Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing the biodiversity net gain de minimis threshold from 0.1 hectares to 0.5 hectares on nature recovery.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recently consulted on options to improve the way Biodiversity Net Gain works for small, medium and brownfield development. This included potential changes to the de minimis exemption threshold, which currently sits at 25 square metres. Since then, the Government has announced its intention to introduce a new area-based exemption set at 0.2 hectares to reduce costs for smaller development while maintaining nature recovery at scale. A full consultation response and impact assessment will be published in due course.
Asked by: Ben Spencer (Conservative - Runnymede and Weybridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to increase the level of funding and resources for local authorities for the purpose of regulating and approving Sustainable Drainage Systems.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to improving the implementation of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS). As part of this commitment, we will consider local authority funding for regulating and approving SuDS.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review legislation affecting common land.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are currently no plans to review legislation affecting common land.
However, the Government has announced that we will bring forward an Access to Nature Green Paper by the end of this Parliament. This will provide an opportunity to feed in views on common land and related access issues.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the total Environment Agency expenditure was on waste crime in each year since 2015.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is unable to track total expenditure on waste crime as waste crime is delivered by a range of multi-functional teams.
The EA can only report on what is allocated, not what is spent. The table provided sets out the EA’s Grant in Aid income that has been specifically allocated to waste crime activities since 2015. Wider core grant has historically contributed to enforcement work across all EA functions but is not allocated in way that can be specifically linked to waste crime, so is not included.
Year | Waste Crime Allocation |
2014/15 | £3.3m |
2015/16 | £2.4m |
2016/17 | £6.0m |
2017/18 | £6.4m |
2018/19 | £10.5m |
2019/20 | £10m |
2020/21 | £10m |
2021/22 | £10m |
2022/23 | £10m |
2023/24 | £10m |
2024/45 | £10m |
2025/26 | £12m *Plus, additional £3.6m for enforcement of new duties including extended producer responsibility. |
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
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 been made of the potential impact of food poverty on children's health inequalities; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including measures to increase access to affordable, nutritious food in deprived communities in the food strategy.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Food Security Report (published on GOV.UK in December 2024) reported that 31% of households with children under 16 are reported to be food insecure. The food strategy will support access to affordable food, target costs that lead to food price inflation and include measures to increase access to affordable, nutritious food in deprived communities. This will support those who most need access to healthy, affordable nutrition or may cut back on food in face of other pressures.
This is alongside wider Government work, such as the Child Poverty Strategy, published in December, which sets out a decade-long mission to tackle the drivers of child poverty across the UK.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will (a) publish targets and delivery mechanisms in the implementation of the food strategy to reduce food insecurity and improve population health and (b) set out plans to monitor and report progress to Parliament.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Good Food Cycle identifies for the first time the outcomes wanted from the food system. It is the first part of an on-going programme to create a healthier, more affordable, sustainable and resilient food system. The Government is developing plans to support food strategy outcomes. It is too early to confirm any mechanisms for delivery, monitoring and reporting.
The food strategy will support access to affordable food and include measures to increase access to affordable, nutritious food in deprived communities, and aim to make more of the food that is available to buy healthier, more nutritious and more affordable.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 14 January (HL Deb col 1726), what assessment they have made of the impact of a robust household waste recycling system on reducing waste crime; and what steps they are taking towards a clear, simple and effective recycling system for household and commercial waste.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is conducting the Resources and Waste Policy Programme in England Evaluation, which includes the Simpler Recycling policy. In respect of waste crime, the evaluation work will look at the impact that our reforms to the Carrier, Broker, Dealer and Waste Permit Exemption regimes, and the introduction of Digital Waste Tracking, will have in that area. The evaluation launched in February 2022 and is due to deliver analysis across the impacts and economic evaluation strands by Spring 2029. This will look at progress across relevant outcomes including a reduction in waste crime.
The Simpler Recycling reforms will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school.
Every household and workplace (businesses and relevant non-domestic premises like schools and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core waste streams: metal, glass, plastic (including cartons), paper and card, food waste, and garden waste (for households only).
These reforms will make recycling easier and ensure there is a comprehensive, consistent service across England. This will reduce confusion with recycling to improve recycling rates, and with the other collection and packaging reforms will support the use of more recycled material in the products we buy, and the growth of the UK recycling industry.
Simpler Recycling will be implemented as follows:
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her Department’s press release entitled ‘Government unveils biggest overhaul to water in a generation’ published on 19 January 2026, whether the roll-out of smart meters will remain voluntary for homeowners.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Water Industry Act 1991 and the Water Industry (Prescribed Conditions) Regulations 1999, water companies do not have to ask customers before they install a water smart meter, but can only bill the customer (compulsory metering) where specific conditions are met. These conditions include where the property is in an area designated as under serious water stress, or where specific conditions are met, such as a change of occupier, a new property, or a swimming pool on premise. Any water company using these powers must show this approach represents value for money and has customer support in their Water Resource Management Plan consultations.
Moving to a metered supply can deliver water-use reductions of up to 17%. Improving water efficiency offers a win-win by reducing bills, supporting sustainable water supplies, and protecting the environment. Government's commitment to fairer bills and better data for customers in our White Paper seeks to maximise the benefits of this reduction in water usage for customers.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to announce further details of the revised Sustainable Farming Incentive, and what support they will provide to upland and tenant farmers.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will provide more detail on the new SFI offer ahead of publishing the full scheme details before the first application window opens in June.
Eligible upland and tenant farmers will be able to apply for funding as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive this year. The department is working with social entrepreneur Dr Hilary Cottam on a new approach to supporting the uplands and our next step will be to develop a place-based approach for what these communities need, co-designing solutions to specific problems. An example would be, developing a common understanding of how land can be best used for food production and the public good.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data she holds on (a) which animals are currently affected by the current legal noise level of fireworks and (b) how are they affected.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department does not hold data on which animals are affected by the current legal noise level of fireworks or how they are affected.
However, the Government is continuing to engage with animal welfare stakeholders, businesses, consumer groups and charities on the impacts of fireworks, to inform any future action.
On 20 January, Baroness Hayman of Ullock, the Minister responsible for animal welfare, met with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Business and Trade, Minister Kate Dearden (Halifax) who is responsible for Employment Rights and Consumer Protection, to discuss lowering the decibel level of fireworks.