Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when, if at all, they plan to introduce extended producer responsibility for textiles.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We recognise the importance of continued innovation in the textiles sector and, as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England, we will consider the evidence for action right across the economy and evaluate what interventions may be needed. Over the coming months, the Circular Economy Taskforce is identifying specific subject areas, such as extended producer responsibility, requiring deeper exploration to test with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders in the sector. This will ensure that the Strategy reflects the needs and insights of all involved before publication in autumn this year.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 17 May 2024 (HL4375), what progress they have made on the collection of soil monitoring data from the Natural Capital Ecosystem Assessment programme; and whether 2027–28 remains the target for 100 percent completion.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme remains on track (subject to spending reviews) to complete its 5-year baseline soil sample within Financial Year 2027/28.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Douglas-Miller on 12 April 2024 (HL3653), what progress they have made on the regulation or other oversight of the sale of plant biostimulants, including consideration of their efficacy, safety and ecological impacts.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
There are no specific requirements for plant biostimulants in domestic fertiliser legislation. Fertilisers are a devolved matter, and we will continue to work with the devolved governments through the Fertilisers Common Framework on fertiliser regulation.
Defra has funded a review of the evidence for the safe and effective use of plant biostimulants and methods for verifying the efficacy of plant biostimulants. This review is due to conclude November 2026. However, due to the wide variety of compounds used in biostimulants and innovation in the sector, further research and support from industry may be needed.
As part of our mission-driven Government, we are now considering how we can achieve our ambitious, measurable and long-term goals for all our farming sectors, which includes fertilisers as a key input.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to achieve the COP15 pledge to reduce the overall risks from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half by 2030; and what assessment have they made of the likelihood of achieving this target.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has published a full National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and UK National Targets that commit us to achieving all 23 targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at home, including Target 7 which features a pledge to reduce the overall risks from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half by 2030.
In addition, the revised Environment Improvement Plan (EIP), which will be published in 2025, will set out the Government's approach to managing chemicals. The UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP), launched in March 2025, also sets out the Government’s strategy for managing pesticide use and minimising risks to the environment and health whilst maintaining food security.
An assessment of progress toward achieving the UK National Targets and implementation of the GBF will be set out in the UK 7th National Report, due to be published in February 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to develop a Pesticide Load Indicator for horticultural use of such chemicals, such as in orchards, and when they expect the work to be completed.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Pesticides National Action Plan (NAP), launched in March 2025 introduces a UK domestic target to reduce the potential harm from pesticides to the environment by 10% by 2030, monitored using the UK Pesticide Load Indicator (PLI). The PLI is a UK-specific indicator designed to show the potential harm to the environment and wildlife from pesticides. The UK PLI currently covers pesticide use in the arable sector only, which accounts for around 90% of overall pesticide use in UK agriculture.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish a new Wild Boar Action Plan following the appearance of a new population in Dartmoor National Park.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Primary responsibility for wild boar management lies with local communities and individual landowners. Defra works closely with stakeholder organisations to ensure communities, local authorities and landowners have access to guidance and information where needed to control populations and mitigate the impact of feral wild boar in their areas. Advice and further information on licensing and legislation relating wildlife management including wild boar is available on GOV.UK.
As part of ongoing work on contingency plans relating to wildlife disease management, Defra is undertaking a review of the Feral Wild Boar Action Plan. We will announce further details on this in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve recycling infrastructure and technologies to enable the increased recovery of critical minerals and other materials.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to transitioning to a circular economy. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has convened the Circular Economy Taskforce to help us develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England, which will be supported by a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis. We are considering the evidence for interventions right across the economy, including interventions that would enable the increased recovery of critical minerals and other materials.
Critical minerals in particular are crucial for the Government’s ambition to kickstart economic growth and make Britain a clean energy superpower. The Department for Business and Trade plans to bring forward a Critical Minerals Strategy, which will support the aims of the forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy by driving ambitious reform to promote recycling and the retention of critical minerals within the UK economy.
Beyond critical minerals, the largest waste management companies in the UK estimates that over the next decade the forthcoming Collection and Packaging Reforms alone will stimulate £10 billion investment in recycling infrastructure and create 21,000 new jobs; whilst also enhancing UK domestic material security by reducing reliance on virgin imports of critical materials.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce a national monitoring system for wild boars and feral pigs.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra encourages all pig keepers and members of the public to be vigilant and help protect our pig sector and wildlife from the threat of African swine fever and other notifiable diseases. Found dead feral wild boar and feral pigs in England should be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
Sightings of live feral wild boar and feral pigs can be made through the Mammal Societies Mammal Tracker app or directly through the National Biodiversity Network, the work of which is supported Natural England, Environment Agency and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Defra have no plans at this time to introduce alternative monitoring systems for live feral wild boar and feral pigs. However, Defra work closely with Forestry England to actively monitor and control the population of feral wild boar in the Forest of Dean and work closely with stakeholder organisations share intelligence and monitor the population of feral wild boar and feral pigs nationally.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to restrict meat and plant imports from the United States of America to prevent the entry of chronic wasting disease.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The rules for the importation into Great Britain of meat and meat products are laid down in GB legislation. Consignments must be accompanied by animal and public health certification and enter GB through a Border Control Post where checks are carried out to ensure that import conditions have been met.
Fresh meat of cervids (deer meat) can only be imported from the USA if it complies with supplementary guarantees in the model health certificates that mitigate the risk of chronic wasting disease (CWD) incursion from fresh meat.
There are no restrictions in place on imports of plants from the USA in relation to CWD. A risk assessment carried out in 2023 indicates that the risk of transmission of CWD via plants is very low.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the use of reusable nappies, and to make suppliers of single-use nappies pay the full cost of their disposal.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2023 Defra published a Life Cycle Assessment of disposable and reusable nappies which looked at disposable and reusable nappies across 18 equally-weighted environmental impact categories (Science Search (defra.gov.uk).
The assessment showed that while disposable nappies have a slightly higher global warming potential, reusable nappies have a higher environmental impact in other ways. As there is no clear consensus on whether reusable or disposable nappies are better for the environment the Department has no plans to take policy action on nappies at this time.