Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to increase protections for (a) ancient and (b) veteran trees.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As the criminal case for the Sycamore Gap tree has shown, our judicial system takes illegal tree felling seriously: those that cause illegal damage will be held to account. In addition, our most important trees, those of ancient and veteran status, are considered irreplaceable habitats and protected in planning policy. Local authorities may also grant specific protections on individual trees of high value through Tree Preservation Orders.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing performance standards for material recovery facilities to ensure purity of all material bales.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Simpler Recycling requires the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures will increase the quantity of dry recyclable material collected for sorting at MRFs and will apply from 31st March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31st March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).
There are existing requirements on material recovery facilities (MRFs) to report the reject rates at each facility in Waste Data Flow question 100 and to undertake composition sampling on material received and report this to the Environment Agency via the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2023.
Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and waste industry representatives to support Material Recovery Facility (MRF) readiness for the Simpler Recycling requirements.
We have engaged with MRF operators and local authorities through WRAP’s MRF Forum to identify challenges with MRF capacity, investment, upgrade timelines, and to work with the sector to identify interventions to support MRFs as they prepare for Simpler Recycling. WRAP is developing interventions to support Local Authorities with setting up new MRF contracts, determine the potential future composition of dry mixed recyclable waste streams and the associated financial implications.
I have instructed my officials to develop further policy options to drive long-term improvement to Local Authority performance, including on potential approaches to improving quality which will support the UK reprocessing sector.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department plans to provide to local authorities and material recovery facilities to ensure sorting and recycling infrastructure can be upgraded so it is consistent.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and waste industry representatives to support Material Recovery Facility (MRF) readiness for the Simpler Recycling requirements.
Simpler Recycling requires the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures will increase the quantity of dry recyclable material collected for sorting at MRFs and is a requirement from 31 March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31 March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).
We have engaged with MRF operators and local authorities through WRAP’s MRF Forum to identify challenges with MRF capacity, investment, upgrade timelines, and to work with the sector to identify interventions to support MRFs as they prepare for Simpler Recycling. WRAP is developing interventions to support Local Authorities setting up new MRF contracts or procurement of other resources associated with implementation of Simpler Recycling requirements. An assessment is being undertaken of the potential future composition of dry mixed recyclable waste streams and the associated financial implications resulting from this.
The MRF operators who are engaged with us are aware of their obligations and are working hard to upgrade their facilities to ensure they can separate the target materials as required by Simpler Recycling.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) advocate for improved international protections for salmon through the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation and (b) support local hatcheries to aid salmon population recovery.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The UK is a committed member of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO), which seeks to reverse the decline of wild Atlantic salmon and recover populations to healthy and resilient levels across their range. The UK hosted NASCO’s 2025 annual meeting in Cardiff, earlier this year, at which parties agreed to develop ambitious new salmon action plans to contribute to the recovery of salmon populations. In the first half of 2026 NASCO will host negotiations to develop a new regulatory measure for the West Greenland land fishery, which the UK will participate in. In 2024 NASCO published new guidelines for stocking Atlantic salmon. In England, all stocking activity is regulated by the Environment Agency, who take a case-by-case approach, with reference to the NASCO guidelines.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help prevent decline in Atlantic salmon populations in (a) the River Lynher and (b) other rivers in the South West (i) in general and (ii) by commercial mackerel fishing vessels inadvertently catching salmon smolts.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Environment Agency (EA) manages salmon fisheries in England. They use a combination of local and national Byelaws and Net Limitation Orders to prevent commercial salmon fishing and to minimise recreational pressures on salmon. For the South West, this includes protections on 13 principal salmon rivers; the Hampshire Avon, Frome, Exe, Teign, Dart, Tavy, Tamar, Lynher, Fowey, Camel, Taw, Torridge, and Lyn and on 20 recovering salmon rivers; the Allen, Avill, Blakeney Brook, Bristol Avon, Brit, Doniford, Fal, Harbourne, Heddon, Lerryn, Looe, Meon, Otter, Par, Parrett, Porth, Seaton, Sid, Valency and Washford. In 2023, anglers reported releasing 95% of salmon caught, across England and Wales. Additionally, the EA works collaboratively with many local organisations to implement other environmental improvement actions that benefit salmon within the River Lynher and neighbouring catchments. Defra is working with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) to better understand the risk of salmon bycatch in commercial pelagic fisheries, including mackerel fisheries.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) Tamar Grow Local Community Interest Company and (b) similar organisations on (i) improving local food security, (ii) supporting small-scale farmers and (iii) reducing environmental impact in South East Cornwall constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We are currently exploring a new farming and countryside local advice and collaboration offer. This aims to support farmers and land managers to work together to improve business resilience and deliver environmental outcomes. We are looking at a variety of potential delivery partners and with existing farming collaboration groups to understand what works best.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance he plans to issue on sufficient sorting requirements for material recovery facilities to follow.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not plan to issue specific guidance on sorting requirements for Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs).
Simpler Recycling requires the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures will increase the quantity of dry recyclable material collected for sorting at MRFS and will apply from 31st March 2025 from workplaces, 31st March 2026 from households and 31st March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs.
Defra is working with WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and waste industry representatives to support Material Recovery Facility (MRF) readiness for the Simpler Recycling requirements.
We have engaged with MRF operators and local authorities through WRAP’s MRF Forum to identify challenges with MRF capacity, investment, upgrade timelines, and to work with the sector to identify interventions to support MRFs as they prepare for Simpler Recycling. WRAP is developing interventions to support Local Authorities setting up new MRF contracts or procurement of other resources associated with implementation of Simpler Recycling requirements. An assessment is being undertaken of the potential future composition of dry mixed recyclable waste streams and the associated financial implications resulting from this.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 support community-led models of food (a) production and (b) distribution in rural areas.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Food security is national security. The Good Food Cycle, the UK government food strategy for England, published on 15 July, sets out the government's plans to transform the food system. A UK government food strategy for England - GOV.UK.
A resilient and healthy food system requires a whole-of-society approach – one that is centered on people and community and that addresses food insecurity and resilience in both rural and urban areas, so everyone has access to more healthy and sustainable food.
The food strategy will also explore where we can go further, including community led food production and distribution, to create and promote a vibrant food culture at national, regional and local level. We will set out more detail as the work progresses.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to review the guidance provided to land managers of designated (a) heritage and (b) conservation sites in relation to balancing (i) agricultural use, (ii) environmental protection and (iii) public access rights.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are a range of heritage and conservation site designations in England affording high levels of protection. Guidance for these designations is continually reviewed to ensure it balances priorities for food production, nature recovery and access to nature.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many inspections Natural England has conducted on Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall in each of the last five years; and what the average response time is for investigating reported concerns about land management on those sites.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England does not carry out ‘inspections’ on SSSIs but undertakes condition assessments on SSSIs. These allow NE to identify changes in the condition of site features and identify any concerns about site management.
The Rural Payments Agency undertakes compliance inspections for agri-environment schemes including those covering SSSIs and will alert Natural England of any issues identified by their inspections.
Investigation response times vary depending on the risk and significance of the negative impact on the SSSI. For example, in a case of damage to a SSSI grassland caused by overgrazing Natural England will contact the land manager immediately and seek a voluntary solution. If a voluntary solution cannot be agreed Natural England will look to serve a stop notice to prevent further damage and allow further investigation.