Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the amount of land registered as common land which was incorrectly registered.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has not made a formal assessment of the total amount of land incorrectly registered as common land. However, the Commons Act 2006 acknowledges that registration errors occurred under the Commons Registration Act 1965, including wrongly drawn boundaries, buildings mistakenly included, and land that did not meet the legal definition of common land. Schedule 2 of the Commons Act 2006 provides mechanisms to correct registration errors, but implementation is limited to specific areas with varying deadlines - applications closed in pioneer areas in December 2020, while deregistration applications in other English areas must be made by 15 March 2027.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 public confidence in the water sector.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our New Vision for Water sets out once‑in‑a‑generation reforms to transform the water system. We will establish a new water regulator to raise trust and accountability, and set up an independent, impartial and accredited Ombudsman so customers have assurance their complaints will be resolved.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of safety advice provided to users of the spot-on pet treatments containing fipronil.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The adequacy of safety advice provided to users of spot‑on veterinary medicines is assessed as part of the statutory authorisation process for veterinary medicinal products. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) conducts a comprehensive user‑risk assessment in accordance with established international guidance, including the Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) guideline on user safety for veterinary medicinal products (EMA/CVMP/543/03‑Rev.1) and the CVMP guideline specifically addressing topically administered products (EMA/CVMP/SWP/721059/2014).
These assessments consider both direct and indirect routes of exposure, including contact with treated animals. Where the assessment identifies potential risks, appropriate risk‑mitigation measures are implemented. These are reflected in the product information, including the Summary of Product Characteristics and the package leaflet, and typically comprise clear instructions on correct application, advice to minimise human contact with the application site, and warnings intended to protect vulnerable household members, including children.
The adequacy of this safety advice is kept under continual review through the VMD’s pharmacovigilance system, which monitors reports relating to user safety and allows updates to product information where required. Publicly available assessment reports and product literature can be accessed via the Product Information Database on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the steps being taken to reduce the current levels of fipronil and imidacloprid in rivers will result in meeting their mandated obligation to achieve the Water Frameworks Directive’s requirement for good ecological and chemical status by 2027.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Pharmaceuticals in the Environment group, supported by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, has put in place a roadmap for reducing exposure of these substances to water courses, with workstreams looking at several complementary activities. These include educating vets and the pet-owning public, investing in research to plug scientific evidence gaps, including routes to the environment and pet owner behavioural change, and reviewing the guidance for environmental risk assessments, which will all contribute to the desired aim.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
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 raise public awareness of the impact of methane-reducing feed additives used in livestock farming.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have a system. Methane-reducing food products, including seaweed, oils and synthetic products such as Bovaer, are a key tool in reducing emissions from agriculture by up to one third. Bovaer is approved for use in 70 countries, including those in the EU, Switzerland, the US, Canada and Australia. We are building the market for safe, effective options and helping farmers to adopt them. Such products are approved by the Food Standards Agency, and that advice has not been changed. Bovaer has been reviewed by 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a user-risk assessment has been completed concerning the chronic human exposure to fipronil and its metabolites, especially in households where pets are treated with spot-on pet medicines containing those agents.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
User risk assessments (URAs) are a core element of the authorisation process for veterinary medicinal products, and they include consideration of chronic human exposure in households where pets receive spot‑on treatments. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate conducts URAs in line with established international guidance, including the Committee for Veterinary Medicinal Products (CVMP) Guideline on user safety for pharmaceutical veterinary medicinal products (EMA/CVMP/543/03‑Rev.1) and the CVMP Guideline on user safety of topically administered veterinary medicinal products (EMA/CVMP/SWP/721059/2014).
These assessments follow a stepwise approach: hazard identification (drawing on extensive pharmacological and toxicological datasets, including for vulnerable sub‑populations), exposure assessment (covering short‑term direct and longer‑term indirect exposures), and risk characterisation using appropriate safety thresholds and conservative assumptions. For fipronil, the assessment considers relevant metabolites. Where indicated, risk mitigation measures are applied, such as user safety warnings, child‑resistant closures, and advice to minimise contact with the application site, reflected in the Summary of Product Characteristics and product literature (package leaflet).
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to change the classification of spot-on pet treatments containing fipronil and imidacloprid from the current general sales (AVM-GS) to the prescription only (POM-V) classification.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Spot‑on flea and tick treatments containing fipronil and imidacloprid remain important for protecting animal and human health. Many of these products are currently classified as AVM‑GSL, meaning they may be supplied without professional advice. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) recognises increasing concerns about the environmental presence of these substances, which have been detected in some UK watercourses at levels above toxicity thresholds for aquatic invertebrates.
The VMD is carrying out a regulatory review of the AVM‑GSL status of products containing fipronil and imidacloprid. Further details on this review will be made available early this year. The review will assess whether requiring professional advice at the point of sale, such as through a minimum NFA‑VPS classification, could support more responsible use and disposal.
The regulatory review will consider all legal distribution channels with any future decisions being transparent, evidence‑based and to maintain animal welfare and access to treatment.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 crime of fly tipping in Epping Forest.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action. The Government is taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to effectively exercise their existing powers. We are also reviewing council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could better help them use this tool.
Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping.
In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
The Environment Agency regulates large scale fly-tips that meet the criteria of being over 20 tonnes, consist of hazardous material, or are linked to organised crime. Within the Epping Forest constituency, there are not currently any reports of large-scale fly-tips that meet these criteria. It is worth noting that there are two illegal waste sites where active clearing is currently taking place under the guidance of the Environment Agency.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to extend the enhanced verification procedure for the export of end-of-life tyres beyond April 2026.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency will publish further information on the enhanced verification checks in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
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 22 January 2026 to Question 106499 on Tyres: Waste Disposal, how many Annex VII documents were submitted late for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency has received a total of 3,442 annex VII documents between 28 October to 2 February 2026 relating to the movement of waste tyres from England. 241 of these were considered late as they were received less than the required 3 days before the waste movement. The Environment Agency is now undertaking follow up activities and considering the use of stop notices for non-compliant companies.