Toby Perkins

Oil spills from oil and gas installations are of significant concern to the Department which is why there is no minimum quantity for reporting. The number of oil spills reported to OPRED (Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning) has almost halved since 2018 and the amount of oil spilled in 2023 was at an historic low.

Operators are required to report all discharges, spills and non-compliances and every case is investigated by OPRED proportionately. OPRED takes enforcement action against operators if needed, including the use of notices to improve compliance with the law, fines or referral for criminal prosecution.

OPRED issues fines for oil spills as an alternative to criminal prosecution for the more serious offences. A maximum fine of £50,000 can be issued for the most serious of spills. Revenue raised from fines of oil companies for all oil spills occurring during offshore operations in each of the last five years was £25,000 in 2020 and a £25,000 fine due to be issued for an oil spill in 2024. No fines for oil spills were issued in the other years.

OPRED has a range of other enforcement options that can be taken to ensure compliance with the law.

On 30 October the Government launched a public consultation on draft guidance that will help offshore operators understand how to assess end-use (scope 3) greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil and gas extraction projects in areas that have already been licensed.    This is a necessary step following the Supreme Court Finch judgment.

The consultation closed on 8 January 2025 and the finalised guidance will be published in the Spring.

Separately, the Government will also shortly consult on the implementation of its manifesto position not to issue new oil and gas licences to explore new fields.

This information is not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The department considers level 2 English and mathematics to be essential for enabling students to achieve and to seize opportunities in life, learning and work.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review is looking at how best to support 16 to 19-year-olds who currently do not achieve level 2 in English and mathematics by the age of 16.

The department is already strengthening the support offered to students under the mathematics and English condition of funding for students on 16-19 study programmes and T Levels who have not yet attained level 2 English and mathematics. This includes requiring providers to offer minimum hours of in-person, whole class, stand-alone teaching in English and mathematics, and for more students to be offered this.

Skills England will ensure the supply of skills needed for growth, which is crucial for supporting the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to kickstart economic growth.

Skills England will bring together businesses, education and training providers, unions, and regional and national government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver the government’s forthcoming industrial strategy.

It will work with the Migration Advisory Committee to make sure skills training in England accounts for the overall needs of the labour market, and it will coordinate between local areas to ensure everyone can access all the opportunities available.

The government’s ambition for Skills England is that it will bring coherence to the assessment of skills’ needs and to the training landscape. It will ensure that training programmes are well designed and delivered so that they meet these needs and ensure businesses have the highly skilled workforce they require to thrive.

No decisions have been made regarding future levels of funding for the Darwin Initiative, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, or Darwin Plus. Defra will allocate budgets to its Official Development Assistance programmes for future Financial Years after Defra receives its Multi-Year Spending Review settlement.

The UK has a strong and pioneering record in overseas development and will continue to play a vital humanitarian role in crises such as those in Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza, while tackling global challenges including climate change and biodiversity loss.

In October 2024 the Government published a final impact assessment on the pEPR scheme. The impact assessment did not look at the specific impacts of the pEPR scheme on individual sectors.

The Government recognises the importance of protecting small producers from direct cost obligations. This is why the regulations include a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes which exempts approximately 70% of the producers supplying packaging in the UK from paying scheme fees.

In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers as a whole. This impact assessment did not split the assessment by sector.

The UK’s packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) policy has been in development since 2019. This is underpinned by extensive consultation and engagement with industry stakeholders, including the glass manufacturing sector, to provide businesses with a clear indication of the scheme’s design and implementation.

Consultations were held in 2019 and 2021, concluding with a final consultation on reforms to the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system in 2022. In 2023, the four nations of the UK jointly consulted on the operability of the draft Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024. Feedback from stakeholders during this process directly informed a number of amendments made prior to final regulations.

Throughout this period, Defra officials engaged closely with industry experts, including the glass industry. This collaboration has helped to ensure that the modelling of local authority costs used within the scheme reflects the practical realities of waste management operations.

We have made a full assessment of the expected business impacts of the policy, including on the glass sector. This is detailed in the official impact assessment for the Producer Responsibility Obligations (packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, which remains publicly available: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.

The Government remains committed to ongoing engagement with manufacturers and other stakeholders to support the successful and fair implementation of the scheme.

Since Autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders, including representatives of the hospitality sector, to consider potential amendments to the definition of household packaging. We are planning next steps as a priority and will share more information soon.

The Government has been engaging extensively with stakeholders from various sectors, including the hospitality sector, to develop a better understanding of the potential impacts of a change in the definition of household packaging. The government will set out its intended next steps on the definition shortly.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I provided to PQ 33304 on 4 March 2025.

We note the committee’s recommendations regarding the rights of indigenous people and local communities, and customary land tenure. We will set out our approach in due course.

The approach to tackling deforestation in UK supply chains is being considered and we will provide an update in due course.

The approach to tackling deforestation in UK supply chains is being considered and we will provide an update in due course.

Defra works closely with the Environment Agency (EA) to ensure it is equipped to carry out its functions effectively and deliver for the public and the environment; this includes flood risk management and watercourse maintenance.

The EA focuses its efforts on those activities which will achieve the greatest benefit in terms of protecting people and property from flooding. Dredging and main river clearance are an important part of EA’s maintenance programme. Before undertaking dredging, the EA will work in close consultation with local communities to assess whether it is technically achievable and cost effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream, and is environmentally acceptable.

In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.

Three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – are not permitted for general use because of the risks they pose to pollinators. However, emergency authorisations were granted by the previous Government for the use of the thiamethoxam-containing pesticide Cruiser SB to treat sugar beet seed in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Environmental monitoring activities were undertaken as a condition of the emergency authorisations for the use of Cruiser SB granted by the previous administration, alongside government-funded monitoring projects. The results of this monitoring work can be found within the HSE’s emergency registration reports, published on GOV.UK.

This year I rejected the application for an emergency authorisation to use Cruiser SB on sugar beet in England. I did not take this decision lightly, considering expert advice from the Health and Safety Executive and Expert Committee on Pesticides, the Defra Chief Scientific Adviser and Defra economists. In making my decision, I recognised that the potential adverse effects to bees and other pollinators could not be excluded if the Cruiser SB authorisation were to be granted.

In December last year we published a policy statement outlining our intention to end the use of these neonicotinoid pesticides for good. We will update the guidance that sets out the approach to decisions on applications for emergency authorisations to take full account of the importance of pollinators. Further, we will identify legislative options to prevent future use of emergency authorisations for products containing clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, which are extremely toxic to pollinators.

Decisions on emergency authorisation applications must be taken in line with legal requirements. In making these decisions, Ministers take full account of the available evidence and expert advice, including on risks to pollinating insects.

The Government will honour its manifesto commitment on this topic.

We note the recommendations put forward by the committee and recognise the important work that there is to be done.

We recognise the urgency of taking action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation. We will set out our approach to addressing deforestation in the UK’s supply chains in due course.

Businesses are supported to comply with UK timber regulations through the Office for Product Safety and Standards. There is currently no domestic regime in place in relation to other commodities. Guidance in respect of complying with EU legislation is a matter for the European Commission.

The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.

In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.

Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.

Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.

The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.

In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.

Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.

Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.

The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.

In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.

Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.

Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.

The Environment Agency has no record of dredging the rivers Rother and Hipper during the last 10 years. The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes dredging to manage flood risk where it is technically effective, does not significantly increase flood risk for others downstream and is environmentally acceptable.

In most places there are much more effective and efficient ways to better protect communities and increase their resilience to flooding, as part of a catchment-based approach. Whilst dredging is part of the solution in some locations, it is not a universal solution to what is a complex issue.

Since 2009, the EA has spent the following amounts on dredging rivers.

Note that more funding was used on dredging in 2016/17 mainly due the winter floods of 2015/16 and an additional £40 million resource funding that was announced in March 2016. This allowed teams to undertake more maintenance activities, including dredging.

Viruses transmitted by aphids can severely reduce yields of sugar beet crops. The degree of threat varies from location to location and from year to year. Decisions on emergency authorisation applications must be taken in line with legal requirements. In making these decisions, Ministers will take full account of the available evidence and expert advice.