Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the level of Packaging Recovery Note fraud in 2025.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency is aware of this challenge and is exploring ways to address the acknowledged issue, including changing the way it measures waste crime.
The value of recovery notes varies according to the waste type and market trends. Since 2023 the value of most Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) and Packaging Export Recovery Notes has decreased.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to merge the Groceries Code Adjudicator and the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator as part of her Department's Farm Profitability Review.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department is committed to an evidence-based approach to regulating the supply chain and to ensuring that producers and businesses are treated fairly. The statutory review of the effectiveness of the Groceries Code Adjudicator by the Department for Business and Trade is currently under way, and any future decisions will be informed by its findings.
The Government is carefully considering all of the recommendations made in the independent Farming Profitability Review, including those relating to the roles and governance arrangements of the Groceries Code Adjudicator and the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator. A Government response to the review will be set out as part of the Farming Roadmap.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the allocation of resources between (a) enforcement activities targeting businesses that are compliant with the law and (b) investigations into fraudulent activities in the packaging waste sector.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has shown its continued support to the Environment Agency (EA) by committing £12 million for the EA to fight waste crime this year. The EA received £3 million for 2025/26 to enforce new duties introduced this year including the new simpler recycling regulations and expanding the Packaging Producer Responsibility requirements.
The EA funds its compliance activities on a cost recovery basis. Its compliance work is driven by an intelligence-led and risk-based approach. Where compliance assessments identify non-compliance, then appropriate enforcement actions will follow in line with the EA’s published Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has received representations from businesses on the time taken for registrations for the waste registration and accreditation scheme.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Yes. The department has received representations from businesses. Officials are working at pace to resolve outstanding issues as we transition to new registration and accreditation requirements. Impacted businesses are being contacted by the Environment Agency and where necessary arrangements are being put in place on a case-by-case basis to minimise any impacts.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
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 Environment Agency is taking to prevent packaging recovery note fraud.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) works hard to tackle waste crime and free riders (market operators who circumvent Extended Producer Responsibility, breaking the law, and exploiting the system to avoid fees) in the waste sector, gathering intelligence to identify unregistered producers, helping to detect illegal activity and preventing fraud.
A dedicated EA team is focused on identifying and pursuing non-compliant companies and already the EA has brought over 840 suspected non-compliant companies or free riders into full compliance. The EA is intent on using its tougher enforcement powers in pEPR to reduce offending and it will continue to prioritise and investigate free riders to bring them into compliance in the waste sector, applying the 4P enforcement model (prepare, prevent, protect and pursue).
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's implementation timeline for the waste registration and accreditation system.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The packaging regulations provide the Environment Agency (EA) with a statutory 12-week period to determine applications for reprocessor & exporter registration and accreditation applications.
In a small number of cases the determination period is going beyond this 12-week period for applications under the new 2026 packaging regulations. This is due to increased application queries and embedding the new requirements to ensure all applications are consistently assessed. The EA will back date registrations and accreditations to 1 January 2026. The EA does not anticipate that these delays will continue and has a plan to determine all applications as promptly as possible.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to introduce mandatory method of production labelling on food.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are considering the potential role of method of production labelling reform as part of the ongoing development of the Government’s wider animal welfare strategy.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
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 enforce existing legislation against hare coursing.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The enforcement of existing legislation on hare coursing is an operational matter for the police. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
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 October 2025 to Question 78992, how much meat was processed by each slaughterhouse using the (a) halal and (b) shechita methods in each year since 2020.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Data regarding the amount of meat resulting from animals slaughtered using the halal method or the shechita method is not collected.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
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 mechanical recycling industry.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Collection and Packaging Reforms – Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) – will help stimulate investment in recycling services across the UK.
In addition, Defra is working across Government to pinpoint any further interventions necessary to stabilise the sector and set it up for success.
The Minister for Nature convened a roundtable with industry earlier this year and senior officials chaired a roundtable with representatives from the recycling industry in September. Government continues to consider how best to engage the sector.