Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of local authorities currently use digital waste tracking services.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Digital Waste Tracking Service goes live from April 2026 for waste receivers, with requirements to digitally track waste received becoming mandatory in October 2026.
Waste operators currently use multiple systems – some paper based and others digital - to collect certain elements of waste tracking data. By introducing digital waste tracking, data will be collected centrally in near real time, making it much more difficult for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime.
As part of our user research, it has been shown that the large majority of local authority waste disposal and waste collection authorities use third party contractors to manage waste in their areas, even if they are the holder of the environmental permit. As such it is difficult to quantify the number of local authorities that currently run their services in-house.
From April 2027, subject to funding, Digital Waste Tracking will onboard other waste operators including carriers which will provide an end to end view of how waste moves through the system.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of prolonged dry weather on wildlife and natural habitats in (a) Fylde and (b) Lancashire.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the prolonged dry weather incident of 2025 the Environment Agency (EA) responded to numerous dry weather-related environmental incidents. These included incidents in:
a) Fylde
The Fisheries Operations Team carried out a fish rescue at a pond near Larkholme in May, following reports of fish mortalities.
b) wider Lancashire
The EA attended multiple reports of fish in distress / mortalities, algal blooms and low water levels in the Leeds Liverpool canal. Fish rescues were carried out (where necessary) along with advice and guidance to fishery owners.
Following the driest February to April since 1929, most drought reported incidents were confined to April and May. Intermittent rainfall from May onwards helped reduce environmental impacts, with the EA responding to just one dry weather incident in July in Lancashire.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to reform water sector regulation to help tackle (a) water pollution, (b) water scarcity and (c) long-term infrastructure resilience.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will respond to the recommendations in full via a White Paper, published later this year. The White Paper will outline the Government’s vision for the future of the water sector, marking the most fundamental reset to our water system in a generation.
Following this there will be a new water reform bill, which we will introduce during this Parliament, bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, and the environment.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
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 potential implications for her policies of the recommendations of the Cunliffe Review of the water regulatory system.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will respond to the recommendations in full via a White Paper, published later this year. The White Paper will outline the Government’s vision for the future of the water sector, marking the most fundamental reset to our water system in a generation.
Following this there will be a new water reform bill, which we will introduce during this Parliament, bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, and the environment.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vehicles were (a) seized and (b) crushed for fly-tipping offences in (i) Fylde, (ii) Lancashire, and (iii) England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping enforcement actions, including vehicles seized, to Defra, which are published annually here. This data is not available at a constituency level and does not include information on what happened to the vehicle after it was seized. Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected.
In the last 12 months no vehicles have been seized in relation to waste crime offences by the Environment Agency within Fylde or Lancashire. The last vehicle seizure in Lancashire was October 2024.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to provide an answer to Question 87476 on Pets: Shops.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A response was published to Question 87476 on Tuesday 18 November here: PQ 87476.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's press notice entitled Government steps in to build first major reservoirs in 30 years, published on 29 May 2025. what progress she has made on building (a) nine new reservoirs and (b) upgrading water infrastructure to reduce leakage.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Price Review 2024 will deliver substantial, lasting, improvements through a £104bn upgrade for the water sector. The highest level of investment in the water sector since privatisation, this investment will be crucial to deliver the improvements required.
The Government’s Water Delivery Taskforce is working across Government, the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) and water industry stakeholders to deliver planned water infrastructure that is essential to growth.
Water companies are aiming to deliver approximately 10.4 million smart meters over 2025-30. The rollout will enable water companies to reduce leakage, helping them meet their commitment to deliver a 50% reduction in leakage from 2017-2018 levels by 2050 and reduce overall water consumption.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that grooming services offered by pet retail chains are subject to adequate (a) welfare standards and (b) inspection regimes.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) anyone who has control of animals must protect them from suffering and provide for their welfare needs. These requirements apply to anyone operating a dog grooming business. Failing to comply with the 2006 Act is punishable by imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both.
The Canine and Feline Sector Group (CFSG), comprised of leading national animal welfare charities, veterinary and trade associations and other expert organisations has recently published a code of practice to assist for dog and cat groomers which can be found here.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on the investigation of injuries sustained by companion animals during commercial grooming appointments.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department has not provided any guidance to local authorities on the investigation of injuries sustained by companion animals during commercial grooming appointments.
Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 anyone in control of animals must protect them from suffering and provide for their welfare needs. These requirements apply to anyone operating a dog grooming business. Under the Act, local authorities have powers to investigate allegations of cruelty, poor welfare, or neglect of animals.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential risk to the health of birds from avian influenza (H5N1) in Fylde constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The risk of HPAI H5 in wild birds in Great Britain has recently escalated from high to very high (event occurs almost certainly). The risk of poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain is assessed as very high (event occurs almost certainly) where there is suboptimal or poor biosecurity and Medium (event occurs regularly) where stringent biosecurity is consistently applied at all times.
All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the Government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease.
Risk levels are being kept under regular review.
Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) mandating enhanced biosecurity and, for keepers of over 50 birds, housing is in force across the whole of England, including the Flyde constituency - to mitigate the risk of further outbreaks of the disease.