Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential biosecurity risk of illegal meat seized in the first four months of 2025; and whether any of this meat tested positive for (a) African Swine Fever and (b) other notifiable diseases.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting UK biosecurity remains paramount, and this Government will do whatever it takes to protect farmers.
Defra does not require port health authorities to routinely test or analyse samples of illegally imported meat seized at the UK border for notifiable animal diseases, including African swine fever or foot-and-mouth disease. Negative results would not guarantee the absence of risk. That is why illegal meat imports, intercepted by Border Force and local authorities are all safely disposed in accordance with animal by-products rules.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency publishes assessments of the potential risk of animal disease incursions via animals and animal products, including illegal meat imports on gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animal-diseases-international-monitoring.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of including Water Hyacinth in the list of Species of Special Concern.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water hyacinth, along with 65 other non-native species, has been risk assessed and is listed as an invasive non-native species of special concern.
The risk assessment for water hyacinth can be found here: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/assets/Uploads/RA_Eichhornia_crassipes_Water_Hyacinthpoc.pdf
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what were the species of the 28 hunting trophies for which import permits were granted by her Department between 1 July 2024 and 25 March 2026.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The species of the 28 import permits issued under purpose H (- Hunting Trophies) between 1 July 2024 and 25 March 2026 were as follows:
It is important to note that a single permit does not necessarily correspond to a single animal; in some cases, multiple CITES permits may be required for an individual animal.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many personnel are assigned to the Tactical Delivery Group for bat crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The bat crime Tactical Delivery Group (TDG) is comprised of around 40 representatives from several key stakeholder organisations, including the police and the National Wildlife Crime Unit. A Defra representative attends as required.
There is a TDG for each of five national wildlife crime priorities. The priority areas are those which have been assessed as posing the greatest current threat to either the conservation status of a species or which show the highest volume of crime and therefore require a UK-wide tactical response.
Each TDG is required to report to the UK Tasking and Coordination Group (UKTCG) (on which Defra is represented) twice a year. This allows the UKTCG to oversee the activities of the TDG and ensure its objectives are being met.
Each TDG is supported by the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats and directly assisting law enforcers in their investigations. Defra is a principal funder of the NWCU and is providing £530,000 for the Unit in the financial year 2026-27. The NWCU holds TDGs accountable and sets their objectives which link back to an overarching national wildlife crime strategy.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department is taking steps to ban the sale of fur.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to Steve Witherden on 31 March 2026, PQ UIN 122919.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made with enacting Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is strongly committed to improving the implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS).
In December 2024 we made changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to support increased delivery of SuDS. The NPPF now requires all development to utilise SuDS where they could have drainage impacts. These systems should be appropriate to the nature and scale of the proposed development.
We consulted on a revised version of the NPPF, with new policies on local plans and national decision making, including flood risk and SuDS, and are now in the process of considering next steps.
Better delivery of SuDS may be achieved by continuing to improve the current planning policy-based approach and looking at ways of improving the approach to adoption and maintenance, rather than commencing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.
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 steps she is taking to protect the egg market in Yeovil constituency from the potential impact of rising imports of eggs from countries with lower production standards.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK imports a small proportion of its annual supply of eggs to meet domestic demand. The Government consistently considers the impact of imports from all countries on the UK domestic egg sector. The Government will continue to take account of UK imports as part of our continued monitoring of the egg production chain. Along with the continued monitoring of egg quality of both domestic and imported eggs against the Egg Marketing Standards by our Egg Marketing Inspectors in the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase the level of accountability for water companies that fail to resolve billing disputes raised by hon. Members on behalf of constituents.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To rebuild trust It is vital that customers have assurance that their complaints will be resolved. That is why we will establish an independent, impartial, and accredited Water Ombudsman to ensure customer complaints and disputes are taken seriously and are resolved.
Alongside this, the Government is looking at strengthening the consumer advocacy function to provide a stronger voice for customers.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to implement effective oversight of biosecurity border controls.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department does not oversee import controls for biosecurity, but Border Force is responsible for identifying and seizing illegally imported illegal animals, illegal animal products, illegal plants and plant products in some scenarios.
Defra and the Home Office are in active dialogue around practical improvements, including at a recent ministerial bilateral meeting and at meetings of the Goods Border Small Ministerial Group.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what enforcement measures have been implemented at Dover since September 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with the Home Office, Border Force, the Food Standards Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Dover Port Health Authority (PHA) to improve the interception of illegal products of animal origin entering England via the port of Dover. Enforcement measures implemented at Dover since September 2024 have included seizure and destruction, and these are implemented by Border Force and Dover PHA. To enable this operational activity by Dover PHA, Defra has provided over £14.4m provided since October 2022.