Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 merits of the Environment Agency requiring National Highways to apply for permits to operate outfalls into the River Lune.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is able to use its enforcement policy and sanctions on those that pollute the environment. As the EA needs to prioritise its resource on tackling sources with the greatest environmental risk it is taking a collaborative approach in working with National Highways to mitigate the impact from their highest risk outfalls.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency allows National Highways to discharge untreated toxic run-off into the River Lune.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The EA works closely with the National Highways Agency to minimise the environmental risk from surface water outfalls from public highways.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the Environment Agency is not measuring pollution, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, from motorway outfalls into the River Lune at Tebay.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
If the Environment Agency is notified of pollution in watercourses such as the river Lune, then this is dealt with as a pollution incident and investigated and /or attended on a risk basis. Regarding the Lune at Tebay, the Environment Agency is already actively considering how additional monitoring could support their investigations.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what was the cost to the public purse of landfill site regulation, monitoring, and remediation over the last five years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) regulates permitted landfill sites on a full cost‑recovery basis. The costs of regulation are met by the landfill operators, primarily through annual subsistence charges which are paid by permit holders. These charges cover routine inspections and audits, assessment of monitoring and reporting requirements and ensuring that sites are properly closed and remediated at the end of their operational life.
Where the EA is required to undertake additional or non‑standard regulatory activity, landfill operators are required to pay supplementary charges to cover the full cost of that work.
As a result, the regulation of permitted landfill sites should not impose an ongoing cost on the public purse. Any additional costs would arise only in exceptional circumstances, such as enforcement action where cost recovery is not possible and intervening in cases where a site has been abandoned and the permit disclaimed. The EA does not currently hold figures for these additional costs.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many waste crime officers are currently employed by the Environment Agency; and how many large-scale illegal waste sites have a designated waste crime officer assigned to them.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are 331 full-time employees directly involved in waste crime. This number includes officers in the Area and National operational teams who respond to illegal waste sites, prevent and disrupt waste crime at sites in England, prevent illegal exports of waste to other countries, conduct criminal investigations and combat fraud and money laundering related to waste regimes.
The Environment Agency does not designate a waste crime officer to individual sites. Instead, teams work together to respond to reports of illegal waste sites.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the total calorific value of food available within the UK in the event of a disruption to supply chains.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027.
The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 number of days of food stocks nationally in the event of a significant disruption to supply.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027.
The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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 she has made of the resilience of food supply chains.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027.
The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the adequacy of the volume of food held in storage for use in a national emergency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027.
The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to develop food storage and distribution capacity for use in national emergencies.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes.
Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027.
The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.