Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Bennett Excerpts

Thursday 10th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I gently advise the hon. Member, as I am sure he is aware, not to believe everything that he reads in the newspapers. However, I hope that he and the House would approve of the fact that this Government, with a new Prime Minister and new First Secretary of State, will want to look very carefully at the structures of the civil service and ensure that they are delivering for the priorities of this Government.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

After a winter of torrential rain and a summer without any rain, residents in Mid Sussex are incredibly concerned about the impact of drought and flooding, and among those residents are our farmers. Yesterday was Back British Farming Day and I spoke to Caroline, a West Sussex farmer, who is really concerned about their capacity to grow the food that we all need to eat. Will the Government make better use of water storage capacity available on British farms, including by removing planning and funding barriers to on-farm reservoirs as part of their approach to building national resilience?