Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent guidance his Department has provided to local authorities on the (a) collection and (b) disposal of independently certified BS 13432 compliant compostable packaging.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Under Simpler Recycling, local authorities and other waste collectors are required to collect the following recyclable waste streams from all households and workplaces in England: glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste (and garden waste from households only). These measures apply from 31 March 2025 from workplaces, 31 March 2026 from households and 31 March 2027 from micro-firms (with less than 10 FTEs).

In May 2024, Parliament made the Simpler Recycling Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024 [1] and Government published guidance [2] that included a description of the materials in scope of collection within each of the recyclable waste streams required for collection under Simpler Recycling in England.

During our call for evidence on bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics, concerns were highlighted by the waste and recycling industry over the suitability for recycling biodegradable and compostable plastics. Consequently, the guidance set out that packaging labelled ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’ cannot be recycled with food waste, nor be collected within the plastic recycling waste stream.

Biodegradable and compostable plastics will also not be included as a separate recyclable waste stream in the amended Environmental Protection Act 1990, and we do not propose to include these materials in any of the other recyclable waste streams. Plastic packaging materials labelled as “compostable”, or “biodegradable” are not generally collected for recycling as these materials can contaminate mechanical recycling streams; therefore, should be placed in the residual waste stream. However, we do recognise the valid role compostable plastics play in some applications and closed-loop contexts (e.g. where they are able to be collected and processed correctly at an industrial composter).

[1] The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024

[2] Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of soft plastic recycling schemes operated by supermarkets.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has not carried out a specific assessment of soft plastic recycling schemes offered by supermarkets.

Under Defra’s Simpler Recycling reforms, The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024 require flexible plastics to be collected from kerbside from 31^st March 2027. We are aware of the delivery challenges surrounding the collection of flexible plastics and recognise that stakeholders need more time to address these. This is why the requirement to collect flexible plastics will not come in until 31st March 2027. Ahead of the requirement coming into effect, existing kerbside, front of store and postal take back of plastic films will continue and are expected to increase in response to certainty over the timing of the introduction of this new collection requirement.

To help support these delivery challenges, Defra has also provided financial support for the multi-million-pound FlexCollect project, launched in May 2022, funding Local Authorities to roll out kerbside plastic film collection trials. The FlexCollect final report was published on 1 September 2025. Defra will analyse the results of the trials, alongside wider evidence, to ensure we make the implementation of flexible plastics a success. We will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure issues surrounding end markets and reprocessing are taken into account and addressed in the lead up to the 2027 implementation date.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that visa applications for injured Palestinian children are processed without delay; and whether those visas applications can be fast-tracked.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Prime Minister announced at the end of July that the UK will medically evacuate Gazan children for treatment in the UK. A cross-government taskforce is working urgently to get some of these sick and injured children out of Gaza, so that they can receive specialist treatment in NHS hospitals across the UK.

We are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible, and the first patients and their immediate family members are expected to arrive in the UK in the coming weeks. Visa applications will be dealt with in a timely and sensitive manner. Helping people leave a war-zone is a highly complex and dangerous process and their safety and wellbeing are our top priority, so we will not be providing a running commentary on the evacuation process.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to review the definition of recycled in Section 49 of the Finance Act 2021 to recognize organic recycling through food waste schemes.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Plastic Packaging Tax provides a clear economic incentive for businesses to use recycled plastic in the manufacture of plastic packaging, thereby stimulating the collection and recycling of plastic waste and diverting it away from landfill or incineration. The government has no plans to review the definition of recycled plastic that is used for the tax.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she is considering steps to incentivise domicile Exchange Traded Funds in the UK if they have a significant corporate footprint in country.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK is home to the world’s second largest investment management sector, with over £10.9 trillion of assets under management (11% of global assets). The UK has historic expertise in portfolio management, a crucial part of the Financial Services ecosystem. The UK Government is committed to supporting this important sector and in the recently published Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy committed to be one of the most competitive places globally to manage investments.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are often domiciled outside of the UK for a range of reasons including marketing access, and existing pockets of administrative expertise. However, many of these funds are still managed here - 49% of all assets managed in the UK are managed on behalf of overseas clients.

The Government has undertaken a wealth of work to enhance the UK’s fund domicile offering, including as part of the recent review of the UK funds regime. This has led to the introduction of new UK fund structures focused on enhancing real-economy investment including the Reserved Investor Fund, the Long-Term Asset Fund and Qualifying Asset Holding Companies.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she is taking steps to establish an Exchange Traded Fund.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK is home to the world’s second largest investment management sector, with over £10.9 trillion of assets under management (11% of global assets). The UK has historic expertise in portfolio management, a crucial part of the Financial Services ecosystem. The UK Government is committed to supporting this important sector and in the recently published Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy committed to be one of the most competitive places globally to manage investments.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are often domiciled outside of the UK for a range of reasons including marketing access, and existing pockets of administrative expertise. However, many of these funds are still managed here - 49% of all assets managed in the UK are managed on behalf of overseas clients.

The Government has undertaken a wealth of work to enhance the UK’s fund domicile offering, including as part of the recent review of the UK funds regime. This has led to the introduction of new UK fund structures focused on enhancing real-economy investment including the Reserved Investor Fund, the Long-Term Asset Fund and Qualifying Asset Holding Companies.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with UKRI on steps his Department is taking to support innovative materials whose development has been funded by grants from Innovate UK.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Officials regularly engage with UK Research and Innovation including with Innovate UK as the delivery partner for some of our most significant research programmes.

The Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, provides grants to support industry-led R&D to develop technologies and innovative practices to drive innovation in agriculture and increase productivity, sustainability and resilience in our farming sectors.

Examples of other collaborative programmes include the Defra co-funded Innovation in Environmental Monitoring programme. This programme has connected industry and research to the growing UK environmental monitoring sector, ensuring that the public and private sectors work in partnership to develop and test new sensing capabilities that can be commercialised, helping to boost the UK’s economic growth.

This programme has supported technologies in fields such as environmental DNA, artificial intelligence, remote sensing and acoustic monitoring.

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