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 HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue has been raised from Landfill Tax in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Landfill Tax receipts for the latest five financial years (2020-21 to 2024-25) are published here: HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the NHS to do cardiac testing on young people.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises how worrying heart health can be for the families of young people. The National Health Service already offers cardiac tests for young people who present with symptoms that could indicate a cardiac issue. Testing young people who have no symptoms in order to look for potential cardiac problems would, however, be classed as a screening programme.
In considering whether any screening programme should be introduced, the Government is guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. Where the committee is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.
The UK NSC last reviewed screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019. The conclusion of that review was that population screening should not be offered, as research showed that current tests are not accurate enough to use on young people with no symptoms.
The UK NSC is due to open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring, and we would encourage those with an interest to contribute.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role the National Crime Agency currently plays in tackling organised waste crime.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
National leadership for tackling waste crime sits with the Environment Agency. Its Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC) brings together operational partners (including the NCA) to coordinate the response. The NCA can investigate waste crime where cases meet the thresholds of complexity and severity outlined in the National Tasking Model. In practice, this is most likely where waste crime overlaps with an existing NCA priority threat.
The NCA also hosts the National Assessments Centre, which draws on law enforcement intelligence to produce threat assessments for policing, Government and operational partners. These assessments are shared with bodies such as the Environment Agency and the JUWC and can help inform their understanding of serious and organised crime risks including those associated with waste crime.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of designating waste crime as a national strategic policing priority.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recently published the Waste Crime Action Plan, which sets out how we will tackle waste crime through prevention, enforcement, and accelerating the clean-up effort. National leadership for tackling waste crime sits with the Environment Agency. Its Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC), which focusses on waste crime linked to Serious and Organised crime, brings together operational partners, such as the police and NCA, with appropriate agencies to ensure a joined up and effective response.
Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) is identified in the Strategic Policing Requirement as a national threat requiring a coordinated, cross‑boundary policing response. As set out in the White Paper, we will introduce new National Strategic Policing Priorities (NSPP) which will bring together strategic priorities for policing, and the national threats and capabilities forces need to respond to these threats, in one place. We will legislate for the NSPP, and set out the specific priorities, when parliamentary time allows.
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.