Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her most recent annual estimate is for the amount of waste deposited illegally across England and Wales.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waste is a devolved matter and the information provided in this answer is for England only.
The Environment Agency (EA) focuses on tackling large-scale waste crime in England, often linked to organised criminal activity while fly-tipping is managed by local authorities.
The EA has no estimate of the total amount of waste deposited illegally each year - by its nature waste crime is hidden and so inherently difficult to measure. The EA estimates that the amount of waste deposited in illegal waste sites which came to their attention in 2025 was 845,906 tonnes. In addition to this, waste will have been deposited during 2025 at sites which came to EA’s attention in earlier years. This waste is of varying types, with significantly different environmental impacts. As these are estimates the true figure may be more or less. The estimates only relate to those sites of which the EA is aware.
Defra does not have an estimate for the total amount of fly-tipped waste in England annually. However, local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. These figures are separate to the large-scale incidents dealt with by the EA, and we expect that they exclude the majority of private-land incidents.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 ensure effective regulation and enforcement is in place to tackle the environmental and financial impact of waste crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to tackling waste crime from the fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages to the serious and organised crime groups who are exploiting the waste sector. Those responsible for committing waste crime, rather than taxpayers, should cover the cost of cleaning up the mess they create.
We are making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals and have increased the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6 million.
The EA hosts the Joint Unit for Waste Crime which brings together the EA, HMRC, National Crime Agency, the police, waste regulators from across the UK and other operational partners to share intelligence and tasking to disrupt and prevent serious organised waste crime. Our extra funding has enabled the EA to double the size of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by 43 full time staff.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 improve the inspection of water infrastructure in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under this Government’s watch, the Environment Agency has sharply stepped up its physical inspections – carrying out more than 8,000 inspections so far in 2025/26. That is a 76% increase on last year. It is on track to complete approximately 800 inspections of Thames Water wastewater assets in the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, including those in the Surrey Heath constituency such as the wastewater treatment works at Chobham, Camberley, Lightwater and Pirbright.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate undertakes a range of activities to assess the security of drinking water infrastructure. Building on this, the Government’s water White Paper announced the Government will introduce powers to allow ‘No notice’ inspections on drinking water company assets to improve security and resilience.
The new single regulator will include a Chief Engineer who will be part of shifting the culture of the regulator especially as part of infrastructure supervision.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which Government departments other than his Department are able to have the biggest impact on improving levels of ambient air pollution; and how their policies seek to achieve this.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Air pollution comes from many different sources and has wide-ranging impacts. Issues such as air quality, climate action, public health and nature recovery are closely linked, creating opportunities for policies that deliver benefits across all these areas. Because of this, every part of government has a role in shaping policies that help reduce air pollution and its effects.
I will continue to work collaboratively with colleagues across government to tackle key sources of pollution, such as transport, health and energy policy, which play a vital role in meeting our statutory air quality targets.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparisons and best practices can be learned from other countries to help improve air quality in England in (a) ambient air and (b) indoor air.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that air pollution is a local, regional, and global issue, and that there is considerable expertise, knowledge, and skills that countries, experts, and organisations can share to help reduce pollution across the world. We remain committed to cooperating with our neighbours across Europe to reduce our regional air pollution, including through the ongoing revision of the 2012 amended Gothenburg Protocol, and to playing our part in wider global action to reduce pollution around the world.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 help improve the profitability of farming in England.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming Roadmap and the full Government response to the Farming Profitability Review will be published later this year, setting out the wider plan to boost profitability and long-term viability.
The Government is already taking forward a series of measures. A new Farming and Food Partnership Board will bring together farmers, processors, retailers, and the wider supply chain to strengthen collaboration across the sector. The Government is investing £30 million in a Farmer Collaboration Fund to support peer-to-peer networks so farmers can share knowledge.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive will also be reformed to make it simpler and fairer, with two application windows this year. The June window will support smaller farms and those without agreements, and the September window will be open to all farms. The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme will be extended for three additional years, supported by £30 million of funding next year.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 ensure the long-term financial viability of farming.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming Roadmap and the full Government response to the Farming Profitability Review will be published later this year, setting out the wider plan to boost profitability and long-term viability.
The Government is already taking forward a series of measures. A new Farming and Food Partnership Board will bring together farmers, processors, retailers, and the wider supply chain to strengthen collaboration across the sector. The Government is investing £30 million in a Farmer Collaboration Fund to support peer-to-peer networks so farmers can share knowledge.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive will also be reformed to make it simpler and fairer, with two application windows this year. The June window will support smaller farms and those without agreements, and the September window will be open to all farms. The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme will be extended for three additional years, supported by £30 million of funding next year.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the response to the Stage 3 consultation on managing bottom trawl fishing in 41 English marine protected areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire on 13 November 2025, PQ 88509.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 help tackle the decline in the numbers of British birds.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to delivering our statutory biodiversity targets which will support the recovery and conservation of native wild birds.
Nationally, government actions to restore and create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat by 2042, along with projects funded through Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme, will support the conservation and recovery of a wide range of bird species. Within the farmland environment, Environment Land Management schemes include actions that provide food, shelter, and nesting habitat for a range of bird species.
In addition, to support delivery of our statutory species targets, Defra is developing a detailed Threatened Bird Recovery Plan which aims to improve coordination, and drive the delivery, of actions to recover our most threatened bird species.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 support change on ambient air quality across Government.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are determined to improve air quality and protect the public from the harm of pollution. That is why we are taking steps to reform areas like simpler industrial permitting to reduce emissions, and tightening standards for new wood burning appliances to help reduce health impacts.