Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 effectiveness of invasive weed removal from publicly owned land in England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Various public bodies and local authorities undertake removal activities for invasive non-native weed species as part of their land management responsibilities. Natural England investigates complaints about the threat of injurious weeds spreading to agricultural land.
An assessment of the effectiveness of these interventions on publicly owned land has not been made.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 level of commercial energy costs on Zoos in England, such as Chester and Blackpool Zoos.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is responsible for the welfare and management of animals kept by zoos and aquariums, as well as the conservation work zoos and aquariums are required to undertake. However, we remain engaged on cross-cutting matters where relevant and the government is taking decisive action to protect and support businesses, facing difficulties with their energy costs, on multiple fronts.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 medium term viability of Thames Water.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our current assessment is that the company remains stable. The Government will continue to work with the economic regulator of the water industry Ofwat to help support a market-led solution to the company’s issues of financial resilience and operational delivery, which is in the interests of customers and the environment. The Government has stepped up preparations and stands ready for all eventualities, including applying for a SAR if that were to become necessary.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with waste disposal plant operators on the risk of fire in facilities from disposable items with batteries, such as vape products.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We remain engaged with industry, including waste disposal operators on the risk of waste battery fires. The Government have already acted quickly to reduce one of the main causes of waste batteries fires, by banning disposable vapes earlier this year.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans does the Government have to reduce food waste in the public sector.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra's Food and Drink Waste Hierarchy outlines how all businesses, including those which supply the public sector, should deal with food surplus and waste, preventing food surplus where possible and redistributing any surplus should it arise. Defra funds the groundbreaking UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste, managed by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Through the Pact, we support the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which provides a toolkit to help businesses identify their food surplus and waste and take steps to reduce it.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of plans to reduce vehicle generated air pollution in Greater Manchester as an alternative to the now cancelled charging Clean Air Zone proposal.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We agreed in January 2025 an £86m plan for Greater Manchester to help reduce pollution from vehicles and clean up the region’s air. The plan includes support for cleaner buses, local traffic measures and moving Greater Manchester’s taxi fleet to cleaner vehicles. The plan was agreed by Government following assessment of evidence provided by Greater Manchester authorities that it was likely to achieve compliance with legal nitrogen dioxide limits in the shortest possible time, including in comparison to the alternative of a Clean Air Zone.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 adequacy of funding for canal maintenance.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Canal maintenance, and ensuring funding for it, is the responsibility of navigation authorities. The Government provides the largest navigation authority, the Canal and River Trust, with an annual grant of £52.6 million to support the Trust’s network maintenance programme. This represented 22% of the Trust’s total income of £232 million last year.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, (b) developers and (c) local government on the adequacy of tree planting and open space provision in housing developments in England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 25 November 2025 to Question 91614 by the Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government).
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many physical compliance checks on farming, food and drink related goods were made at ports on routes between NI and GB for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In line with the commitments we have made, we will ensure that the only checks when goods move within the UK are those conducted by UK authorities as part of a risk-based or intelligence-led approach to tackle criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks. But in order not to undermine that approach, as is the case across the UK we do not disclose the specific number or nature of interventions made by UK authorities.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps with the Secretary of State for Education to encourage schools in urban areas to visit farms and learn about farming, food and the environment.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are clear benefits of schools in urban areas arranging farm visits for their students to learn about farming, food and the environment. With our educational access actions, farmers and land managers can be funded to host educational visits to their farms and woodland at a rate of £363 per visit, subject to a maximum number of 25 paid visits per year. Officials will continue to engage with Department for Education, including on how we can support schools and farms to promote this. Between 2022 and 2024, the Rural Payments Agency paid for 11,404 instances of educational visits across 1,754 agreements under Countryside Stewardship.