Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to strengthen regulation of waste carriers and brokers, and to encourage intelligence-sharing and enforcement coordination between relevant regulators.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has recently laid legislation that will replace the light-touch waste carriers, brokers and dealers registration system with a new waste controllers and transporters system under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. This new regime will mean that operators will need to undergo stricter background checks and demonstrate technical competence to be granted a permit.
The Joint Unit for Waste Crime brings together law enforcement partners to tackle serious and organised waste crime and has already developed an enhanced intelligence sharing approach to enable this. Under the Waste Crime Action Plan, Defra is working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office to undertake a review of the end-to-end multi-agency response to waste crime, including areas such as information sharing. The review will identify opportunities to strengthen how agencies work together and will aim to strengthen existing intelligence sharing structures.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to establish a single reporting route for all waste crime incidents in order to enable a national dataset of related information.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The EA has commissioned a waste crime reporting Crimestoppers campaign which launched on 20 May 2026 and is set to finish in July/August. This radio and social media campaign aims to increase public awareness, understanding, and reporting of waste crime. The Crimestoppers campaign is featured on the Environment Agency website, and any communications on social media are amplified by Defra. The public should report any information regarding individuals or organised networks anonymously by visiting the Crimestoppers Illegal Waste Dumping page or by calling their 24/7 hotline at 0800 555 111.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the transparency and accessibility of procurement processes to improve responsive procurement of local and seasonal food.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is currently undertaking research across the public sector to improve understanding of current procurement practices, including local and sustainable sourcing. The research is expected to conclude in summer 2027 and its findings will inform future policy development. Further, Government has already published a new national procurement policy statement, which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to updating data collection and reporting across public sector food contracts, including clear reporting of country of origin, to assist British farmers to benefit from public sector contracts.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We do not currently have access to sufficient data on the proportion of UK-produced food that is purchased across the public sector to produce reliable sector-specific estimates. However, we are carrying out further research to improve the quality, coverage, and understanding of this data and expect to conclude in summer 2027. The findings will inform future policy development, including how we might improve data collection and monitoring arrangements for public sector food procurement, increasing transparency and supporting opportunities for British farmers to benefit from public sector contracts.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to implementing a flexible water abstraction licensing system linked to real-time water availability
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is taking steps to move towards a more flexible abstraction licensing system. The white paper: A new vision for water, includes the proposal to move the legislative framework for regulating abstraction, to the Environmental Permitting Regulations. This will provide a modern flexible framework to support growth and access to water when it is available. The Environment Agency is upgrading its digital platforms and undertaking smart farming trials. These trials are designed to understand what is required to support a modern approach to managing abstraction.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to allow farmers with expiring agreements the choice of applying for (1) the Sustainable Farming Incentive, or (2) the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, by September.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra intends to help farmers with soon-to-expire Environmental Land Management revenue agreements to access the full SFI26 offer sooner. Additionally, for farmers in Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) agreements that expire in 2026, Natural England will discuss options for entering into new CSHT agreements before their agreements expire.
Defra is developing functionality on the SFI26 application service to allow farmers to apply for land covered by these agreements before they expire. Defra expects this to be in place from the start of the second SFI26 application window from September 2026.
Defra expects to be able to confirm whether this will be possible towards the end of June.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in promoting fairness in supply chains to prevent farmers shouldering price burdens during volatile periods.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products, and this Government is committed to tackling contractual unfairness wherever it exists.
However, they include provisions designed to improve transparency in price calculations, fostering greater confidence that prices are determined fairly.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to ensure eggs imported into the UK will continue to meet the same food safety, traceability and hen welfare standards during the transition to cage-free systems.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the UK’s trade strategy, the Government will always consider whether overseas produce has an unfair advantage. Where necessary, the Government 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 Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to make procurement processes for British food producers more transparent and accessible.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to opening up public sector supply chains to a wider range of companies, particularly small and medium-sized (SME) businesses, including farmers and growers. The Government published a national procurement policy statement (NPPS) in February 2025. The NPPS sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to higher environmental standards that high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet. Given the limited information on the origin and sustainability of food in the public sector supply chain, Defra has begun collecting new data to understand how far public sector settings are serving food from local and sustainable sources and what further action is needed.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to simplify the process for British food producers, especially small and medium-sized farms, to access public sector supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to opening up public sector supply chains to a wider range of companies, particularly small and medium-sized (SME) businesses, including farmers and growers. The Government published a national procurement policy statement (NPPS) in February 2025. The NPPS sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to higher environmental standards that high-quality British producers are well-placed to meet. Given the limited information on the origin and sustainability of food in the public sector supply chain, Defra has begun collecting new data to understand how far public sector settings are serving food from local and sustainable sources and what further action is needed.