Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will submit an environmental information request to South West Water seeking to obtain details of the (a) testing and (b) monitoring they have carried out along the River Teign in the last five years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Access to testing and monitoring data is vital for transparency and to hold water companies to account to deliver protections for our rivers, lakes and seas. There are a number of provisions to ensure that Government, regulators and the public have access to the information about discharges from water company assets.
The Environment Agency undertakes statutory bathing water samples to test for microbiological water quality including faecal indicator organisms at Teignmouth Town, Shaldon and Ness Cove, and six additional freshwater sites along the River Teign, during the bathing water season. High readings will be investigated.
This data is published on the EA’s Swimfo bathing waters website so that the public can make an informed decision before swimming.
Since 1 January 2025, water companies are required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning. This data can be found on the South West Water website.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to amend standards for cat and dog pens.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 require businesses providing the following activities to hold a licence issued by their local authority: selling dogs or cats, dog breeding, boarding for dogs or cats, home boarding for dogs, dog day care or keeping or training dogs or cats for exhibition. Statutory guidance details the licence conditions, including conditions relating to housing and accommodation for dogs and cats.
Defra recently completed a post-implementation review (PIR) of the Regulations, which can be found at - The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 Post Implementation Review. The Government is considering the findings and will be outlining more detail on next steps in due course.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Capital Grant scheme for farmers will re-open for applications.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra announced on the 24 February that the Environmental Land Management standalone Capital Grants scheme will re-open in summer 2025. We will confirm the date it will re-open in due course.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
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 meet its target of 16.5% tree cover by 2050.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are making progress towards the statutory target to reach 16.5% tree and woodland cover in England by 2050. The Government has pledged up to £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration over the current and next financial year. As part of that we will create new woodland including national forests to bring communities and woodlands closer together and to create new green jobs. The Government has launched a Tree Planting Taskforce to support our plans to plant millions more trees.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 taking to increase the recycling rates of soft plastics not normally collected at the kerbside.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging is to be collected for recycling from both households and businesses across the UK by 31 March 2027.
Waste is a devolved policy area. This will be implemented as part of Simpler Recycling in England, and the devolved administrations will have similar arrangements.
In the lead up to this requirement, existing kerbside, front of store and postal take back collections of plastic films for recycling will continue and are expected to increase in response to certainty over the timing of the introduction of this new collection requirement. Investment in new UK plastic reprocessing facilities is also expected.
To support our ambitious goals to recycle plastic film, Defra alongside the Flexible Plastic Fund, UK Research and Innovation and Zero Waste Scotland, is funding a multi-million-pound pilot project on flexible plastic kerbside collections.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
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 28 November 2024 to Question 15504 on Agriculture: Subsidies, what issues were discussed with growers.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the specific needs of the horticulture sector. Defra ministers and officials meet regularly with a variety of growers (including a number of Producer Organisation members) from across the sector to discuss a wide range of issues. This allows us to understand if, and where, government intervention is needed.
Asked by: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to open the Air Quality Funding Scheme for local authorities in 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Local Air Quality Grant is not opening for the 24/25 financial year. Any future funding schemes will be subject to The Government spending review processes.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will (a) support and (b) meet with the community organisation Friends of the River Teign, in the context of South West Water's plans for tackling levels of overflow along the River Teign.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government commends the work of community groups in bringing attention to environmental issues, such as the state of our rivers.
The local Environment Agency Team last met with the Friends of the River Teign (FORT) through the South Devon Catchment Partnership in December 2024. The next meeting is arranged for Thursday 6 March. It will include an update on water quality testing including additional monitoring of the Teignmouth Back Beach, Defra’s bathing water consultation, and wider Environment Agency work to improve water quality in the River Teign.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 for the reuse of digital devices in the extended producer responsibility regime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We do not currently set targets for the reuse of digital devices in the waste electricals producer responsibility regime. The Circular Economy Taskforce will consider evidence for action right across the economy and evaluate which interventions are required as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 support Government has provided (a) before, (b) during and (c) after flooding instances in (i) Somerset and (ii) the South West.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion will be invested over two years in building, maintaining and repairing flood defences, better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026. Around 1,000 projects will receive funding in 24/25 and 25/26.
Defra works with National Resilience, part of the Home Office, to maintain the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of over 100 teams from the Fire and Rescue Service and voluntary organisations with boats and other assets and who are available for national deployment in England, through Local Resilience Forum (LRF) coordination
Government recovery support after flooding is only provided in exceptional circumstances. The recent flooding impact did not trigger the Flood Recovery Framework or Property Flood Resilience Grant. For context, the framework was activated after storms Babet (October 2023) and Henk (January 2024), affecting over 8,500 homes and businesses.