DEFRA Update

Angela Eagle Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2026 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dame Angela Eagle)]

I wish to update the House on the key announcements and activity undertaken by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs during the conference recess.

Fisheries and Seafood Scheme

On 15 September, support under the fisheries and seafood scheme was expanded to include grants towards new engines and gearboxes for fishing vessels, including electric and hybrid technologies. The scheme forms part of the £132 million allocated to England through the fishing and coastal growth fund over the next five years.

Marine Research Vessel

On 28 September, the Government announced funding for a new research vessel for the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. This 85-metre-long vessel is expected to enter service in the early 2030s and to be built in a United Kingdom shipyard. The vessel will support fish stock assessment, seabed mapping, pollution monitoring and response to marine incidents. It is a vital investment in long-term at-sea science capability to protect our ocean and support the fisheries sector, helping position the UK as a global leader in marine science while reducing environmental impact.

Sustainable farming incentive 2026

The second application window for the sustainable farming incentive 2026 opened on 22 September to farmers and land managers with at least three hectares of agricultural land. Demand was high and the window closed later that day when its budget had been allocated. I recognise that farmers who wanted to apply but could not do so will be disappointed.

In anticipation of demand, we allocated a further £20 million to this window, in addition to the £50 million announced by the Prime Minister in August. Across both application windows, £310 million has been allocated to new agreements, including £253 million through the second window. These agreements will provide £930 million over three years for environmentally sustainable farming.

The Rural Payments Agency is processing applications. It will also continue to deal with eligible farmers who made contact before the second window closed because they needed assisted digital support or were prevented from applying by a technical issue.

We plan to offer the scheme again in 2027 and will look to open it as early as possible. We will work with farmers and stakeholders to learn from this year’s application windows, including exploring alternatives to a first-come, first-served process.

SFI is one part of the Government’s £11.8 billion of farming funding across this Parliament. Farmers can also seek support through the countryside stewardship higher tier, including the “expression of interest” route for woodland improvement, agroforestry, species-rich grassland and scheduled monument management. This year’s capital grants offer has a budget of £225 million. The Government have also extended farming in protected landscapes to March 2029, committed at least £200 million to the Farming Innovation Programme up to 2030, and launched the £30 million Farmer Collaboration Fund.

Water reform

The Prime Minister announced on 29 September that the strengthened Water Bill will remove the current limits on Government ownership of shares in the major water and sewerage companies in England.

This change will remove an historical restriction on Government share ownership, which does not exist in other sectors, so the Government can act where water companies let down customers and the environment.

The Government recognise that securing the long-term future of England’s water sector relies on continued private sector investment. Removing the investment limits does not change that. We will continue to work with investors, regulators and companies to secure the best outcomes for consumers and the environment.

Later this year, our 10-year plan for Britain will set out plans for stronger public control in the water sector, making the sector work for people and places again.

Food—good food neighbourhoods

On 30 September, I announced the good food neighbourhoods programme. This will provide almost £10 million to 45 local authorities identified as having the greatest levels of deprivation and childhood obesity, to improve access to healthy and affordable food. Each authority will receive £222,000 to develop solutions that meet local needs, putting decision making and resources directly in the hands of local leaders who know their communities best.

The good food neighbourhoods funding could support initiatives such as community food shops, mobile greengrocers, lunch clubs, community kitchens, and cooking and nutrition programmes, as well as helping local authorities to strengthen local food system resilience.

Nature

On 30 September I announced a £53 million community trees fund to fund urban and rural tree planting and establishment in streets, parks and places close to where people live and work, cooling towns and cities and boosting biodiversity. Through this fund, up to 500,000 new trees outside woodlands will be planted between April 2027 and March 2030.

The community trees fund will run over three years and will be available to strategic authorities and local authorities, as well as other organisations, including environmental organisations, farm clusters and national park authorities.

A further £26 million will support the delivery of local nature recovery strategies over the next three years across the 48 responsible authorities in England. These are locally led plans that identify priorities for environmental improvement, putting decisions in the hands of the people who know their landscapes best.

The strategies have been developed working closely with communities, farmers, businesses, planners, land managers and environmental groups to target action spatially for nature recovery and environmental improvement.

Through this funding, we are empowering local leaders to improve access to green spaces and shield their communities from the impacts of climate change, from restoring wetlands to reduce flood risk for homes and businesses, to tree planting to cool city streets during heatwaves, to increasing vegetation along rivers to improve water quality in local rivers.

Forty-five of the 48 local nature recovery strategies have now been published, with the remaining three expected later this year.

Delivery updates and departmental publications

On 17 September, Natural England launched a consultation on the first environmental delivery plan, addressing nutrient pollution from new houses in Norfolk as part of this Government’s win-win approach to housebuilding and nature restoration.

Under the proposed plan, rather than site-specific mitigation measures, levy payments from housing developers will be pooled by Natural England to fund large-scale conservation measures. These include habitat creation, land use change and river restoration that will improve water quality, strengthen ecosystem resilience and support species recovery.

In total, up to 15,780 homes could be unlocked while delivering an overall improvement for nature. The consultation closes on 27 October.

Further to the Government’s commitment to reduce and replace the use of animals in science wherever possible, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate published a report on animal use in quality control testing for the batch release of immunological veterinary medicinal products between 2013 and 2024. The report shows that the average number of animals used per vaccine batch released fell by 41% over the period, while overall animal use fell by 29%. The findings reflect advances in science and changes to testing requirements that have reduced the need for animal testing while maintaining the safety, quality and effectiveness of veterinary vaccines.

On 1 October 2026, the Report Receipt of Waste service became mandatory in England and Wales—it will become mandatory in Scotland and Northern Ireland on 1 January 2027. This is the first phase of the Government’s move from paper-based waste record keeping to a modern digital system. The service is mandatory for permitted waste-receiving sites, which must submit waste receipt information digitally within two working days. This will provide more timely data, helping regulators to identify suspicious patterns earlier and take prompt, targeted enforcement action where criminal activity is suspected. Approximately 12,000 sites are expected to be within the scope of this first phase. The service will be expanded over time to cover more of the waste movement chain, including waste carriers, brokers, dealers and other operators.

Other ministerial and departmental activity

On 23 September, during the UN General Assembly, I announced that the United Kingdom would join the OceanEye International Alliance for the Global Ocean Observing System. I also confirmed the United Kingdom’s intention to maintain its established ocean observing systems and strengthen international co-operation on marine monitoring.

This major new ocean science initiative, co-led by the European Union and Canada, will boost ocean observation and share data to enhance our ability to better forecast extreme weather and climate events, helping us to protect communities here at home.

On 6 October I announced the reappointment of Iain Coucher as chair of Ofwat. His second term commenced on 1 October 2026 and will run until the new integrated water regulator is established, and no later than 30 June 2029.

Drought

During the conference recess, 10 areas of England remained in drought, with the remainder in prolonged dry weather. Recent rainfall has slowed declines in some systems but has not delivered recovery. Drought is only over when rivers, groundwaters and reservoirs are back to normal levels—and most continue to recede. Recent assessments suggests that 120% of typical rainfall is required over the next seven months for all areas to be considered out of drought.

The national drought group continues to meet weekly to co-ordinate action across Government, regulators, water companies and key sectors such as farming, navigation and angling. We will ensure that water companies review and implement their drought plans and account from lessons learned in 2025 and 2026.

To address the projected water shortage in the next decade, there will be £8 billion of private investment for long-term water resource management, including the delivery of nine new reservoirs. Additional drought resilience measures include introducing mandatory water efficiency labelling, investing in nature-based solutions such as restoring peatlands, creating more wetlands and planting more trees.

A £65 million Government support package will help farmers impacted by drought, including funding of up to £15 million to build on-farm reservoirs, helping farmers to better store more water when it rains.

A joined-up, cross-Government approach is being taken to improve resilience to extreme weather, such as droughts, flooding and wildfires, £100 million has been allocated to strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to such events.

[HCWS354]