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 whether they plan to update their definition of polypropylene to allow non-black polypropylene plant pots to be classed as green under the Recyclability assessment methodology: assessing materials, updated on 4 September 2025.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
PackUK has received feedback highlighting ongoing challenges with stable market demand, collection, sorting performance, and recyclability for coloured rigid polypropylene. The Recyclability Assessment Methodology is reviewed and updated annually. Officials are currently seeking advice on this issue from the independent RAM Technical Advisory Committee to inform the next iteration of the RAM (2027), due to be published in July 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 penalties will be imposed on local authorities that do not comply with Simpler Recycling requirements; and when and how they plan to report on rates of compliance.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Public authorities (such as waste collection authorities) are expected to comply with their statutory duties. If they do not comply, they are at risk of judicial review. However, local authorities are independent bodies and are accountable to their electorate rather than to Ministers or Government departments.
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 address fungi being a notified feature in 0.3 per cent of SSSIs in England; and whether they will commit the necessary resources for new sites already on Natural England’s SSSI pipeline to be so notified.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While only a small proportion of existing sites currently have fungi recorded as monitored features, Natural England (NE) continues to improve consistency in how all features are identified and assessed.
As around 8% of England has been designated as SSSI over the past 40 years, NE considers that most suitable areas have already been notified, though further cases may arise as evidence improves and environmental conditions change.
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 develop routine antimicrobial resistance surveillance across UK aquaculture sectors.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2022 the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) initiated a collaboration with the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture science (Cefas) with the support of the British Trout Association (BTA), to establish AMR surveillance in bacteria responsible for disease in UK farmed trout. Results from this pilot scheme have been reported in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales Surveillance Reports (2023 & 2024). Building on this work the development of a national surveillance programme for AMR in healthy aquatic animals – including finfish and shellfish – is currently under consideration.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has also established the Private Laboratories Initiative (PLI) to strengthen national AMR surveillance by capturing clinical data from private veterinary diagnostic laboratories, which are not currently included in government surveillance programmes. Addressing this surveillance gap will improve our ability to understand of AMR trends and detect emerging threats. This work includes aquaculture, with work underway led by Cefas. Further details can be found in the UK‑VARSS 2024 report (p.169).
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 Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 21 January (HL13085), what evidence they received from trading partners to confirm that antimicrobials used for growth promotion have not been used in food-producing animals or animal products exported to Great Britain for human consumption; and whether they will publish examples of that evidence.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra requires all trading partners that export food-producing animals and animal products for human consumption to Great Britain to submit residue control plans each year.
The plans monitor for the presence of pharmacologically active substances, including antimicrobials used for growth promotion. Where non‑compliance is detected, Defra can impose safeguard measures, including compulsory pre‑ or post‑import testing and import bans.
Trading partners must also provide guarantees that antimicrobials intended for growth promotion or yield enhancement have not been used. Although returns are not published, the lists of countries with approved residue control plans can be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Israel sprayed glyphosate over areas of south Lebanon; what assessment they have made of the impact of spraying glyphosate on environmental and human health; and whether they have discussed that matter with the government of Israel.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is concerned by reports that Israel sprayed herbicide over Lebanese territory in early February and that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon operations were impacted by this operation. The UK urges all parties to adhere to the Cessation of Hostilities agreement in place since 2024 and in particular to avoid any threat to civilians or the UN Mission.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial stability of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, including debt levels; and what assessment they have made of whether the (1) budget, (2) contents, or (3) availability, of free school meals has been reduced at schools in that trust.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department continues to work with the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust. Where financial non-compliance or governance concerns are identified, the department will intervene in a way that is proportionate to the risk and preserves education and free school meal provision.
The Education Act 1996 as amended places a duty upon academies to provide free school meals to pupils of all ages that meet the criteria.
The government is delivering on its manifesto commitment by legislating to introduce Ofsted inspection of academy trusts and related intervention powers for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. Trust inspection will help drive better outcomes for children and provide greater confidence for parents.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report Designing Out Economic Abuse in the UK Banking Industry: A Call To Action, published by Northumbria University in November 2025.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the devasting impacts economic abuse can have on people’s financial independence. Tackling economic abuse is a priority for the Government as part of its mission to halve Violence Against Women and Girls within a decade.
Reflecting this, economic abuse was considered as a theme across the Government’s recently published Financial Inclusion Strategy, in recognition of the challenges victim-survivors can face in accessing financial products and services. The strategy sets out an ambitious programme of measures for Government and the financial services sector to improve financial inclusion. This includes supporting victim-survivors to regain financial independence through interventions to increase access to banking services and improving the impact of economic abuse on victim-survivors’ credit files.
The Government is committed to continuing to work closely with industry, civil society, and across government to deliver the strategy successfully and ensure interventions are informed by a range of expertise and perspectives. This includes engaging regularly with the banking sector on their continued response to economic abuse.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the economic risks, (2) social impacts, and (3) costs, of prediction markets; and what consideration have they given to further regulation or restriction of such systems.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In order to operate in Great Britain, any prediction market would require a licence from the Gambling Commission, the independent regulator for gambling. If approved, they would be classified as a ‘Betting Intermediary’ and subject to regulation under the Gambling Act 2005. We will monitor the potential impacts of prediction markets and consider further action if needed.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comparative levels of loss of experienced upper pay range teachers in academy and local authority-controlled schools; and what assessment they have made of the (1) extent, and (2) impact, of the use of settlement agreements and confidentiality clauses when such teachers leave employment.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not collect or publish teacher leaving rates broken down by teacher pay band. We publish the number and rate of qualified teachers who join and leave the state-funded sector each year in the ‘School workforce in England’ publication. The latest data was published 5 June 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. In 2023/24, 40,813 fulltime equivalent (FTE) qualified teachers left the state-funded sector, compared with 42,554 in 2022/23. This equates to 9% of all qualified teachers, one of lowest leaver rates outside the pandemic years.
The department is not the employer of school staff and does not collect data on the use of settlement agreements or confidentiality clauses by academy trusts or local authorities.
Settlement agreements should be entirely voluntary for all involved and schools, as employers, are required to comply with all aspects of employment law. Additionally, academy trusts must also comply with the Academies Financial Handbook, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-financial-handbook.
Where a settlement agreement includes a confidentiality clause, existing law means such clauses cannot be used to prevent someone from making a protected disclosure such as whistleblowing. Further information about whistle blowing for employees is provided here: https://www.gov.uk/whistleblowing.