Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In relation to the average number of working days lost to sickness absence, as of year ending 31 October 2025, Defra can confirm the following:
Department/Agency | Average Working Days Lost |
Core Defra | 4.4 |
APHA | 5.7 |
RPA | 7.6 |
VMD | 2.4 |
Cefas | 3.83 |
The Cabinet Office publishes statistics on Civil Service average working days lost in regular reports, which can be found here: Sickness absence in the Civil Service - GOV.UK. The next update will be for the year ending 31 March 2025. These figures are published for core Defra, but not for the other organisations.
The data requested regarding ‘formal performance warnings’ is not captured centrally for Defra so it is not available for reporting here.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 her Department has made of the effectiveness of water companies in reducing storm overflow discharges.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government published a report on 11 December which highlights that while progress has been made to reduce spills from storm overflows, the amount of sewage entering our waterways is still unacceptable. This government is committed to transparency around the scale of this challenge and we’re taking decisive action to tackle it.
Over £10 billion will be spent in the next five years to upgrade 2,500 overflows in England, alongside more monitoring and inspections than ever before.
Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows, in addition to storm overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill. This will create an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and hold water companies to account.
Our Water White Paper will set out long-term reforms to strengthen regulation, tackle pollution, and accelerate the delivery of vital infrastructure.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
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 policy papers entitled Spending Review 2025, published on 30 June 2025, and Budget 2025, published on 28 November 2025, what their Department’s capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) will be in each year of the Spending Review period; how much capital funding has been allocated to each of their Department’s programmes; and how much and what proportion of the capital DEL allocation remains unallocated in each year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
SR25 CDEL Allocation | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 |
CDEL | £2,695mn | £2,760mn | £2,781mn | £2,776mn | £2740mn |
Defra’s current capital delegated expenditure limits are displayed above, as set out in the Budget 2025 document (Table C.2). Any future amendments to Defra’s capital budgets will be subject to business planning and set out at the relevant Parliamentary Estimate in the usual way. The Spending Review 2025 document contains more detail on areas that Defra’s capital budget will supporting including the National Biosecurity Centre, Floods programme and the Farming and Countryside Programme. Defra is not holding any unallocated provision within its CDEL budgets.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for the total spend on (i) LinkedIn membership fees (ii) other subscriptions by her Department in the last financial year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 will review the impact of waste disposal charges on the level of illegal dumping in Great Yarmouth.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has no plans to review the impact of waste disposal charges on the level of illegal dumping in Great Yarmouth.
Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) play an important role in helping people to dispose of their waste responsibly. Local authorities have responsibility for the operation and management of HWRCs in their area. It is their duty to provide services for residents within their local area to dispose of or recycle their waste responsibly.
Local authorities are also responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their areas. They have a range of fly-tipping enforcement powers at their disposal, which we encourage them to make good use of. Powers include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, seizing and crushing of vehicles and prosecution action.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 adequacy of street cleaning, litter collection and maintenance in Great Yarmouth’s town centre and seafront.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No assessment has been made of the adequacy of street cleaning, litter collection and maintenance in Great Yarmouth’s town centre and seafront.
Local councils are responsible for keeping their streets clear of litter and refuse. The role of central Government is to enable and support local action. In the Pride in Place Strategy this Government has committed to bringing forward statutory enforcement guidance on both littering and fly-tipping, modernising the code of practice that outlines the cleaning standards expected of local authorities, and refreshing best practice guidance on the powers available to local authorities to force land and building owners to clean up their premises.
We are also targeting some of the more commonly littered items to reduce the presence of these on our streets. The sale of single-use vapes was banned from 1 June 2025 and a Deposit Return Scheme will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. Plastic drinks bottles and metal drinks containers make up 55% of litter volume. The Deposit Return Scheme will cover plastic and metal drinks containers (like bottles and cans), and the goal is to reduce litter and help keep our streets, rivers, and oceans clean.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
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 recent trends in the level of fly-tipping incidents in Great Yarmouth; and whether additional enforcement funding will be provided.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No assessment of recent trends in the level of fly-tipping incidents in Great Yarmouth has been made. Local authorities are however required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement actions to Defra, which we publish annually here. This excludes the majority of private-land and large scale incidents. Great Yarmouth reported the following number of incidents in the last five years:
2019-20 = 1491
2020-21 = 2146
2021-22 = 1869
2022-23 = 1171
2023-24 = 1153
We are not considering additional funding specifically for fly-tipping enforcement. However, the Spending Review 2025 provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29.
Asked by: Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Minehead)
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 publish the latest data on the ecological status of rivers across the UK.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is preparing the next update of water body classifications which underpin river basin management plans and guide investment decisions.
Asked by: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)
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 10 December 2025 to Question 96648, if she will set a target date for announcing the split between capital and revenue funding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The detailed split of the Floods budget into resource and capital budgets is agreed during departmental business planning.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
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 Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of consulting on reforms to Smoke Control Areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We continuously review the evidence around emissions and the most effective way to tackle smoke controlled areas.