Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate the Department has made of the volume of plastic packaging placed on the UK market in the last year.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For 2024, there are two available estimates for the volume of plastic packing placed on the market for the UK. These estimates are based on different methodologies and data sources (PackFlow and Reported Packaging Data) and so produce slightly different figures.
PackFlow is a report commissioned by Defra to provide information on the total flows of packaging in the UK and has historically been used to estimate the total amount of material placed on the market.
The Reported Packaging Data provides new data on total packaging supplied and placed on the UK market and became available after the Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) came into force on 1 January 2025.
Table1: Estimates of the volume of plastic packaging placed on the market, UK
Data source | Packaging waste arising estimate for 2024 (thousand tonnes) |
PackFlow | 2,265 |
Reported Packaging Data | 2,149 (provisional) |
Note: The arisings data sourced from the Reported Packaging Data system is based on data for H1 and H2 for 2024 (as submitted in October 2024 and April 2025). Data as of 2 June 2025
The full methodology and figures relating to previous years, can be found in the UK Statistics on Waste publication.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Department is taking to improve enforcement against illegal waste dumping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will reform the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regime and the waste permit exemptions regime. This will make it harder for rogue operators to find work in the sector and easier for regulators to take action against criminals. In addition, our planned digital waste tracking reforms will make it harder than ever to mis-identify waste or dispose of it inappropriately.
The Environment Agency’s (EA) total budget for 2025 to 2026 has increased and includes £15.6m for waste crime enforcement. This is a more than 50% increase from 2024/25. 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. This resource will target activities that are waste crime priorities and will make best use of enforcement activity data and criminal intelligence to do so. Activities include tackling organised crime groups, increasing enforcement activity around specific areas of concern such as landfill sites, closing down illegal waste sites more quickly, using intelligence more effectively, and delivering successful major criminal investigations.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to accelerate tree planting to meet statutory environmental targets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £1 billion in tree planting and support to the forestry sector over this parliament. Tree planting in England is at the highest recorded rate in over 20 years, with over 7,100 hectares planted in 2024/25. As part of this investment the government is delivering on the manifesto commitment to create three new national forests and will fund tree planting across England, through Woodland Creation Partnerships and Forestry Commission grants, while also providing wider sector support. This support includes investing in apprenticeships and tree nurseries, ensuring we have the skills and jobs we need and a supply of healthy seeds and trees to create the forests of the future.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 her Department has made of the adequacy of the condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of December 2025, around 41% of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) features are in favourable condition across all of England, and the percentage in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition is around 62%.
The Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) published on 1 December sets out our ambition to bring 75% of SSSIs into favourable condition by 2042.
In the EIP, we have also set an interim target for 50% of SSSI features to have actions on track to achieve favourable condition by December 2030, which will support the achievement of the 2042 ambition.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate the Department has made of the total cost of river restoration projects undertaken in the last financial year.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Restoration Fund was launched in April 2024. It is reinvesting funding based on water company environmental fines and penalties into projects to improve the water environment.
Natural England supports and advises the Rural Payments Agency and the Environment Agency on administration of funds for river restoration, ensuring we get the greatest value for money in terms of nature recovery and wider societal benefits.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 trends in the level of biodiversity loss over the last 12 months.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not have data on biodiversity loss covering the most recent 12‑month period. However, a range of official publications and monitoring frameworks provide the latest picture of biodiversity trends and the government’s most recent assessment of progress, such as Indicators of species abundance in England, England biodiversity indicators, and Wild bird and Butterfly statistics.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 the Department has made of the effectiveness of policies to protect pollinator populations.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the conclusion of our National Pollinator Strategy in 2024, Defra will deliver a refreshed Pollinator Action Plan, as part of the broader Environmental Improvement Plan. This will set out key actions for pollinators in England.
Defra partly funds the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS) providing systematic data on the abundance of key pollinators at a national scale. This data contributes to measuring trends in pollinator populations and targets conservation efforts.
The Health and Safety Executive has published updated guidance for emergency authorisations of pesticides. This is the next step in delivering on the commitment the government made in December 2024 to end the use of banned neonicotinoid pesticides in England.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 the Department has made of potential food security risks arising from supply chain disruption.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with situations that have the potential to cause disruption. Defra works closely with industry and across Government to identify and monitor food security risks.
In compliance with the Agriculture Act 2020, the United Kingdom Food Security Report (UKFSR) is presented to Parliament at least once every three years, most recently in 2024. This examines past, current, and future trends relevant to food security and presents a full and impartial analysis of UK food security. In the intervening years, the UK Food Security Digest (UKFSD) is published containing a selection of summary statistics on issues relevant to a range of aspects of food security, drawn from national and international sources. This year’s report was published on 11 December 2025.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the development of sustainable aquaculture.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to supporting sustainable, industry‑led growth of the aquaculture sector through a range of measures.
These include publishing new guidance on seaweed aquaculture regulation this year and offering clarity for businesses and regulators. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, working with Seafish and industry partners, is centralising aquaculture data for England and Wales to improve transparency and evidence‑based decision making. The Environment Agency continues to regulate wastewater discharges to safeguard waters used for commercial shellfish production.
While many aquaculture issues are devolved, the Government will champion sustainably produced aquaculture products from across the UK internationally. A thriving sector requires a strong trading framework, and the government is committed to building relationships with key trading partners.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of potential changes in the retention of (a) engineering and (b) technical specialists.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We remain committed to strengthening recruitment and retention across the Armed Forces through a range of targeted initiatives and measures. We continually monitor retention and review the overall offer, and recent data shows encouraging progress. For the first time since early 2021, intake now exceeds outflow. In the 12 months to 1 October 2025, the number of people joining the Armed Forces increased by 13% compared to the previous year, while departures fell by 8%. Applications also continue to rise.
Recruiting for certain specialist or technical skills — such as cyber, digital, healthcare, medical, and engineering — remains challenging due to strong competition in the wider labour market. To address this, we are implementing actions to improve retention, including more flexible terms of service, a modernised allowance system, bespoke pay spines, skills payments, Targeted Financial Retention Incentives (FRIs) and a pilot ‘total reward’ approach for engineers.
Recent changes include FRIs for engineers and targeted skills payments for cyber and engineering roles. Early feedback from our pay supplement trial for critical engineering skills indicates a 53% increase in intention to remain – an encouraging sign, though we recognise more work is needed. Further, the Perceived Value of the Offer survey piloted with engineers in 2024 was expanded this year to all Regular personnel. This evidence will inform future reward policies and interventions, ensuring they reflect what personnel value most, thus strengthening retention across the Services, particularly in critical engineering and technical roles.