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 delay the implementation of extended producer responsibility.

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

No. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 came into effect on 1 January 2025, PackUK, the Scheme Administrator has been appointed, and producers will start to accrue scheme costs from 1 April 2025.

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 ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not reduce investment in UK manufacturing.

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

The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.

Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.

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 considered alternatives to extended producer responsibility.

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

The Government consulted on the principles, objectives, and proposals for extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, and these received high levels of support. This followed initial lobbying in 2018 from the sector, which preferred extended producer responsibility, in which funds are invested back into the sector, to other fiscal measures such as a non-hypothecated tax.

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 make an assessment of the (a) efficiency and (b) effectiveness of how local authorities use extended producer responsibility revenue.

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

From 2028, the pEPR scheme administrator, PackUK, must assess whether each local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste. If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they are able to give notice to the local authority, work with them to determine how the services could be improved, and where necessary reduce the payments available to them in the following year by up to 20%. In relation to cost efficiency, local authorities will receive payments representing their estimated efficient costs.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department will monitor compliance with extended producer responsibility requirements; and what penalties will apply for non-compliance.

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

Defra officials are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) and Devolved Governments to ensure robust plans are in place to both scrutinise the accuracy of submissions from enrolled producers, and identify and bring into compliance free riders who have not yet enrolled or reported their data. This is being supported by more than doubling the number of compliance officers. We are also encouraging compliant producers to report producers they suspect of being non-compliant to the appropriate regulator. The new pEPR regulations also significantly enhanced the potential penalties for non-compliance. This will give the EA the ability to secure compliance and to take swift and proportionate enforcement action with powers, including warnings, cautions, civil sanctions, and prosecution. In addition to regulator enforcement, PackUK, the new Scheme Administrator, also has the power to invoice producers for fees in the years in which they were non-compliant.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Rural England Prosperity Fund has been reduced for the year 2025-2026.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the quantum for the Rural England Prosperity Fund for 2025-2026 was decided.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department announced on 4th March that it would be providing an additional £33 million for the Rural England Prosperity Fund in financial year 2025-26. This announcement continues funding beyond the lifetime of the original scheme providing new money for new projects in rural areas.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes have been determined through the departments business planning exercise. Future funding decisions remain subject to the Government spending review.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the extended producer responsibility scheme on (a) brewers and (b) other businesses.

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

Following the passage of the legislation introducing extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) through parliament, the government has been working closely with industry, including the glass sector, to understand the impact of the upcoming fees on business as the scheme is implemented. To date we have had little evidence presented that pEPR fees cannot be afforded.

We are encouraging the glass industry to seek to reduce the cost impacts of pEPR through a transition to reuse and refill, something that used to be commonplace in the UK and continues to be in many other countries. The use of reusable/refillable packaging is encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at then end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

A full assessment of the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility was completed in 2024 and is published on legislation.gov.uk.

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 extended producer responsibility fees on brewers using glass bottles.

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

Following the passage of the legislation introducing extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) through parliament, the government has been working closely with industry, including the glass sector, to understand the impact of the upcoming fees on business as the scheme is implemented. To date we have had little evidence presented that pEPR fees cannot be afforded.

We are encouraging the glass industry to seek to reduce the cost impacts of pEPR through a transition to reuse and refill, something that used to be commonplace in the UK and continues to be in many other countries. The use of reusable/refillable packaging is encouraged under pEPR, as producers are only required to report and pay disposal cost fees for household packaging the first time it is placed on the market, and can then offset these fees when they recycle this packaging at then end of its life, thereby avoiding the vast majority of pEPR fees.

A full assessment of the impact of Extended Producer Responsibility was completed in 2024 and is published on legislation.gov.uk.

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 take steps to ensure that small businesses are not disproportionately impacted by extended producer responsibility fees.

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

The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the Government also recognises the importance of protecting small producers from direct cost obligations. This is why the regulations include a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes which exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees.

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 mitigate the potential impact of extended producer responsibility on food and drink prices.

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

The aim of pEPR is to ensure businesses - rather than taxpayers - are responsible for the cost of dealing with packaging when it becomes waste. These regulations will encourage manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase recyclable and reusable alternatives. It is up to individual producers to decide how much of these costs are passed on to consumers. While pricing decisions by producers will differ by product, the impact of pEPR on overall inflation is estimated to be small, increasing consumer costs by less than £1 a week per household, or 0.1%.

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 consulted industry representatives on the level of extended producer responsibility fees.

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

The Government consulted on the principles of extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, including the principle that producers would cover the full net costs to local authorities of managing household packaging waste. This included an estimate of the total costs of the scheme. In accordance with this principle, disposal fees per tonne for each material category are determined by dividing the total efficient cost to LAs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market.

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 take steps to commission an independent review of extended producer responsibility fees to consider whether the fees are (a) fair to and (b) sustainable for relevant businesses.

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

The Scheme Administrator, PackUK, is required to set base fees in line with the regulations, which were developed by the previous Government following extensive engagement and consultation with stakeholders. Since the publication of the first illustrative base fees my department has continued to engage extensively with stakeholders, including through material specific workshops and the Scheme Administrator Steering Group (SASG) comprised of stakeholders across the sector. Most recently my department published a third set of illustrative base fees in December 24, which provided point estimates in direct response to industry feedback

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 ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not disproportionately impact (a) consumer choice and (b) product availability.

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

Through making producers responsible for the costs of managing the packaging they use; packaging extended producer responsibility will incentivise producers to use less packaging and transition to re-usable or easy-to-recycle packaging. Defra have not identified any evidence that pEPR will lead to reduced consumer choice or product availability, including through assessment of international schemes.

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 introduce (a) financial support and (b) tax relief for businesses impacted by extended producer responsibility.

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

The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the pEPR scheme includes generous exemptions to reduce the burden on small producers. Producers with an annual turnover of less than £2 million and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied will be exempt from pEPR payments but will be required to report packaging data. Producers supplying less than 25 tonnes and that have less than £1 million turnover will have no reporting or disposal cost obligations.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's Sector Plan for the creative industries, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on (a) creators and creative networks in the UK and (b) the ability to deliver Art for Everyone Everywhere.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impacts of various options to scale the scheme.

We believe that the changes announced were necessary and adequate given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and considering competing financial demands in other parts of the heritage and cultural sector, and will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of reductions to the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme on the Government's aim of increasing access to the arts at (a) local, (b) regional and (c) national level.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impacts of various options to scale the scheme.

We believe that the changes announced were necessary and adequate given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and considering competing financial demands in other parts of the heritage and cultural sector, and will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) phasing in and (b) enabling the completion of projects already (i) on-site, (ii) soon-to-start and (iii) those part of the phased work part started prior to the changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Claims received in this financial year are unaffected, assuming that they are eligible claims with the required detail and documentation.

We expect the cap will be applied to all claims received on or after 1 April 2025. We will be publishing guidance on scheme applications and eligibility in due course.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme on the number of apprenticeships and training opportunities across the heritage sector.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We believe that the changes announced were necessary and adequate given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and considering competing financial demands in other parts of the heritage and cultural sector, and will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with grant making agencies on additional financial assistance to buildings with projects over £25,000 (a) underway and (b) about to commence work unable to claim back VAT under proposed changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Based on the Department’s analysis of previous data, 94% of applications between 2022-2024 have been under £25,000, and most of these claims were for under £5,000. We believe that the modifications were necessary and adequate given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and the capital pressures on other parts of the heritage sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prostate Cancer Research report, Socio-economic Impact of Prostate Cancer Screening, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the macroeconomic modelling on the benefits of prostate cancer screening.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK National Screening Committee currently does not recommend prostate cancer screening because the evidence suggests that it does more harm than good. The committee is currently reviewing the evidence for both population wide screening and targeted prostate cancer screening. If the UK National Screening Committee makes a positive recommendation regarding screening for prostate cancer, an impact assessment will be produced using the HM Treasury Green Book methodology, which considers wider social and economic impacts.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to work with (a) the NHS and (b) other (i) stakeholders and (ii) charities to increase awareness of ovarian cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not hold comprehensive national data on cancers diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways since their roll out began. The data set records the number of gynaecological cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways but does not specify how many of these were ovarian cancer cases specifically. In the latest evaluation report on the programme, covering data until January 2024, there were 55 patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP).

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website, in an online only format.

It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.

The recently announced National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. This will include improving levels of early diagnosis across England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help tackle regional variation in the levels of early diagnosis of ovarian cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not hold comprehensive national data on cancers diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways since their roll out began. The data set records the number of gynaecological cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways but does not specify how many of these were ovarian cancer cases specifically. In the latest evaluation report on the programme, covering data until January 2024, there were 55 patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP).

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website, in an online only format.

It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.

The recently announced National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. This will include improving levels of early diagnosis across England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help shorten the diagnostic pathway for ovarian cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not hold comprehensive national data on cancers diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways since their roll out began. The data set records the number of gynaecological cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways but does not specify how many of these were ovarian cancer cases specifically. In the latest evaluation report on the programme, covering data until January 2024, there were 55 patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP).

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website, in an online only format.

It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.

The recently announced National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. This will include improving levels of early diagnosis across England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer through the non-specific symptoms pathway.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not hold comprehensive national data on cancers diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways since their roll out began. The data set records the number of gynaecological cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways but does not specify how many of these were ovarian cancer cases specifically. In the latest evaluation report on the programme, covering data until January 2024, there were 55 patients diagnosed with gynaecological cancers.

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner (GP).

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, also publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including ovarian cancer. This information can be found on the NHS website, in an online only format.

It is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose cancer, including ovarian cancer, as quickly as possible, to treat it faster, and improve outcomes. This is supported by NHS England’s key ambition on cancer to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard, which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a GP or screening programme to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.

The recently announced National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and aftercare. This will include improving levels of early diagnosis across England.

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