Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the average cost of producing a pint of milk in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The average cost of production for milk is shown below. Data is from the Farm Business Survey which covers farm businesses in England with a Standard Output of more than £21,000. Whilst it captures the majority of agricultural activity, it excludes smaller businesses (which account for 2% of output).
Production costs include all financial aspects of dairy enterprises such as unpaid labour, herd depreciation and an estimated rental equivalent for owned land. An allowance is also made for non-milk revenue (mostly the sale of dairy calves), which is applied as a reduction to cost. This reflects the value of by-products from milk production. The production costs therefore represent the price that would have to be paid on all milk produced for dairy enterprises to break even. The data includes organic production which is likely to incur higher production costs.
Average cost of milk production (pence per litre) 2020/21 to 2024/25
2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
28.3 | 36.4 | 48.6 | 44.2 | 44.9 |
Source: Farm Accounts in England
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average farmgate milk price was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra publishes monthly and annual milk prices on GOV.UK (Latest UK milk prices and composition of milk - GOV.UK). UK annual farmgate milk prices for the last five years are shown in the table below.
Table: UK annual farmgate milk prices 2021-2025, pence per litre (ppl)
Year | Price (ppl) |
2021 | 31.07 |
2022 | 43.98 |
2023 | 39.50 |
2024 | 41.17 |
2025 | 44.05 |
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when representatives from her Department last met with milk producers to discuss farmgate milk prices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials regularly engage with stakeholders from across the UK dairy industry on a wide range of issues including farmgate milk prices. Engagement is undertaken in various forms including through ad hoc and regular meetings with industry bodies and individual dairy businesses and milk producers, farm visits and attendance at industry events.
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Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
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 on the potential impact of restricting bird sales through changes to bird show and gathering licences for (a) breeding Type Canaries and (b) protecting Britain’s native wild canary population.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Regulation 6 of the Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (England) Regulations 2006, as amended, sets out the legal basis for permitting gatherings of poultry or other captive birds. In England, a licence to hold a bird gathering may be granted by Defra if a veterinary risk assessment has been carried out, and if the gathering, including the movement of birds to and from it, would not significantly increase the risk of the transmission of avian influenza virus. Detailed risk assessments can be found on Gov.UK.
As legislation requires this to be a risk-based decision, assessments of the financial or breeding impacts have not been made. The restrictions on certain types of gatherings do not prevent direct sales of breeding birds or their progeny from a breeder’s own premises. There are no native wild canary populations in Britain.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
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 the potential financial impact of the changes to bird show and gathering licences for (a) bird breeders, (b) seed merchants and (c) cage makers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
Regulation 6 of the Avian Influenza (Preventive Measures) (England) Regulations 2006, as amended, sets out the legal basis for permitting gatherings of poultry or other captive birds. In England, a licence to hold a bird gathering may be granted by Defra if a veterinary risk assessment has been carried out, and if the gathering, including the movement of birds to and from it, would not significantly increase the risk of the transmission of avian influenza virus. Detailed risk assessments can be found on Gov.UK.
As legislation requires this to be a risk-based decision, assessments of the financial or breeding impacts have not been made. The restrictions on certain types of gatherings do not prevent direct sales of breeding birds or their progeny from a breeder’s own premises. There are no native wild canary populations in Britain.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
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 the potential impact of the single-year funding arrangement for the School Milk Subsidy Scheme on the financial sustainability of the school milk dairy supply chain.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter, and this response applies to England only.
The School Milk Subsidy Scheme is available in participating schools and supports the provision of milk, certain milk products and yoghurts.
The administration of the scheme is renewed regularly, and funding decisions are made on a single or multi-year basis, influenced by the timing and the duration of departmental spending reviews.
The volume of milk consumed under the scheme annually accounts for less than 1% of total UK milk production. It therefore has limited impact on the financial sustainability of those in the dairy supply chain who participate in the scheme.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Environment Agency has made of the impact of historic highway drainage systems on downstream flooding and water pollution.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Environment Agency (EA) water quality monitoring programmes identify where ‘urban and transport’ inputs are having a potential impact on a waterbody. Water quality monitoring data is publicly available here: Water Data Explorer | Engage Environment Agency. Highways authorities should address outfalls with the potential to pollute.
Water and sewerage companies in England and Wales are currently developing their first statutory Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs), due to be published in 2027/28. These strategic plans identify risks to the companies’ drainage and sewerage networks and set out solutions for how those risks will be mitigated, including environmental risks, which could have implications for highways inputs.
The EA also works with National Highways to assess the impacts of highway drainage on downstream flooding and water quality. They are working together to deliver actions in the National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy Roadmap. This includes delivering multi-benefit, nature-based solutions that reduce flood risk, improve water quality and enhance biodiversity. The EA supports this through its flood investment programmes, catchment partnerships and use of national flood risk mapping to help target priority locations and future investment.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
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 28 October 2025 to Question 83877 on Eels: Conservation, what research and development projects her Department are supporting through the allocated £350,000 to improve eel management and conservation; and over what time period will this funding be spent; and how this level of funding compares to budgets for similar purposes.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and therefore the response relates to England only.
Defra’s funding will support three eel management and conservation projects for delivery in 2026:
Due to the nature of research in the aquatic environment it is not possible to meaningfully compare costs, but all projects are assessed by Defra to ensure policy priorities will be delivered and demonstrate value for money.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
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 28 October 2025 to Question 83876 on Eels: Conservation, what plans she has to review the root causes of these problems and to reverse the decline in the number of eels.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and therefore the response relates to England only.
Actions to address the pressures on eels at the River Basin District scale are set out in Eel Management Plans, which the EA continue to deliver and report against. Additionally, as noted in response to Question 101014, Defra has recently funded three projects to improve eel management and conservation.
Defra officials will meet with the Devolved Governments in early 2026 to review the current approaches to eel management across the UK nations.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much money has been spent on improving flood defences in Somerset since 2014.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the flooding of 2013/14, over £200 million of Flood and Coastal Risk Management Grant-in-Aid (FCRM GiA) and local levy has been spent on improving the standard of flood protection in the local authority areas of Somerset, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset. This is in addition to the annual budget of over £3 million for the Somerset Rivers Authority and the annual budget the Environment Agency has for repairing existing assets and individual property-level resilience programmes.
Improvements have included dredging, building new flood defences, raising river banks and roads and upgrading existing flood defences. The Environment Agency has also spent additional money on providing a local stock of Ultra High Volume Pumps so they are guaranteed to be available in the event of a major incident.