Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the labour supply to the agri-food sector.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that access to a sufficient workforce is essential for the resilience and productivity of the farming. Whilst Defra does assess the number of people currently working in agriculture this does not include questions related to adequacy of supply. The Farming Profitability Review, however, is a recent assessment of impacts on farming, which includes considerations of labour availability. Recommendations from this review covered a range of labour supply issues related to migrant workers, education and wider skills requirements.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has undertaken an assessment of the environmental impacts associated with poor animal health.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has made several assessments of the environmental impacts associated with animal health, including the impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. Improved animal health is recognised as important in reducing agricultural greenhouse gas mitigations in the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan (2025).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help improve the profitability of UK farm produce.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Farming Roadmap and the full Government response to the Farming Profitability Review will be published later this year, which will set out the wider plan to boost profitability and long-term viability.
The Government is currently already taking forward a series of measures. A new Farming and Food Partnership Board will bring together farmers, processors, retailers, and the wider supply chain to strengthen collaboration across the sector. The Government is investing £30 million in a Farmer Collaboration Fund to support peer-to-peer networks so farmers can share knowledge and learn from each other.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive will be also reformed to make it simpler and fairer, with two application windows this year. The June window will support smaller farms and those without agreements, and the September window will be open to all farms. The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme will be extended for three additional years, supported by £30 million of funding next year.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to improve food supply security across the UK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a resilient food supply chain built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes.
Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her most recent annual estimate is for the amount of waste deposited illegally across England and Wales.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waste is a devolved matter and the information provided in this answer is for England only.
The Environment Agency (EA) focuses on tackling large-scale waste crime in England, often linked to organised criminal activity while fly-tipping is managed by local authorities.
The EA has no estimate of the total amount of waste deposited illegally each year - by its nature waste crime is hidden and so inherently difficult to measure. The EA estimates that the amount of waste deposited in illegal waste sites which came to their attention in 2025 was 845,906 tonnes. In addition to this, waste will have been deposited during 2025 at sites which came to EA’s attention in earlier years. This waste is of varying types, with significantly different environmental impacts. As these are estimates the true figure may be more or less. The estimates only relate to those sites of which the EA is aware.
Defra does not have an estimate for the total amount of fly-tipped waste in England annually. However, local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. These figures are separate to the large-scale incidents dealt with by the EA, and we expect that they exclude the majority of private-land incidents.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure effective regulation and enforcement is in place to tackle the environmental and financial impact of waste crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to tackling waste crime from the fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages to the serious and organised crime groups who are exploiting the waste sector. Those responsible for committing waste crime, rather than taxpayers, should cover the cost of cleaning up the mess they create.
We are making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals and have increased the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6 million.
The EA hosts the Joint Unit for Waste Crime which brings together the EA, HMRC, National Crime Agency, the police, waste regulators from across the UK and other operational partners to share intelligence and tasking to disrupt and prevent serious organised waste crime. Our extra funding has enabled the EA to double the size of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by 43 full time staff.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set a target for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not currently have plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set a target for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic.
This Government is committed to moving to a circular economy and will publish a Circular Economy Growth Plan that sets out how government will deliver a more circular and more prosperous economy.
Defra will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms have experienced TB outbreaks in the last 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the 12 months to September 2025, the number of new TB herd incidents was as follows:
England | 2,307 |
Wales | 595 |
Scotland | 29 |
New herd incidents are the number of herds which were previously Officially TB Free but either had cattle that reacted to an official TB test or had a tuberculous animal disclosed by routine meat inspection at slaughter, during the period shown.
In Northern Ireland, the number of new reactor herds in the 12 months to September 2025 was as follows:
Northern Ireland | 2,281 |
In Northern Ireland, new reactor herds refer to the number of herds during the period shown that were previously Officially TB Free but have had cattle that tested positive to the tuberculin skin test.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve flood defences.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are investing £4.2 billion over three years (2026/27 to 2028/29) to construct new flood and coastal erosion schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across England. In our first year in Government, 151 flood defence schemes have been delivered, better protecting over 24,000 homes and businesses.
This Government will invest at least £10.5 billion into our flood defences between April 2024 and March 2036 benefitting nearly 900,000 properties across England.
The Environment Agency’s National Flood Risk Assessment data now includes climate change scenarios, providing the best evidence to inform long-term risk assessment and the development of flood mitigation strategies.
To halt the decline of our flood assets following years of under investment, over 2024/25 and 2025/26 £108 million has been reprioritised into asset maintenance, ensuring an additional 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help encourage the use of local food supply chains.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The food strategy recognises the key role that regional and local food systems can play in supporting delivery of the growth, health, sustainability, and food security / resilience outcomes. Defra wants to create an environment that champions UK food cultures and celebrates British food.