Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 had correspondence with councils planning on reducing the frequency of bin collections.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through Simpler Recycling, all householders will receive a comprehensive and consistent set of waste and recycling services. This will enable householders to recycle as much waste as possible and to frequently dispose of bad-smelling food waste, which will be collected from all households at least weekly.
Defra recognises that as recycling services are expanded and improved, local authorities may want to review residual waste services to ensure they are providing best value for money in line with local need. The government’s priority is ensuring that households’ needs are met, and we expect local authorities to continue to provide services to a reasonable standard, as they do now. Building on existing and new legal duties, Defra recently published guidance to ensure that local authorities consider certain factors when they review services, to ensure that reasonable standards are maintained. Defra wrote to all English local authorities when this guidance was published.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to help consumers with the cost of water bills.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Conservatives, our sewage system crumbled. They irresponsibly let water companies divert customers’ money to line the pockets of their bosses and shareholders. The public are right to be angry after they have been left to pay the price of Conservative failure.
This Government has ringfenced money earmarked for investment so it can never be diverted for bonuses and shareholder payouts. We will clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good
The Government is committed to taking action to address water poverty and help vulnerable customers.
All water companies have measures in place for people who struggle to pay for their water and wastewater services, including measures such as WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks and holidays, and debt management support. We expect all companies to make sure households are aware of the measures available to them and do everything they can to support all customers who are vulnerable.
The Government is also improving protections for customers, with new and increased compensation for water companies to pay to customers and businesses in the event of issues like water supply outages, sewer flooding or low water pressure.
Furthermore, we expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their public commitment to end water poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to deliver this.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 potential impact of material switching by food producers currently using metal food cans on (a) UK food security and (b) the (i) recyclability of and (ii) cost of recycling other types of packaging.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Scheme Administrator will study what measures may be needed to mitigate against material switching, where switching may produce perverse environmental outcomes. As pEPR places the cost of disposing of packaging back on those who place packaging on the market, the system contains intrinsic incentives against producers switching to materials which are more expensive to reprocess in the waste stream.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 tackle water poverty among older people.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to taking action to address water poverty and help vulnerable customers including older people.
All water companies have measures in place for people who struggle to pay for their water and wastewater services, including measures such as WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks and holidays, and debt management support. We expect all companies to make sure households are aware of the measures available to them and do everything they can to support all customers who are vulnerable, including having regard to the interests of individuals of pensionable age.
Government is also improving protections for customers, including introducing new compensations payments for failing to provide additional support for vulnerable customers on the Priority Services Register.
As the independent economic regulator, Ofwat independently scrutinises water company business plans and ensure the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate. Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 on 19 December, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030. We support the action Ofwat is taking to clamp down on poor performance in the water sector to ensure they are delivering for customers.
Furthermore, we expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their public commitment to end water poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to deliver this.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the evidential basis is for the levels of Extended Producer Responsibility fee for (a) steel food cans, (b) fibre-based cartons and (c) plastic pouches.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra published the second iteration of packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR) illustrative base fees on 30 of September. These illustrative fees are estimates only, based on the best available data at the time. They are not the final base fees to be used for year 1 of the pEPR scheme. The second iteration of illustrative base fees are based on tonnages of packaging placed on the market in 2023, as reported by producers on RPD, and local authority waste management costs, which were modelled using the LAPCAP model. Local authority costs account for the management of different material types based on key drivers, such as a local authority recycling system, residual collection frequency, or level of deprivation and rurality. Defra’s model is undergoing a robust quality assurance process under the new Government, with ongoing consultation taking place which involves local authorities and packaging producers, to ensure that fees reflect the costs of waste management associated with each material.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 increase domestic food security, in the context of recent changes to the rules for Agricultural Property Relief.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Food security is national security. We need a resilient and healthy food system that works with nature and supports British farmers, fishers and food producers. That is why this Government will introduce a new deal for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen Britain's food security.
This Government will: cut energy bills by switching on GB Energy; protect farmers from being undercut in trade deals; and use the Government’s own purchasing power to back British produce.
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief here, and further explanatory information here.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to support farmers who are affected by the changes made to inheritance tax regulations at the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. We are reforming the Agricultural Property Relief on Inheritance Tax in way which protects small family farms. Changes are expected to only affect around 500 claims for agricultural property relief in 2026-27.
The Government has committed to support farmers through a farming budget of £5 billion over two years – more money than ever for sustainable food production. This will include the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history: £1.8bn for environmental land management schemes in 2025/26. This funding will deliver improvements to food security, biodiversity, carbon emissions, water quality, air quality and flood resilience.
Environmental Land Management schemes will remain at the centre of our offer for family-owned farms and other farmers, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery all continuing. These offer funding streams for farmers to make their businesses more sustainable and resilient, including those who have been often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenant farmers. We will work with the sector to continue to roll out, improve and evolve these schemes, to make them work for farming and nature.
The Government will invest a further £2.4bn over the next two years to protect communities across the country from the devastating impacts of flooding by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.
This range of support forms part of the government's New Deal for Farmers. The Government is also supporting family-owned farms and other farmers by protecting them from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals, by lowering energy bills for farmers by switching on GB Energy, and by using the Government’s own purchasing power to back British produce so that 50% of food brought in hospitals, army bases and prisons is locally produced or certified to high environmental standards.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the implications for his animal welfare policies of breeding dogs for animal testing.
Answered by Scott Mann
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 does not apply to animals used in scientific procedures. Protections in scientific procedures are instead provided by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). ASPA is administered and enforced by the Home Office. Every establishment that conducts work under ASPA has a standard condition in its licence that requires appropriate care and accommodation standards for animals to be applied. The standards of care and accommodation are available in a published Code of Practice, and these standards also cover the welfare of dogs bred for use in scientific procedures. The Home Office regulator inspects against these standards of care and accommodation.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 Animal Welfare Act 2006, when the Government plans to publish its investigation into the importation and sale of foie gras.
Answered by Scott Mann
The Action Plan for Animal Welfare noted that HM Government has made clear that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese which have been force fed raises serious welfare concerns and that the production of foie gras by force feeding is already illegal in the UK. The Action Plan also noted that now that the UK has left the EU, we are committed to building a clear evidence base to inform decisions on banning the import or sale of foie gras and other products derived from low-welfare systems.
HM Government is currently continuing to build this evidence base. No specific deadline has been set for this exercise, and further evidence that people may wish to share with HM Government would be gratefully received.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 help prevent destructive fishing in Marine Protected Areas.
Answered by Mark Spencer
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
We have built a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 40% of English waters and are now focusing on making sure they are properly protected. Nearly 60% of our 178 English MPAs are already protected from damaging fishing activity, including byelaws this year in the first four offshore sites, which ban bottom towed gear over sensitive habitats. We are aiming to have all MPAs in English waters protected from damaging fishing activity by 2024. We recently consulted on a legally binding target under the Environment Act to improve the condition of the species and habitats protected in these sites. In July we launched a consultation on five candidate Highly Protected Marine Areas in English waters. With the highest level of protection in England’s seas to enable the ecosystem to fully recover, many activities including commercial and recreational fishing would be prohibited. HPMAs would complement the existing MPA network. Any HPMAs Government decides to designate following the consultation would be designated by July 2023.