Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Creagh and Tom Rutland

Thursday 9th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mary Creagh)]

Our waste collection systems are completely different from those in Germany and France, where they have a wide network of bring banks for glass. We have the privilege of having glass collected in our household waste collection schemes. I am conscious of the dual burden that is falling on pubs, and I have tasked my officials with working at pace on the issue to find a solution for the pubs that we are all enjoying in this hot weather, with the great football. I wish England the best for their match at the weekend.

[Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)]

T3. I welcome the waste carrier, broker and dealer reforms, which will replace the outdated registration system with a more robust permit-based regime, introduce stronger background checks, and give regulators greater powers to tackle waste crime. Given that waste crime costs the economy £1 billion a year, will the Minister set out how the reforms will help to crack down on rouge operators, while ensuring that legitimate businesses can continue to operate and grow with confidence?

[Mary Creagh]

As we push the waste criminals out of the sector, there will be more business for legitimate operators. That also means that the carrier registration number has to be carried on the Facebook ads, leaflets and vans of waste transporters, so that householders have confidence that the people we are giving our waste to will dispose of it correctly. We are not going to have a system where dead dogs and cows can be registered. We are going to introduce criminal record and identity checks and ensure that everyone knows what they are doing when they are transporting hazardous waste.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Creagh and Tom Rutland

Thursday 4th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mary Creagh)]

I thank my hon. Friend for all the work he did for us during his time in DEFRA. This Government are transforming access to nature in this country, delivering three new national forests and nine new national river walks, as well as launching the Wainwright coast-to-coast walk as a national trail in March. East Worthing and Shoreham is benefiting from this—it is home to a spectacular section of the recently launched King Charles III England coast path, which at 2,700 miles is the longest waymarked and maintained coastal walking route in the world.

[Tom Rutland]

I thank the Minister for her answer and her kind words. The recently inaugurated King Charles III England coast path winds its way through my constituency, passing Lancing’s wonderful Widewater lagoon nature reserve, which I worked with the community—including the World of Widewater committee—to save when it was drying up last summer. Can the Minister set out what health and tourism benefits the newly inaugurated path will bring to coastal communities such as mine?

[Mary Creagh]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work he did on the protection of Widewater lagoon—holding the water on the land when it is raining and ensuring that it is there during very dry spells is one of the challenges we face. The coastal path will boost everybody’s mental and physical health, and will bring significant opportunity to his businesses in Worthing. We know that visitors to England’s coastal paths already generate £350 million in spending in local coastal economies each year and support nearly 6,000 jobs.