicles entering the UK, in the context of illegal meat smuggling.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Border Target Operating Model aims to mitigate sanitary and phytosanitary risks, while enabling the flow of legitimate goods through our ports and airports. We will continue to operate a compliance first approach enabling importers and the public to move compliant goods, backed up by robust, intelligence-led, enforcement controls on illegal activity.

We take illegal meat smuggling very seriously, as it may pose threats to animal health, food safety and public health. That is why we are working closely with the Home Office and the Food Standards Agency to tackle this issue with the support of Border Force, Port Health Authorities and local authorities.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to strengthen border checks to prevent illegal meat imports from entering the UK through (a) Dover and (b) other ports of entry.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has made additional funding of £1.9 million available to Dover District Council for the Port Health Authority, for the remainder of this financial year (2024 to 2025), to support Border Force to conduct safeguarding checks on the illegal import of products of animal origin. This is in addition to the £1.2 million already committed. This total funding of £3.1 million is based on the existing staffing costs provided by Dover Port Health Authority. This funding is only for this financial year. Defra has also contributed operational equipment to support Border Force with relevant checks.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department decided to cap the Sustainable Farming Incentive at £1.05 billion for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As of 11 March, £1.05 billion had been paid to farmers or committed for payment through existing agreements or submitted applications for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)

The SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package which is why Defra must manage the farming budget flexibly to respond to demand, and achieve our intended outcomes for farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the amount of countryside available to roam.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride and which boost public health and wellbeing, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We will be reviewing the maps of this open access land ahead of the statutory deadline of 1st January 2031, to ensure that the public have clear information which can help them to access this land.

We are continuing to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, for example through our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests, and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy.

In addition, the Government has made the decision to repeal the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way, preventing the loss of hundreds of miles of unregistered paths. This will ensure that these paths remain available to the public for future generations. This change will be formally enacted when parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to expand public access to land under the Right to Roam provisions.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride and which boost public health and wellbeing, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We will be reviewing the maps of this open access land ahead of the statutory deadline of 1st January 2031, to ensure that the public have clear information which can help them to access this land.

We are continuing to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, for example through our ambitious manifesto commitments to create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests, and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy.

In addition, the Government has made the decision to repeal the cut-off date for the registration of historic rights of way, preventing the loss of hundreds of miles of unregistered paths. This will ensure that these paths remain available to the public for future generations. This change will be formally enacted when parliamentary time allows.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department will monitor compliance with extended producer responsibility requirements; and what penalties will apply for non-compliance.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra officials are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) and Devolved Governments to ensure robust plans are in place to both scrutinise the accuracy of submissions from enrolled producers, and identify and bring into compliance free riders who have not yet enrolled or reported their data. This is being supported by more than doubling the number of compliance officers. We are also encouraging compliant producers to report producers they suspect of being non-compliant to the appropriate regulator. The new pEPR regulations also significantly enhanced the potential penalties for non-compliance. This will give the EA the ability to secure compliance and to take swift and proportionate enforcement action with powers, including warnings, cautions, civil sanctions, and prosecution. In addition to regulator enforcement, PackUK, the new Scheme Administrator, also has the power to invoice producers for fees in the years in which they were non-compliant.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many payments from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to farming claimants will decrease in 2025–26 compared to 2024–25 as a result of accelerated reduction to delinked payments and the cessation of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All recipients are due to receive less in delinked payments for 2025 versus 2024 as more money is moved to our other schemes for farmers and land managers.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) have been open for a number of years so that farmers can plan ahead and receive payments for improving our countryside and farming food sustainably. We will open up initial applications for CS Higher tier and a revised Environmental Land Management capital grants offer later in the summer.

We will release details of the new SFI scheme later in the year.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he had with (a) NGOs and (b) district licensing scheme providers other than Natural England on the potential impact of the inclusion of species in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill on (i) protected species and (ii) farming revenues.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In December, we published a working paper on our proposal to establish a Nature Restoration Fund through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We have listened carefully to feedback from the working paper and engagement with the development industry, nature conservation organisations and other stakeholders in developing this legislation. We continue to engage stakeholders and will work with private providers and land managers, including district licensing scheme providers, to ensure competition and innovation in securing impactful and good value for money interventions.

We are committed to delivering a win-win for nature and the economy. An Environmental Delivery Plan can only be put in place where the Secretary of State is satisfied the delivery of conservation measures will outweigh the negative effects of development.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Animal and Plant Health Agency has carried out scenario planning for potential (a) outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and (b) other significant biosecurity breaches.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) scenario modelling has been completed, and initial outputs received. A report is being drafted with the deadline being end of March. APHA is undertaking assessments in relation to other diseases including ASF.

FMD scenario modelling has been carried out multiple times, for such reasons as Contingency Exercises (Exercise Rowan) and to support development of livestock traceability systems. The majority of APHA exercises are based around a plausible scenario, developed from expert opinion, and/or demonstrated incursion, and/or simulation model. Scenarios are designed to reflect plausible, whilst testing, conditions.

APHA have carried out assessments of the risk of incursion of FMD from the continent and publish these via GOV.UK.

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 2 December 2024 to Question 15988 on Agriculture: Inheritance Tax, on what evidential basis his Department (a) determined that 73% of claims will be for less than £1 million and (b) used to identify the proportion of the remaining 27% of affected estates that are active family-run farms; and what information his Department holds on the proportion of agricultural land sales purchased by (i) large corporations and (ii) investment firms in (A) Scotland and (B) the UK in each of the last five years.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As referenced in the answer to PQ 15988, 73 per cent (1,264 of 1,730) of claims by estates for agricultural property relief in 2021-22 were for properties valued below £1 million. This is calculated using a table published by HM Treasury using HMRC data in Summary of reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief, statistical annex (30 October 2024).

According to further analysis of HMRC claims data published by HM Treasury, in 2026/27 the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 of the estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, paying more inheritance tax. This means almost three-quarters (1,260 of 1,780) of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data. See the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s letter to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Dame Meg Hillier MP: committees.parliament.uk/publications/45691/documents/226235/default/.

Defra has not made an assessment of the proportion of farming businesses that are “family-run farms”. Defra does not hold information on the purchasers of agricultural land. The Government’s assessment relates to claims for agricultural property relief and business property relief. The qualifying conditions for these reliefs are set out in Part 5 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following cuts to delinked payments and the cessation of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive, whether they still expect to distribute the full Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget of £2.4 billion in 2025–26.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We remain committed to investing £5 billion of funding in the farming budget this year and next (£2.6 billion for 24/25 and the £2.4 billion for 25/26, as previously announced). We are on track to spend all the funding that is available.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many farming claimants will experience a reduction in payments in 2025–26 compared to 2024–25 as a result of the expiration of Sustainable Farming Incentive contracts without replacements being granted.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All recipients are due to receive less in delinked payments for 2025 versus 2024 as more money is moved to our other schemes for farmers and land managers.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) have been open for a number of years so that farmers can plan ahead and receive payments for improving our countryside and farming food sustainably. We will open up initial applications for CS Higher tier and a revised Environmental Land Management capital grants offer later in the Summer.

We will release details of the new SFI scheme later in the year.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme on farmers who had planned to transition to the new land management practices under the Environmental Land Management scheme; and what plans his Department has to support those farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On 11 March 2025, we published forecasts which suggest that Average Farm Business Income has risen in 2024/25 across all farm types with the exception of cereal farms. This follows a fall in income for most farm types in 2023/24, after some exceptional highs in the two preceding years.

This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period.

50,000 farm businesses are already in agri-environmental schemes. SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many animals were (a) slaughtered for food consumption and (b) then tested for the presence of lead in (i) 2019, (ii) 2020, (iii) 2021, (iv) 2022, (v) 2023 and (vi) 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A summary of the number of animals slaughtered for food consumption and number of animals tested for lead can be found in the table on the following page.

For information, the majority of these data are available through the Defra Food and Farming statistics and the VMD also publishes the results of annual residues monitoring on an annual basis on GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason his Department did not give six weeks’ notice when closing Sustainable Farming Incentive applications.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

To ensure fair access, and to avoid the risk of overspend, we could not give any advance notice to avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.

Whilst we aim to give notice where possible (and we are aware the application service mentioned this intention of 6 weeks’ notice), there was no requirement in the scheme rules for SFI24 for us to give any notice before we closed applications.

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 publish a plan to support farmers who are not able to apply for funding under the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme following its closure to new applicants.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements.

Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector.

We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

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 take steps to support farmers following the ending of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements.

Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector.

We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open environmental schemes to increased numbers of farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements.

Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector.

We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for when councils will receive (a) transitional funding and (b) revenue support to develop food waste collection services compliant with new waste regulations in the Environment Act 2021.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Collecting food waste separately from residual waste allows us to send it for anaerobic digestion or composting. This reduces the amount of food waste going to landfill, where it releases harmful greenhouse gases, helping to achieve our Net Zero strategy target to eliminate biodegradable waste sent to landfill from 2028. Treating food waste through anaerobic digestion provides greater carbon savings than Energy from Waste treatment and, unlike incineration, it also produces digestate which can be spread to land as a fertiliser.

The Government has already brought forward £261.7 million of capital transitional funding to support the introduction of weekly food waste collections in the purchasing of bins and vehicles.

We have announced £79.5 million of funding, covering the costs of procurement, project management, communications and container delivery across 24/25 and 25/26.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what percentage of the Darwin Plus budget is contributed from the Official Development Assistance budget.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

For 2024-25, Official Development Assistance accounts for 30% of the programme.

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 take steps to provide financial support to upland farmers, in the context of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We fully recognise the importance of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for upland farmers – and we strongly want the scheme to be available to them as we move forward.

We have closed SFI for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.

We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

In the meantime, as announced on 25 February, we’re increasing HLS payment rates. We believe this uplift better reflects the contributions made by those with HLS agreements and will support the continued protection and management of these sites.

We will also open the rolling application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) this summer and have published information that sets out what upland farmers can do now to prepare to apply for CSHT.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support farmers following the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.

Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for the submission of new applications, but existing agreements will continue. We now have over 37,000 live SFI agreements.

Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.

SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector.

We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Rural England Prosperity Fund has been reduced for the year 2025-2026.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.

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 he made of the potential impact of the findings by the Taxpayers Alliance in their report entitled One in ten councils in the UK are considering reducing their bin collection services, published on 4 February 2025 on the number of councils planning to make cuts to the frequency of household rubbish collection on (a) local amenities and (b) quality of service.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We recognise that as recycling services are expanded and improved as part of Simpler Recycling, local authorities may want to review residual waste services to ensure they are providing best value for money in line with local need. The Government’s priority is ensuring that households’ needs are met, and we expect local authorities to continue to provide services to a reasonable standard, as they do now. Building on existing and new legal duties, Defra has published guidance to ensure that local authorities consider certain factors when they review services, to ensure that reasonable standards are maintained. Councils and other waste collectors will still have the flexibility to make the best choices to suit local need. This is a sensible, pragmatic approach to the collection of materials for every household and business in England.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on measures to achieve net zero targets in the last five years.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

While the Department for Net Zero and Energy Security leads across Government on net zero, Defra is responsible for reducing emissions from agriculture, land use (including peat), fluorinated gases and waste (including wastewater), whilst simultaneously increasing England's carbon saving potential through our forestry policies.

In Spending Review 2021 Defra received numerous funding allocations, which as well as providing direct funding for Defra's contribution to net zero they contributed towards wider departmental objectives such as tackling biodiversity loss, ensuring nature recovery and food security and providing opportunities for economic growth. These programmes include the food waste new burden (£295 million), Nature for Climate fund (£750 million) and Future Farming and Countryside Programme which includes the Environmental Land Management Schemes (£2.9 billion). Additionally, across the Spending Review period, funding was allocated to net zero research and development programme (£75 million).

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department had discussions with (a) farming groups and (b) stakeholders prior to the decision to close the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The high uptake of the scheme means it is fully subscribed. The decision to close the scheme to new applications was taken at that point.

We could not give any advance notice because we needed to ensure fair access to the scheme and avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.

Since we launched the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in 2022 we have worked closely with the farming sector and stakeholders to develop and improve the offer to make sure it worked for as many different farmers and land types as possible.

We will continue to do this in order to develop the reformed SFI offer.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the quantum for the Rural England Prosperity Fund for 2025-2026 was decided.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to renew the Farm Facilitation Fund beyond March 2025.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We recognise the importance of farmer and land manager collaboration. In future years we want to make it easier for farmers to build partnerships and secure the advice and support they need to deliver on a range of priorities in their local area.

That’s why the Agricultural Transition Plan Update, published in January 2024, committed to the development of an expanded and improved facilitation fund.

To support this change, we are not opening further rounds of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. We are still funding existing agreements.

Ahead of the Spending Review, we are testing how we develop a more flexible approach to supporting farmer networks and partnerships. We will learn from the evaluation of the Facilitation Fund, which proves the benefits of collaboration but also shows that we need to improve the design, so it is less burdensome for participants, and we can increase uptake.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the increased investment in maintenance of flood defences will allow the Environment Agency to keep 98% of its high-consequence assets in the required condition over the next two years.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record, as years of underinvestment and damaging storms left just 92% of the Environment Agency’s 38,000 high-consequence assets at required condition, meaning approximately 60,000 properties are at a higher risk.

The Environment Agency (EA) is reprioritising £72 million from capital programme funding, for the 2025/26 financial year, to maintain high consequence assets at target condition. This funding will ensure assets are as resilient and reliable as possible and operate as expected in flood events.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) mitigate pollution from historic landfills and (b) facilitate the remediation of landfill sites.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local Authorities have a duty to identify contaminated land (including historic landfills) which are causing unacceptable risks to human health or the environment. Where requested, the Environment Agency (EA) supports Local Authorities in discharging these duties by providing information and advice.

The EA is responsible for requiring remediation to be carried out on Special Sites. These are contaminated land sites where it has the specialist skills to deal with contamination due to past activities or certain current land uses and specific types of water pollution.

The EA has inspected many historic landfills as potential special sites on behalf of Local Authorities.

60 sites (including 14 historic landfills) have been designated as Special Sites in England. Remediation is outstanding or ongoing on 19 sites where the EA is either working with those responsible or using discretionary powers to carry out works to reduce unacceptable risks to health and the environment. The list is published here: Contaminated Land Special Sites - data.gov.uk.

Operators (and landowners) of permitted or historic landfill sites are responsible for maintaining and managing their sites. Where they propose to remediate sites to enable redevelopment, the EA will advise on permitting requirements where remediation involves deposit, or treatment of waste. Where consulted, the EA will liaise with the relevant Planning Authority.

Published guidance is available on GOV.UK: Landfill operators: environmental permits - Deposit waste over existing waste at landfills (overtipping) - Guidance - GOV.UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Dover Port Health Authority on funding for the 2025-26 financial year.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra remains committed to agreeing an appropriate funding model with Dover PHA to help tackle illegal imports. Officials are working with Dover Port Health Authority to agree funding for 2025/26.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of solar farm developments on the availability of agricultural land for food production.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recognises that food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports British farmers and food producers.

To support this commitment, the Government has launched a consultation on Land Use in England. The outcome will inform the publication of a Land Use Framework, planned for later this year, which will provide certainty and clarity to landowners and land managers as they transition towards new farming models in a way that protects the most productive agricultural land, and best secures the nation’s long term food security. The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what processes his Department has in place to monitor budgeted agriculture spend.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We monitor forecasts against the current year budget on an ongoing basis and respond accordingly to maximise the amount that can be delivered. We committed to spending £2.6 billion in 24/25 and are on track to deliver that having responded to a number of demands in year.

Furthermore, we have a full understanding of commitments into future years arising from multi-annual agreements. We monitor the uptake of our demand led schemes which have a budgetary impact on future years (such as SFI) on a regular basis, increasing the frequency of this as the level of commitment approaches the budget available in future years.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle unregulated fishing activities in the South West Atlantic Ocean.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that fishing activities on the high seas in the South West Atlantic are appropriately regulated. This is necessary to safeguard stocks and their significant contribution to the Falkland Islands’ economy as well as the wider marine environment.

Defra continue to liaise closely with the Falklands Islands Government on these issues, and to seek progress on addressing gaps in fisheries management and data collection within relevant international fora including the United Nations and Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of wind turbines on avian mortality.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government does not have estimates of the number of birds killed by wind turbines. Wind developments have the potential to cause environmental damage, including impacts to birds from collisions, displacement, and foraging pressures.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to return to budget management mechanisms from the Common Agricultural Policy.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

No. The farming budget for each financial year is set through Government's Spending Reviews and managed by established in-year mechanisms.

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 20 September 2024 to Question 4992 on Greenpeace, whether his Department engages with (a) Just Stop Oil and (b) Extinction Rebellion.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department has not engaged with Just Stop Oil or Extinction Rebellion.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential economic impact of agricultural land being converted to solar energy production on farming communities.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recognises that food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports British farmers and food producers.

To support this commitment, the Government has launched a consultation on Land Use in England. The outcome will inform the publication of a Land Use Framework, planned for later this year, which will provide certainty and clarity to landowners and land managers as they transition towards new farming models in a way that protects the most productive agricultural land, and best secures the nation’s long term food security. The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the expansion of solar farms does not compromise domestic food security.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government recognises that food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports British farmers and food producers.

To support this commitment, the Government has launched a consultation on Land Use in England. The outcome will inform the publication of a Land Use Framework, planned for later this year, which will provide certainty and clarity to landowners and land managers as they transition towards new farming models in a way that protects the most productive agricultural land, and best secures the nation’s long term food security. The National Planning Policy Framework is also clear that where significant development of agricultural land is demonstrated to be necessary, areas of poorer quality land should be preferred to those of a higher quality.

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 set a target date for reopening the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We will be reforming the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

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 timing of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme on farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We publish regular statistics on Farm Business Income. Farming evidence packs for example have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance. These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK. We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.

On the 11th of March 2025 we published forecasts which suggest that average Farm Business Income has risen in 2024/25 across all farm types with the exception of cereal farms. This follows a fall in income for most farm types in 2023/24, after some exceptional highs in the two preceding years.

For all farm types, except for Cereals, expected reductions in Direct Payments have been completely offset by projected increases in other Farm Business Income components in 2024/25.

50,000 farm businesses are already in agri-environmental schemes. We will open up initial applications for Countryside Stewardship Higher tier and a revised Environmental Land Management capital grants offer later in the Summer.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons his Department decided to (a) announce the closure of and (b) close the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme to new applicants on the same day.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has committed £5 billion over 2 years to sustainable farming and nature recovery and we’ve worked hard to get as many farmers into environmental land management schemes as possible.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) now has more than 37,000 multi-year live agreements and is not only delivering sustainable food production and nature’s recovery for today and the years ahead, but it is also putting money back into farmers’ pockets.

With record numbers of farm businesses in farming schemes and the sustainable farming budget successfully allocated, we have stopped accepting new applications for SFI.

This high uptake of the scheme means it is fully subscribed. The decision to close the scheme to new applications was taken at that point.  We could not give any advance notice because we needed to ensure fair access to the scheme and avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.

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 estimate of the number of farms that hadn't applied to the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme before its closure in West Dorset constituency.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Our recent published statistics on area under agri-environment schemes can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/area-under-agri-environment-schemes-in-england-2024/area-under-agri-environment-schemes-in-england-at-31st-december-2024

They show that 58% of Dorset land parcel area (which approximates the eligible area) was under SFI agreements.

In January 2025, there were 1,400 SFI23 and 400 SFI expanded offer agreements in the ITL2 area of Dorset and Somerset.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of levels of sustainability of the fishing industry in the South Atlantic on fish imports.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The volume of fish caught in the South Atlantic, which are then imported into the UK, is low when compared with the primary sources of UK seafood imports. All seafood imported into the UK has to be accompanied by appropriate documentation, demonstrating that the fish have been caught legally and in line with the relevant governance arrangements.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on the viability of family farms.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

50,000 farm businesses are already in agri-environmental schemes. We will open up initial applications for Countryside Stewardship Higher tier and a revised Environmental Land Management capital grants offer later in the Summer.

On the 11th of March 2025 we published forecasts which suggest that Average Farm Business Income has risen in 2024/25 across all farm types with the exception of cereal farms. This follows a fall in income for most farm types in 2023/24, after some exceptional highs in the two preceding years.

For all farm types, except for Cereals, expected reductions in Direct Payments have been completely offset by projected increases in other Farm Business Income components in 2024/25.

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 20 December 2024 to Question 19399 on Dangerous Dogs, what the outcomes were from his discussions on improving data (a) collection and (b) recording on dog attacks; and what recent discussions he has had with (i) police and (ii) local authorities on this matter.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of farms that did not apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive before its closure.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On 31st December 2024, SFI23 agreements covered 39% of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) of England, and SFI expanded offer agreements a further 4%. Approximately 64% of the UAA of England was under an agri-environment scheme.

Approximately 30% of the 100,000 active farm businesses registered with the RPA had SFI agreements as of the 1st of January 2025. Approximately 50% of farm businesses have an agri-environment agreement.

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 estimate of the number of farms that had not applied for the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme before its closure.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

On 31st December 2024, SFI23 agreements covered 39% of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) of England, and SFI expanded offer agreements a further 4%. Approximately 64% of the UAA of England was under an agri-environment scheme.

Approximately 30% of the 100,000 active farm businesses registered with the RPA had SFI agreements as of the 1st of January 2025. Approximately 50% of farm businesses have an agri-environment agreement.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of pausing the Sustainable Farming Incentive for new applications on (a) flood risk and (b) flood management for agricultural land in South Suffolk constituency.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All actions in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) have been assessed for the impact on a number of indicators, including flood risk. By benefiting soil health, many of the actions in SFI will reduce flood risk by increasing infiltration and therefore, reducing run off. These actions will be delivered across tens of thousands of farmers for the next three years. The specific actions to manage flood risk are mainly in Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, which will open in the summer.

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 the Answer of 7 May 2024 to Question 24202 on Lead: Health and Safety, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of the work undertaken by the Environment Agency to asses the lead ammunition restriction.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Records show that the Environment Agency has spent approximately £425,000 on salary costs (including wages and direct overheads) for this work. This excludes wider organisational overheads (such as building maintenance and energy costs) and the Health and Safety Executive’s time and costs.

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 merits of a nationwide kerbside collection for lithium-ion batteries and small Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. We have convened a Circular Economy Taskforce to help us develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England. The Strategy will be supported by a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis, supporting government’s Missions to kickstart economic growth and make Britain a clean energy superpower. We are considering the evidence for sector-specific interventions right across the economy, including in electronic waste and batteries, as we develop our Strategy. Currently 100 local authorities in the United Kingdom operate Kerbside collection for small waste electricals and electronic equipment.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to direct funding from fees through the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme towards recycling (a) infrastructure and (b) awareness campaigns.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

pEPR makes packaging producers responsible for the costs incurred by UK Local Authorities in managing household packaging waste, including the fees they pay to recycling facilities. This will provide around 1.5 billion pounds of new funding in the UK in 2025-26, including 1.1 billion in England. This funding will underpin the Simpler Recycling reforms in England and stimulate investment in associated recycling infrastructure. The scheme administrator, PackUK, is also obliged to provide information to the public and to businesses concerning packaging re-use, recycling, recovery, and disposal, as well as the prevention of packaging litter. The cost of providing this information is covered by producer fees.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how long on average successful applicants for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024 have waited for agreements to be activated.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of land managers eligible for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of land eligible for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many applicants there were for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024; and how many were successful.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

All farmers, foresters, and land managers in England, including tenants, were eligible to form or join a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Group in order to submit an application during the application window. Facilitators, who applied for the funding, were required to be an individual or organisation from the farming, forestry or other land management sector or service provider, with environmental land management experience and suitable facilitation skills. Members can be added to an existing group at any time throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

The application window for the 2024 round closed on the 15 January 2024. 24 applications were received. Of these, 18 secured an agreement, with all agreements starting on 1 June 2024.

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 list the (a) application deadlines and (b) start dates for each funding scheme for (i) farmers, (ii) growers and (iii) land managers; and the hectarage covered in each scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra operates a page on gov.uk, “Funding for farmers, growers and land managers”. This page advises about grants and other funding currently open or opening soon, and includes links to the relevant scheme or grant webpage. Information about application deadlines for each grant is found on those webpages.

We will update on plans for any further schemes following the Spending Review.

Defra also operates a page on gov.uk, Area of land in agri-environment schemes. The latest data available for that page dates to 2022, and shows that in that year the total area of land in entry-level agreements was 1.4 million hectares and the total area of land in higher-level or targeted agri-environment agreements in England was 2.3 million hectares.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. It’s why we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years – more money than ever for sustainable food production.

This is funding over 37,000 live Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements, increased payments under Higher Level Stewardship (HLS), and Round 1 and 2 Landscape Recovery projects. It will also fund new Higher Tier agreements and Capital Grants, both of which open or re-open to applications later this year.

We have allocated £60 million to the Farming Recovery Fund for farmers affected by extreme weather, and £208 million to protect against disease threats.

We have also recently announced further policies including extending the Seasonal Worker visa route for five more years, backing British produce in government catering contracts, and investing £110 million in agri-technology. A new commissioner for the tenant farming sector will be appointed, and a veterinary agreement with the EU will be sought to ease export red tape. The government will also protect farmers from low welfare trade deals and lower energy bills by connecting renewable energy to the National Grid.

Other measures include a land-use framework for food security and nature recovery, a Cross-Government Rural Crime Strategy, and a British Infrastructure Council to drive private investment in rural areas.

The Government is also committed to making the supply chain fairer, with upcoming reviews on the pig, egg, poultry, and fresh produce sectors.

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 hold discussions with farmers on the potential impact of changes to (a) basic payments, (b) the Sustainable Farming Initiative, (c) capital grants and (d) higher tier schemes on farming businesses.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Secretary of State believes in the importance of continued engagement with the sector and has spoken with several farmers since his appointment. Defra ministers and officials will continue to work closely with the farming sector to develop and improve our offers to make sure they work for as many different farmers and land types as possible.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how long a period of notice was given to stakeholders before the closure of SFI.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

To ensure fair access, and to avoid the risk of overspend, we could not give any advance notice to avoid creating a sudden increase in the level of demand.

Whilst we aim to give notice where possible (and we are aware the application service mentioned this intention of 6 weeks’ notice), there was no requirement in the scheme rules for SFI24 for us to give any notice before we closed applications.

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 set targets in the updated Environmental Improvement Plan for the biodiversity recovery of (a) wetlands, (b) peat bogs (c) coastal strips, (d) grasslands, (e) woodlands and forests and (f) other significant habitats.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) and published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025.

Later in 2025 we will publish a revised EIP, to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery information to help meet the ambitious Environment Act targets. It will be a clearer, prioritised plan for achieving environmental outcomes such as reducing waste across the economy, planting more trees, improving air quality and halting the decline in species.

We have legally binding targets have been carefully designed to enable biodiversity recovery. These are:

• Halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, and then increase abundance by at least 10% to exceed 2022 levels by 2042.
• Restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat by 2042, - alongside our international commitment to protect 30% of our land and ocean by 2030.
• Increase tree canopy and woodland cover from 14.5% to 16.5% of total land area in England by 2050, and
• For 70% of designated features in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to be in favourable condition by 2042 with the remainder in recovering condition.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his department conducted an impact assessment before the decision to close the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme was made.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We publish regular statistics on Farm Business Income broken down in various ways. Farming evidence packs have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance. These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK. We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development.

On the 11 of March 2025, we published forecasts which suggest that average Farm Business Income has risen in 2024/25 across all farm types with the exception of cereal farms. This follows a fall in income for most farm types in 2023/24, after some exceptional highs in the two preceding years.

Across England, 50,000 farm businesses are already in agri-environmental schemes. We will open up initial applications for CS Higher tier and a revised ELM capital grants offer later in the Summer.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the alignment of the timing of funding schemes for farmers with the farming calendar.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra will be opening the Environmental Land Management (ELM) Capital Grant scheme and the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier offer in the Summer on a rolling application window basis. This will enable farmers to apply throughout the year, while enabling Defra to continue to monitor the situation to make sure demand doesn’t exceed the available funding. For the ELM Capital Grant scheme, farmers will be able to apply for a grant in more than one category but only submit one application per farm business Single Business Identifier (SBI) can be submitted per year. Other grants remain open, including grants for Woodland management plans, the Higher Tier Capital Grant, Capital grants plans, the Protection and Infrastructure grant, and Woodland tree health grants.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on (a) the size of the egg laying hen population, (b) the number and proportion of egg laying hens that are kept in caged systems and (c) the number and proportion of eggs that come from caged hens.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra’s official statistics on livestock populations in the United Kingdom, published in June 2024, state that the total number of egg-laying hens (including breeding birds) was 54.6 million birds. Of these, 41.9 million were laying hens and pullets for table egg production.

Defra does not hold published figures on the number of egg-laying hens kept in caged systems, known as enriched ‘colony’ cage systems. However, Defra’s latest statistics indicate that in 2024, the UK Egg Industry produced 2.6 billion eggs for human consumption from hens in enriched ‘colony’ cage systems, accounting for 22% of total UK production.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund will support courses available in Bedfordshire.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund is currently closed for applications. The Forestry Commission is collecting feedback from those who have attended the course and will be working with key stakeholders to deliver the Forestry Sector Skills Plan.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to re-open the Sustainable Farming Incentive for new applications for farmers in South Suffolk constituency.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government has committed £5 billion over 2 years to sustainable farming and nature recovery and we’ve worked hard to get as many farmers into environmental land management schemes as possible.

We have closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.

We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment. This will allow us to align SFI with our work on the Land Use Framework and the 25-year farming roadmap to protect the most productive land and boost food security, whilst delivering for nature.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.

We invite farmers from South Suffolk to follow our blog to keep updated on the latest news.

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 he has had with (a) police forces, (b) local authorities and (c) animal welfare groups on helping to prevent future dog-on-dog attacks.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce a close season for the shooting of hares.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only, with the potential for relevant policy to extend and apply to Wales.

While the Government has no immediate plan to introduce a close season for hares in England, the policy remains under consideration as part of the Government’s plans to introduce the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of pollution caused by the collision between the Solong and Stena Immaculate.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra is working with multiple organisations including the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the PREMIAM (Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring) to assess the impact of this incident on water pollution and the marine environment. Satellite imagery suggests no substantial chemical spills have occurred, with fuel and other substances being burnt rather than entering the ocean in substantial quantities. No air pollution has been detected on land.

Unfortunately, it seems some of the contents of one container of small plastic pellets (‘nurdles’) spilled into the North Sea during the collision and subsequent fire. This was detected at sea on Sunday 16 March. From Sunday to Tuesday, plastic nurdles were observed coming ashore along 5-10 km of beach in north Norfolk, now extending to the Lincolnshire coast. This occurrence was predicted by environmental impact modelling, preparations for recovery and containment were made, and the PREMIAM programme was activated for pollution response and marine impact assessment. The plastic nurdles are the only pollution detected so far.

The environmental impact of nurdles depends on their quantity, plastic type, and burn state, which are being assessed by teams on the ground. Toxins released when the plastic was burned during the original collision are likely to have been washed away and diluted whilst at sea. Nurdles aren't toxic but may pose risks if ingested by wildlife. A thorough clean-up operation is underway, involving drones and other specialist equipment.

Shrimp fishers in the area have also been advised to take precautions to mitigate risks their product could contain nurdles, although the risk to human health is low. MPs for the affected coastline have been briefed, and officials will continue to monitor the situation and take further steps as necessary.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farm visits he has made since his appointment; and where those farms were located.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since the Secretary of State’s appointment, he has visited:

• the Great Yorkshire Agriculture Show on 10 July 2024
• a farm in Essex on 25 September 2024
• a farm in Oxford on 8 January 2025
• a farm in Gloucestershire on 7 March 2025
• a farm in Herefordshire on 7 March 2025.

As well as visiting 3 farms, he has spoken at 3 farming conferences, and has had 5 meetings with the NFU, 3 with the CLA and, 7 with other organisations and farming representatives.

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 changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive, what support communications he plans to send to impacted farming businesses; and what support communications his Department plans to provide to organisations supporting vulnerable farmers.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A letter from Minister Zeichner was sent to all farm businesses on 12 March advising them of the closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to new applications. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will be writing to impacted farm businesses shortly with more information on what this means for them. The RPA teams are also taking calls from concerned farmers, and they will continue to work with farmers on new and extant agreements.

The RPA works closely with farming welfare support organisations and will continue to engage with them through existing channels.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the collision between the Solong and Stena Immaculate on harbour porpoises.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Now the overall situation has stabilised, the response has moved from a Major Incident Response into the recovery phase. Both ships remain afloat and normal maritime traffic has resumed. Though the situation is stable, recovery work will continue with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency continuing to coordinate operational partners and maintaining their vigilance of the situation to ensure a safe resolution.

Defra is working with multiple organisations, including the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the PREMIAM (Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring) has been activated to assess the impact of this incident on water pollution and the marine environment. No chemical pollution from the initial fuel spill has been detected.

Pollution in the form of nurdles and burnt plastic has shown up on beaches in NW Norfolk, Lincolnshire and at sea in The Wash. Vessels have been recovering the nurdles at sea and the beach clean-up in NW Norfolk is being co-ordinated by Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, and any clean-up in Lincolnshire will be co-ordinated by the relevant local authority there. The clean-up is ongoing. There has been no sign of any other pollution.

The four Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are working together in a Joint East Coast Recovery Management Group to lead counter-pollution activities.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the Statutory Nature Conservation Body for the offshore area and so has been feeding into the ongoing response efforts as part of this incident. Part of this has been providing information and advice in relation to offshore sensitivities, including Marine Protected Areas and mobile species such as harbour porpoise, and potential impacts to them from this incident. The risks to harbour porpoises are being monitored as much as possible and so far, no significant impacts have been identified from this specific incident.

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Found: The recently announced Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) review of flood resilience

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Found: For example, there have been initiatives within Defra to reduce water pollution from agriculture or

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Found: In this vein, we note the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to respond to the letter of 17 February 2025 from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame on the ongoing closure of the Thames Path National Trail at Marsh Lock near Henley on Thames.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

This is not the responsibility of this Department and I gather the Member has already received a response from DEFRA.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential implications of the development of the Land Use Framework for the National Planning Policy Framework.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a range of issues. Ministers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will continue to work together to consider the interactions between the forthcoming Land Use Framework and the National Planning Policy Framework.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential implications of the development of the Land Use Framework for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a range of issues. Ministers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) will continue to work together to consider the interactions between the forthcoming Land Use Framework and the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating large food businesses to publish nutrient profile models on their products.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We have not made an assessment of the potential merits of mandating large food businesses to publish nutrient profile models on their products. As part of considerations around mandatory healthiness targets, the Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP) was created in 2023. This was a shared programme of work across the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency. The FDTP was paused at the General Election and is being reviewed alongside other obesity policies.

The UK Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) is used as the underpinning model for The Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 and The Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024. A product will be in scope if it falls within one of the product categories in the schedule to these regulations and scores four or above for food, or one or above for drink when applying the 2004 to 2005 NPM using the 2011 technical guidance. We do not require businesses to publish information related to the NPM.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential merits of continuing funding for the Blue Belt international marine conservation programme beyond 2025.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

UK Government Ministers meet regularly through the Overseas Territories Ministerial Group to discuss key priorities, the last was held on 5 March. Territory Governments, Ministers from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs discussed Overseas Territories environmental priorities during the annual Joint Ministerial Council (November 2024) where a commitment to the continuation of the Blue Belt Programme was provided in the Joint Communique. The UK Government remains committed to supporting the Blue Belt Programme, which underpins global ocean protection ambition. Future funding for the Programme remains subject to ongoing spending review considerations.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) monitoring and (b) removal of litter and detritus from the junctions, embankments, central reservations, verges and hard shoulders along (i) the M60 and (ii) the M67 in Greater Manchester.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

National Highways undertakes weekly safety inspections on the M60 and M67, litter is identified and reported on in accordance with the Defra Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse.

National Highways programme of cyclic maintenance involves litter collections on the M60 and the M67 annually. In addition to those routine litter picks, National Highways will arrange for reactive litter picking where any section of the Strategic Road Network has been identified as reaching Grade C or D according to the Code. In these cases, litter picking is carried out within 28 and 7 days respectively, depending on the grading recorded and any road space or traffic management constraints.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the potential impact of airport expansion on meeting targets under the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010 to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

My Department seeks to minimise the impact of aviation on people’s health and wellbeing, in the context of other government priorities. My officials are in regular contact on this issue with other government departments and their agencies, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The assessment of planning applications for airport expansion will take account of all relevant law, policy and other material considerations. This includes environmental and air quality assessments undertaken as part of the planning application process.

The Government has been clear that any airport expansion proposals need to demonstrate that they contribute to economic growth, can be delivered in line with the UK’s legally binding commitments on carbon and meet strict environmental requirements on air quality and noise pollution.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of airport expansion on meeting targets under the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010 to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

My Department seeks to minimise the impact of aviation on people’s health and wellbeing, in the context of other government priorities. My officials are in regular contact on this issue with other government departments and their agencies, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The assessment of planning applications for airport expansion will take account of all relevant law, policy and other material considerations. This includes environmental and air quality assessments undertaken as part of the planning application process.

The Government has been clear that any airport expansion proposals need to demonstrate that they contribute to economic growth, can be delivered in line with the UK’s legally binding commitments on carbon and meet strict environmental requirements on air quality and noise pollution.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what role a) climate and b) nature experts perform in the creation of economic policy in her Department.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Treasury works across government to leverage expertise on climate and nature issues. HM Treasury also engages extensively with external stakeholders to inform related economic policy, as we recognise the value of incorporating expertise from outside government in addition to our internal capability.

The Green Book requires HM Treasury and other government departments to assess the climate and environmental impacts of policy proposals as part of their appraisal of costs and benefits. Within that, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has issued supplementary guidance for policy makers to consider the value of a natural capital approach. Similarly, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has issued supplementary guidance on the valuation of energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to section 4.4 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, issued on 27 August 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a group of statutory consultees that planning officers should consult when considering planning applications that impact ancient woodlands.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The report in question confirmed that the National Planning Policy Framework contains a high level of protection for ancient woodland.

The Framework makes clear that development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons, and a suitable compensation strategy exists. These protections are strengthened further by the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2024 which requires local planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State where they have resolved to grant planning permission for development affecting ancient woodland.

Local planning authorities have the principal responsibility for applying these protections effectively, and we do not consider it necessary to standardise the assessment of ancient woodland impacts or mandate arboricultural reports. The Ancient Woodland Inventory, updated Planning Practice Guidance and the Standing Advice on ancient woodlands and ancient and veteran trees are in place to support local decision makers make informed decisions about planning applications near these habitats.

With regard to statutory consultees, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

We keep policy in this and other areas under review, working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 15 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, issued on 27 August 2024, whether she will make an assessment of the potential merits of standardising the assessment of ancient woodland impacts.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The report in question confirmed that the National Planning Policy Framework contains a high level of protection for ancient woodland.

The Framework makes clear that development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons, and a suitable compensation strategy exists. These protections are strengthened further by the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2024 which requires local planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State where they have resolved to grant planning permission for development affecting ancient woodland.

Local planning authorities have the principal responsibility for applying these protections effectively, and we do not consider it necessary to standardise the assessment of ancient woodland impacts or mandate arboricultural reports. The Ancient Woodland Inventory, updated Planning Practice Guidance and the Standing Advice on ancient woodlands and ancient and veteran trees are in place to support local decision makers make informed decisions about planning applications near these habitats.

With regard to statutory consultees, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

We keep policy in this and other areas under review, working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring (a) arboricultural reports and (b) impact assessments for major developments.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The report in question confirmed that the National Planning Policy Framework contains a high level of protection for ancient woodland.

The Framework makes clear that development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons, and a suitable compensation strategy exists. These protections are strengthened further by the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2024 which requires local planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State where they have resolved to grant planning permission for development affecting ancient woodland.

Local planning authorities have the principal responsibility for applying these protections effectively, and we do not consider it necessary to standardise the assessment of ancient woodland impacts or mandate arboricultural reports. The Ancient Woodland Inventory, updated Planning Practice Guidance and the Standing Advice on ancient woodlands and ancient and veteran trees are in place to support local decision makers make informed decisions about planning applications near these habitats.

With regard to statutory consultees, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

We keep policy in this and other areas under review, working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 7 of the ADAS and Stephenson Halliday report entitled Review of the implementation of National Planning Policy Framework para 186c, issued on 27 August 2024, what assessment she has made of the finding that the wholly exceptional reason needs to be better defined.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The report in question confirmed that the National Planning Policy Framework contains a high level of protection for ancient woodland.

The Framework makes clear that development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons, and a suitable compensation strategy exists. These protections are strengthened further by the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2024 which requires local planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State where they have resolved to grant planning permission for development affecting ancient woodland.

Local planning authorities have the principal responsibility for applying these protections effectively, and we do not consider it necessary to standardise the assessment of ancient woodland impacts or mandate arboricultural reports. The Ancient Woodland Inventory, updated Planning Practice Guidance and the Standing Advice on ancient woodlands and ancient and veteran trees are in place to support local decision makers make informed decisions about planning applications near these habitats.

With regard to statutory consultees, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

We keep policy in this and other areas under review, working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the average number of planning permissions expected to be granted within 15 metres of ancient woodland each year for the next five years.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The report in question confirmed that the National Planning Policy Framework contains a high level of protection for ancient woodland.

The Framework makes clear that development resulting in the loss or deterioration of irreplaceable habitats should be refused, unless there are wholly exceptional reasons, and a suitable compensation strategy exists. These protections are strengthened further by the Town and Country Planning (Consultation) (England) Direction 2024 which requires local planning authorities to consult the Secretary of State where they have resolved to grant planning permission for development affecting ancient woodland.

Local planning authorities have the principal responsibility for applying these protections effectively, and we do not consider it necessary to standardise the assessment of ancient woodland impacts or mandate arboricultural reports. The Ancient Woodland Inventory, updated Planning Practice Guidance and the Standing Advice on ancient woodlands and ancient and veteran trees are in place to support local decision makers make informed decisions about planning applications near these habitats.

With regard to statutory consultees, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 10 March 2025 (HCWS510).

We keep policy in this and other areas under review, working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14974 on Procurement: National Security, for what reason the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Northern Ireland Programme evaluation is exempt from publication.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information related to this programme is exempt from publication, as it meets one or more of the seven reasons for exemption listed in the Freedom of Information Act.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing mandatory healthiness targets for large supermarket retailers.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children and tackling the three biggest killers which will require effort from across society on not just obesity but alcohol and smoking. We have made a start with Tobacco and Vapes Bill and will continue to speak to partners across industry and civic society to best understand what actions help to change behaviours in a way that puts power in the hands of consumers.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are committed to achieving our health mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, and under the 10-Year Health Plan to shift from ‘sickness to prevention’. Making the healthier choice the easier choice is a major part of creating a food environment that is fairer, with the fewest lives lost to the biggest killers and where everyone lives well for longer. Obesity is one of the key drivers of ill health, economic inactivity and premature mortality, as highlighted in the recently published Get Britain Working White Paper.

As part of considerations around mandatory healthiness targets, the Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP) was created prior to the 2024 General Election; this was a shared programme of work across the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency. The FDTP was paused at the election and is being reviewed alongside other obesity policies.

We ask the Government to allow pets in airplane cabins to Great Britain under strict rules ensuring safety. DEFRA can set size, weight, and behavior guidelines. This change improves animal welfare, offers humane travel options, and aligns UK policies with nations allowing cabin travel for pets.

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