Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 extended producer responsibility fees on the hospitality sector; and whether hospitality businesses are required to pay fees when a closed-loop waste and recycling system is in place.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In October 2024 the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) scheme on packaging recycling rates. The impact assessment did not look at the specific impacts of the pEPR scheme on individual sectors, such as hospitality.
We are considering further improvements to the scheme, including how to treat businesses which run closed loop recycling systems that support the environmental outcomes of the scheme. My officials are reviewing options to bring forward an offset where obligated producers are operating closed loop recycling systems for food-grade plastic at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 monitor the impact of extended producer responsibility fees on the growth of the hospitality industry.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) is being evaluated as part of the Resources and Waste Policy Programme Evaluation for England, and the UK-wide elements of the Collection and Packaging Reforms (CPR) Evaluation. This evaluation includes reviewing the impacts on businesses who are obligated packaging producers. The combined evaluation programme is expected to report in 2029. The Government has also committed to a post-implementation review on the impacts of pEPR in 2027/2028 financial year.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with industry representatives on taking steps to support the transportation of milling wheat for food production.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra regularly engages with industry and across Government to monitor risks to food supply. 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: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 March 2025 to Question 37715, which (a) local authorities, (b) police forces and (c) animal welfare groups his Department has had discussions with on responsible dog ownership; and when he last held a meeting on this.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra continues to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2024 to Question 19399 on Dangerous Dogs, what the outcomes were from his discussions on improving data (a) collection and (b) recording on dog attacks; and what recent discussions he has had with (i) police and (ii) local authorities on this matter.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) police forces, (b) local authorities and (c) animal welfare groups on helping to prevent future dog-on-dog attacks.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is continuing to work with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to explore measures to reduce dog attacks and promote responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog. This includes continuing to consider how we can improve data collection and recording so we are in a better position to take action.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had on the adequacy of the (a) training, (b) registration and (c) regulation of dog (i) trainers and (ii) behaviourists.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working hand in hand with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to encourage responsible dog ownership across all breeds of dog, including considering the role of education and training (for both dogs and their owners).
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 February to Question 31434 on Animal Products: Labelling, what discussions he has had with (a) statutory bodies and (b) animal welfare campaign groups on including animal welfare labelling in future food labelling regulations.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government was elected on a mandate to improve animal welfare and has committed to introducing the most ambitious programme for animal welfare in a generation.
The Department is engaging with a range of key animal welfare stakeholders as part of the development of our overarching approach to animal welfare. We will be outlining more details on this in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is to respond to the consultation on fairer food labelling.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, Gareth Snell on 23 December 2024, PQ 20692.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the forthcoming consultation about the Flooding funding formula will consider instances when small communities do not qualify for the threshold for funding due to the (a) size of the communities and (b) flooding focused on roads and connectors rather than houses.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A consultation will be launched in the coming months on the flood investment framework. This will include a review of the existing floods funding formula to ensure that the challenges facing businesses and rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account when delivering flood protection.
The consultation will be open to everyone, and we will be inviting all stakeholders, including organisations that play a role in flood resilience, community groups and members of the public, to share their views and be part of the consultation. We will review all responses received to improve our approach to floods investment.