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 of the adequacy of the supply of British grown cauliflower and other brassicas in spring 2026.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK’s food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
The UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group monitors and assess UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade, and recent developments. This includes consideration of the adequacy of the supply of both domestically grown cauliflower and brassicas, and where necessary, imports.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the travel agent sector on the processing of refunds where an airline has cancelled a flight and confirmed that passengers are entitled to a refund without a penalty fee.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has had discussions with travel agents and airlines on a range of issues.
In the UK, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (“Regulation 261”) sets out the rights of passengers in the event of flight cancellations.
Where UK law applies, if a flight is cancelled by the airline, passengers are entitled to a choice between a full refund or re-routing.
Where a flight booking has been made through a travel agent, passengers should, in the first instance, contact the agent in cases such as flight cancellations.
The Department’s Air Passenger Travel Guide provides passengers with information on their rights and responsibilities when travelling by air, including a dedicated section on cancellations.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has issued guidance on the application of the ‘Act of War’ clause for customers of travel agents and airlines; and whether there are regulatory protections in place to ensure passengers receive appropriate refunds.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the UK, Regulation 261/2004 sets out the rights of passengers in the event of cancellations, long delays and denied boarding.
Where UK law applies, if a flight is cancelled by the airline, then passengers would be entitled to a choice between a full refund or to be re-routed. These rights would apply if disruption were linked to war.
Information on air passenger rights is already available in the Department’s Air Passenger Travel Guide, and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) recently provided specific advice to passengers in response to the Middle East disruption.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many new defence procurement contracts have been awarded to domestic manufacturing companies so far Parliament; and what percentage have been outsourced to companies overseas.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Department can confirm that a total of 4,130 new defence procurement contracts, with start dates on or after 5 July 2024, have been awarded. Of these, 3,680 contracts (89%) were awarded to companies located or headquartered in the UK, while 450 contracts (11%) went to companies based outside the UK.
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 of the potential impact of the Iran conflict on the supply of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Some of the UK’s trade partners import fertilisers from the Middle East, either for onward shipment to the UK or for production inputs, creating indirect dependencies. Defra is in close contact with domestic fertiliser suppliers and is monitoring overall supply to the UK.
There is no immediate risk to UK supply. However, the fertiliser market is a global market, and the market price in the UK is strongly influenced by international prices for fertiliser and by the value of the pound. The Government is aware of the current price increase for fertiliser and remains ready to support businesses as effectively as possible in these challenging times.
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 estimate her Department has made of the volume of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser held in storage in the UK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is not facing an immediate fertiliser supply issue, but price rises have been felt immediately. The UK imported below 1% of its fertilisers directly from the Gulf region in 2025 and so direct imports from the region are negligible.
Fertiliser delivery by suppliers is based on orders placed by farmers according to the crops planned to be grown, with typically no long-term storage of fertiliser. Defra is in contact with domestic fertiliser suppliers and is monitoring overall supply to the UK. Through its close relationships with industry, the Government remains ready to support businesses as effectively as possible in these challenging times.
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 estimate her Department has made of the number of days of supply of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser available based on storage levels and usage rates.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK is not facing an immediate fertiliser supply issue, but price rises have been felt immediately. The UK imported below 1% of its fertilisers directly from the Gulf region in 2025 and so direct imports from the region are negligible.
Fertiliser delivery by suppliers is based on orders placed by farmers according to the crops planned to be grown, with typically no long-term storage of fertiliser. Defra is in contact with domestic fertiliser suppliers and is monitoring overall supply to the UK. Through its close relationships with industry, the Government remains ready to support businesses as effectively as possible in these challenging times.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the volume of red diesel held in storage in the UK.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data on oil stocks are published monthly in Energy Trends Table 3.11: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oil-and-oil-products-section-3-energy-trends.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the number of days of supply of red diesel available based on storage levels and usage rates.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data on monthly red diesel stocks and demand are published in Energy Trends Tables 3.11 and 3.13, respectively: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oil-and-oil-products-section-3-energy-trends.
The Department does not publish estimates of days consumption.
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 many instances of fly tipping have been recorded on the public forest estate in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Forestry England and Forestry Commission are required to report operational waste volumes by category under the Greening Government Commitments (GGC) to Defra. There is no requirement to record or report the number of fly-tipping incidents.
Due to the size of our estate and available resources, it has historically proven impractical to systematically record all instances of fly tipping. Forestry England does not therefore hold complete historical records for the period requested. The number of instances that have been recorded across the public forest estate are as follows:
2016-17: 18 instances
2017-18: 11 instances
2018-19: 111 instances
2019-20: 88 instances
2020-21: 164 instances
2021-22: 116 instances
2022-23: 76 instances
2023-24: 683 instances
2024-25: 57 instances
2025-26: 53 instances
Since 2023-24 Forestry England has put in place additional mechanisms to record collected waste categorised as fly tip through our national waste contract with Green Zone. This has been recorded in tonnes, rather than as individual instances. Reported data for the past three financial years:
2023-24: 218.98 tonnes
2024-25: 181.01 tonnes
2025-26: 178.62 tonnes