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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration she has given to amending the Extended Producer Responsibility base fees to introduce a sub-category for fibre-based composites containing between 5% and 15% non-fibre content.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under pEPR, a fibre-based composite material is paper or card which has a plastic content, usually in the form of laminated layers which cannot be separated by hand, of more than 5%. This category distinguishes packaging with layers of plastic from paper and card packaging, supporting clearer producer reporting and fee calculations. The 5% plastic layer threshold was introduced to improve clarity, support alignment with reporting in Northern Ireland, and encourage continued progress towards reducing non-fibre content in the paper and card waste stream. PackUK reviews all categories and sub-categories on an annual basis, against the environmental outcomes of the scheme.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the levels of Packaging Recovery Notes fraud in the waste export sector.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

To tackle fraud in the Packaging Waste Recycling Note market we have introduced new requirements on exporters as part of the accreditation process.

The regulators are responsible for ensuring that exporters of UK packaging waste are compliant with the Regulations. In 2025, the Environment Agency (EA) assessed the compliance of 130 accredited operators leading to an increase in suspensions and cancellations.

The EA’s Investigations and Disruption team has expanded significantly in the last year. This additional resource has been deployed to strengthen reactive fraud investigations and proactive upstream disruption activity aimed at preventing serious and organised environmental crime.

The team works closely with HM Revenue and Customs, police forces, and regional organised crime units to focuses on high value fraud, money laundering, and individuals who facilitate or enable this form of criminality.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the industries which can only be decarbonised by switching to hydrogen energy.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We recognise that some industrial sectors are particularly hard to electrify and are therefore expected to require hydrogen to decarbonise, including processes such as chemical production and refining. Electrification is expected to play the primary role across most of industry, with hydrogen playing a more focused role where alternatives are not feasible.

We plan to publish the renewed Hydrogen Strategy, alongside a package of other hydrogen policy documents, as soon as possible this year.

The Strategy will set out Government’s vision and objectives for hydrogen, and how we intend to work with industry to continue to transform ambition into action.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has considered the potential merits of publishing the updated UK hydrogen strategy before the end of July 2026.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We understand the importance of providing clarity to businesses across the hydrogen sector. The renewed Hydrogen Strategy will set out Government’s vision and objectives for hydrogen, and how we intend to work with industry to continue to transform ambition into action. We plan to publish the Strategy, alongside a package of other hydrogen policy documents, as soon as possible this year.

In the meantime, we remain focused on delivery and are supporting projects currently in the pipeline, with projects that were successful in HAR1 now moving to the final investment decision, construction and operation phases.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of required pace of hydrogen network rollout to aid industrial decarbonisation in order to (a) meet the UK’s decarbonisation targets and (b) avoid a potential adverse impact on viability as industries come into scope of CBAM.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

We recognise that hydrogen will play an important but focused role in decarbonising hard‑to‑electrify industrial sectors, particularly within industrial clusters where shared transport and storage infrastructure can be developed efficiently.

We have confirmed over £500 million to support hydrogen infrastructure and enable the development of the UK’s first regional hydrogen network. We aim to launch the first transport and storage allocation rounds in 2026.

We plan to publish the renewed Hydrogen Strategy, alongside a package of other hydrogen policy documents, as soon as possible this year.

The Strategy will set out Government’s vision and objectives for hydrogen, and how we intend to work with industry to continue to transform ambition into action.

Draft Code of Practice on Services, public functions and associations

Found: Andrew Cooper: I am Andrew Cooper, Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.

Found: Andrew Cooper: Andrew Cooper, Member of Parliament for Mid Cheshire.

Found: Eshalomi (Labour; Vauxhall and Camberwell Green) (Chair) Lewis Cocking (Conservative; Broxbourne) Andrew Cooper

Found: 40 vehicle(s) OH1019981 R OXFORD BLUE SCAFFOLDING LTD Director(s): ANDREW WILLIAM DURKIN, ANDREW COOPER