Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 11 March 2026, to Question 118224, on Water Charges: Conservation, whether the innovative tariff options being considered will include the extension of (a) progressive water metering and (b) seasonal water meeting via smart meters.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is publicly available on Ofwat's website.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 11 March 2026, to Question 118224, on Water Charges: Conservation, what is the statutory basis for the use of (a) progressive water metering and (b) seasonal water meeting via smart meters on households.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is publicly available on Ofwat's website.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether household customers with smart water meters can refuse to be moved onto a (a) seasonal or (b) progressive water meter tariff where a water company wishes to introduce such a tariff without householder consent.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is publicly available on Ofwat's website.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timetable is for the research required by commitment 77 of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 into increasing the natural resilience of habitats to wildfire through rewetting or restoring hydrological function; and whether her Department has reached any conclusions on the effectiveness of those measures in advance of the initial scoping review.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
An initial scoping review will be reported on in the Environmental Improvement Plan’s annual progress report (APR) in 2027.
Current evidence supports the approach that peatland restoration, including rewetting and the restoration of hydrological function, can strengthen wildfire resilience by increasing moisture levels, reducing fuel loads and supporting the recovery of peat-forming vegetation such as Sphagnum mosses.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of Fielding et al. (2025) that cutting transferred fine heather material into the litter layer whereas prescribed burning reduced fine fuels; and whether those findings were considered in developing the current regulations and guidance on vegetation management.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to protecting peatlands. In September 2025, the Heather and Grass etc Burning (England) Regulations 2021 were amended, expanding restrictions on unnecessary burning practices, to enhance protection of upland deep peat and improve the resilience of moorlands. A range of new scientific evidence, subject to appropriate academic rigour, was assessed within the context of the cumulative evidence base. Evidence showed that burning, especially repeated burning, results in a departure from the typical structure of these habitats and can impact how they function. The Government remains satisfied that the Regulations are supported by the available evidence.
Defra continues to monitor the growing evidence on this topic. As part of its delivery of the Third National Adaptation Programme, Defra has commissioned a wildfire and peatland study, which includes looking at the effectiveness of a range of peatland land management systems and practices in creating wildfire resilience. Defra will continue to monitor these results and engage with key stakeholders.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what role her Department considers carefully controlled prescribed burning should play in reducing wildfire risk; and in what circumstances burning on peatland may be authorised under a licence or an approved Wildfire Management Plan.
Answered by Jenny Riddell-Carpenter - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to protecting peatlands. In September 2025, the Heather and Grass etc Burning (England) Regulations 2021 were amended, expanding restrictions on unnecessary burning practices, to enhance protection of upland deep peat and improve the resilience of moorlands.
Under the Regulations, land managers can apply for a licence to burn to reduce the impacts of wildfire where there is no feasible alternative and where there is a clear, evidenced need. Applicants must provide robust evidence demonstrating why alternative vegetation management methods are not feasible and must set out what wider actions they are taking to move the site away from the need to burn in future.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations his department has received from the Labour Rural Research Group since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
On 1 May 2026, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP wrote to the Minister for Rural Affairs in her capacity as then-Chair of the Labour Rural Research Group. Subsequently, I met with Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP on 24 July, to discuss the LRRG’s research on the rural economy.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 12 March 2026, to Question 118223, on Water Charge, whether the cost of WaterSure is borne by (a) taxpayers, (b) water firms profits or (c) households not in receipt of Watersure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
WaterSure is funded through a cross-subsidy within each water company area, with the cost met by customers of that company who do not receive WaterSure support. Cross-subsidy payments differ company to company because each supplier's local operational costs and regional demographics.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is her policy on the use of surge pricing for household water bills, and what plans she has to to stop the introduction of (a) seasonal water metering and (b) rising block tariffs.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has no plans to introduce surge pricing for household water bills and no plans to mandate the wider use of seasonal tariffs or rising block tariffs during the current price review period.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 17 September 2025, to Question 76604, on Water Charges: Social Tariffs, what is the estimated yearly cross-subsidy, to an average household not on a social tariff, at the end of the 2025-30 period, by water company, to pay for the cost of social tariffs.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Companies decide, in consultation with their customers and organisations representing customers, which household customers will fund social tariffs and how much they will pay. Companies have set out the proposed average cross-subsidy customers will be charged from 2025 to 2030 in the data tables of their business plans.