Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - 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 impact on farmers of the higher cost of red diesel following the closure of the Straits of Hormuz; and what steps they will take to alleviate any difficulties of increased costs and lack of supply.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is aware there have been increases in the price of red diesel as a result of volatility in international markets, influenced by the continued instability in the Middle East. This Government is taking decisive action to support fishers and farmers by cutting the duty on red diesel to its lowest rate in over 20 years, reducing the rate on red diesel by a third.
This Government speaks regularly with the fuel industry, and the UK remains well stocked for all fuel types.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to increase the general public’s daily intake of fruit and vegetables, and to increase the proportion of those foods that are grown in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government promotes eating plenty of fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy, balanced diet. The Eatwell Guide illustrates this supported by the long-running 5 A DAY campaign. Defra is also working to deliver the 10 key outcomes of the Government’s Good Food Cycle, one of which is healthier and more affordable food.
Alongside this, Defra, food chain stakeholders and primary producers are co-designing a horticulture growth plan. This plan aims to collaboratively grow sector profit, productivity and contribute to national food security. This is likely to include growing the market share for our homegrown produce – whether through exports, retail, out of home market or public procurement.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received regarding the costs and regulatory burdens of environmental permitting regulations for farm practices; and how they intend to address these concerns.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra engages a range of representations relating to the costs and regulatory burdens of different aspects of the environmental permitting regulations on farming. The Environment Agency designs permit charges to be fair and proportionate, consulting widely on proposed changes and mitigating impacts where possible.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many on-farm reservoirs have been built in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Approximately 34 newly built Large Raised Reservoirs (reservoirs with an above ground capacity of more than 25,000 cubic metres of water) have been built on farms in England in the last five years.
Year of final certificate | Count of reservoirs |
2021 | 4 |
2022 | 0 |
2023 | 4 |
2024 | 5 |
2025 | 12 |
2026 | 9 |
Note: the final certificate is the document that marks the end of the ‘under construction’ phase for a reservoir under the Reservoirs Act 1975.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to implement the recommendations of the Independent Reservoir Safety Report, published on 13 May 2021.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Many of the recommendations from the Independent Reservoir Safety Report have already been implemented – detail can be found here [see attached]. A public consultation on legislative reforms to take forward further recommendations from this report is planned in due course.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will bring forward the regulations to introduce the waste carriage, broker and dealer reforms as committed to in October 2023.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The commitment made in 2023 was under the previous Government. This Government published its policy paper on gov.uk in August 2025, setting out its plans for reform of the waste carrier broker dealer regime in England [see attached].
Work has begun to draft the necessary legislative amendments and will be progressed when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce stricter liability for waste duty of care on large waste producing business.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government published its new Waste Crime Action Plan on 20 March which is the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste. We have no plans to introduce a stricter liability for waste duty of care on large waste producing businesses. Businesses already have a duty to ensure their waste is lawfully managed and the Environment Agency (EA) will make full use of its powers to hold those responsible for illegal waste operations accountable. Additionally, the EA will now publicly name and shame illegal waste operators so that those working in the waste sector understand who has been involved in mishandling waste.
We are also introducing a mandatory digital waste tracking system. This will replace paper-based methods with a modern digital platform upon which details about waste movements will need to be recorded. This will provide environmental regulators with a single system to monitor waste movements in near real time, improving transparency and accountability.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will implement plans for a waste crime levy.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government published its new Waste Crime Action Plan on 20 March which is the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste. We are now committing an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency (EA) to spend on waste crime enforcement over the next 3 financial years, on top of the £5.6 million increase for this financial year announced previously. This new funding will enable the EA to expand its on-the-ground enforcement activity and ensure waste criminals face the consequences of their actions. We continue to consider a waste crime levy to support enforcement but given the extra funding we are providing now, its introduction is not imminent.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - 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 impact of the animal welfare strategy, published on 22 December 2025, on domestic livestock producers; and what steps they will take to prevent third country producers from having a competitive advantage in not having to meet the standards in that strategy.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will continue to build on existing high welfare standards in our farming sector in a measured way, while supporting the farming sector to be profitable and contribute to UK food security. The Government recognises that assessing the impacts of measures in the strategy is an important part of the process as proposals are brought forward. The Government will also continue to build on the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway to make sure farmers have access to the right advice and support.
As set out in the UK’s trade strategy, the Government will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage and, where necessary, will be prepared to use the full range of powers at the government’s disposal to protect the UK’s most sensitive sectors.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual farming budget for (1) 2025–26, and (2) 2026–27; and how the spending is broken down for each year.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. On 12 March 2025 we set out how we planned to spend the budget [see attached] (£5 billion) across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.
Scheme | Budget for 2024/25 and 2025/26 (£m) |
Delinked Payments | 1,050 |
Live existing agreements (Higher Level Stewardship and Countryside Stewardship) | 1,800 |
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) | 1,050 |
Other environmental land management (ELM) schemes | 350 |
Farming grants (one-off payments to help improve the environment or increase productivity) | 350 |
Animal Health, Welfare and Livestock Information Transformation | 150 |
Mental health, Farming Resilience Fund, Prosperity Fund | 100 |
Advice, pilots and technical support | 150 |
Total | 5,000 |
On 16 June 2026, following the 2025 Spending Review, we set out indicative funding figures [see attached] for the 2026-27 to 2028-29 financial years, including plans to increase the amount of money paid to farmers under Environmental Land Management schemes from £800m in 2023/24 towards £2bn by 2028/29.
Indicative funding (£ million) | 2026–27 |
Delinked payments | 20 |
Environmental land management schemes | 1,950 |
Other (productivity, innovation, transition) | 350 |
Farming and Countryside Programme | 2,320 |
Nature schemes | 450 |
Farming and Nature total | 2,770 |
Please note final allocations will be agreed through business planning.
In line with its obligations under the Agriculture Act 2020, Defra regularly publishes an annual report, setting out commitments in the previous financial year, including Farming and Countryside Programme spend broken down by each scheme. The latest report covers the financial year 2024/25, and can be accessed here: Farming and Countryside Programme annual report [see attached].