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 19 December 2024 (HL3060), what remedy the public currently has against a failure by a water company to proactively publish the operational sewage treatment and discharge datasets, the publication of which is not otherwise provided for in law.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs) require public authorities – including water companies - to disclose environmental information proactively. This includes data or summaries of data derived from the monitoring of activities affecting, or likely to affect, the environment.

The Information Commissioner, as the regulatory authority for information rights, promotes good practice by public authorities and may issue a “practice recommendation” to a public authority if it appears to him that the practice of the authority does not conform with that proposed in the Code of Practice. In July 2024, the Information Commissioner wrote to 12 water companies to remind them of their transparency obligations and followed this up in December 2024 by publishing a case study demonstrating both how challenges in publishing data can be overcome and the benefits of publishing frequently requested information.

If a member of the public seeks environmental information that a public authority has not proactively made available, they may request it, using Regulation 5 of the EIRs Where an exception does not apply to the information, the public authority must supply the information within 20 working days of receiving the request. If the requestor is dissatisfied with the way the request was handled, they may request a review from the public authority and if they continue to be dissatisfied, may request a decision from the Information Commissioner.

Alternatively, a member of the public may seek a judicial review of a public authorities’ failure to discharge its duties to disclose information proactively under the EIRs.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, for each of the most recent five years for which data are available, what was the total amount of public expenditure that has been allocated to companies or charities for the purposes of (1) anaerobic digestion and (2) redistributing surplus food for human consumption.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Over the last 7 years, the department has spent approximately £13 million of funding on supported redistribution organisations across the country.

This year, under the new Government, Defra announced £15 million to ensure that farm produce that would often go to waste or be eaten by animals is provided to a network of food banks. This helps the department reach its zero waste targets and ensures that the country's most vulnerable people have a ready supply of healthy food that is grown by British farmers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of aligning subsidies paid out of public expenditure with the food waste hierarchy statutory guidance.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has not made any assessment of aligning subsidies with the food waste hierarchy guidance.

Our priority is to prevent food waste occurring in the first instance, this is in line with the food waste hierarchy. Where waste cannot be prevented, edible surplus food should be redistributed. For unavoidable food waste, the government’s Simpler Recycling reforms will require all local authorities, businesses and relevant non-domestic premises in England to arrange for the separate collection of food waste for recycling. The Government's preference is that food waste is treated via anaerobic digestion (AD), the main route for producing biomethane, which is a low-carbon replacement for fossil fuel natural gas.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have estimated what proportion of food being sent to anaerobic digestion plants that is edible and fit for human consumption.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government does not collect data on the proportion of edible food waste sent to anaerobic digestion plants.

This Government will work with business to drive down food waste and make sure food is put on the plates of those in greatest need.

We continue to support the Waste and Resources Action Programme and its work to drive down food surplus and waste in homes and businesses. This includes work to ensure surplus food is redistributed to charities and other organisations who can use it and on programmes to help citizens reduce their food waste.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to revise the school food standards guide so as to maximise the nutritional value of food served through the school breakfast programme.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

This government is committed to delivering on our pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary aged children. We have made early progress towards this, announcing that up to 750 early adopter schools will be delivering these new breakfast clubs from April 2025.

Schools will be expected to provide a healthy, nutritious and varied breakfast offer to pupils which will set them up for the school day ahead. The school food standards regulate the food and drink provided throughout the school day, including at breakfast clubs. The school food standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. They ensure that pupils always have healthy options.

The school food standards practical guide provides useful advice for headteachers and governors to ensure that food offered at breakfast clubs is compliant with the school food standards, and is accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/school-food-standards-practical-guide.

As with all policies, we will keep our approach to school food under continued review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have assessed the impact on the living standards of different groups of people in receipt of Universal Credit resulting from the difference between the benefit uprating of 1.7 per cent from April 2025 and a higher inflation forecast for 2025–26.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions. The latest figure that the Secretary of State can use is the Consumer Price Index in the year to September to allow sufficient time for the required legislative and operational changes before new rates can be introduced at the start of the new financial year.

All benefit up-rating since April 1987 has been based on the increase in the relevant price inflation index in the 12 months to the previous September. Given the volumes involved (over 20 million customers), the technical and legislative requirements and the interdependencies across Government, it is not currently possible to undertake the up-rating exercise any later. There are no current plans for the Secretary of State to revisit these decisions.

At present, no estimate has been made of the impact on the living standards of different groups of people in receipt of Universal Credit resulting from the difference between the benefit uprating of 1.7 per cent from April 2025 and the inflation forecast for 2025-26.

The estimated number of individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in the financial year 2025/26 in each region of the UK and the UK overall can be found here Benefit uprating: estimated number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in financial year 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce mandatory reporting of food waste within the supply chains of large food retailers.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government is committed to setting a clear roadmap to a circular economy – a future where our resources are used as efficiently and productively as possible for as long as possible, and waste is reduced. We are reviewing policies to address the challenges associated with tackling food waste in the supply chain and will consider any mandatory food waste reporting requirements in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stating that they “do not automatically consider or assume biomass used for energy as ‘carbon neutral’, even in cases where the biomass is thought to be produced sustainably”.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

This IPCC reference relates to guidelines on reporting biomass as ‘zero’ emissions at the point of combustion. Under the IPCC Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting framework, removals and emissions associated with growing bioenergy crops, land-use change, fertilization, transportation, etc are recorded against the relevant sectors.

As with any energy source, biomass is not carbon neutral when considering the full supply chain, but it can be low carbon. The UK only considers biomass to be low carbon if it meets sustainability criteria, which includes requirements around sustainable harvesting and maintaining forest productivity, as well as a GHG criteria to minimise supply chain emissions. We plan to consult later this year on the development of a common sustainability framework which aims to enable greater consistency across different biomass end use sectors and to strengthen criteria in line with latest evidence.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 3 December (HL Deb col 1089), what is the evidence that sustainably sourced biomass can provide a low-carbon and renewable energy source; whether that evidence has been produced by an independent organisation that does not have financial links to the biomass industry; and whether they will publish it.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Global institutions such as the IPCC, and the UK’s CCC recognise that bioenergy and BECCS can play a significant role in decarbonising economies and meeting net zero provided that appropriate policies are put in place to mitigate the use of unsustainable biomass.

The Government only supports the use of sustainable biomass and generators only receive subsidies for biomass that meets our sustainability criteria. We also plan to consult later this year on the development of a common sustainability framework which aims to enable greater consistency across sectors and to strengthen criteria in line with latest evidence.

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