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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled A New Vision for Water, published on 20 January 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of cattle farms that could be impacted by an extension of the environmental permit regime.

Government announced its intention to develop options for consultation on extension of environmental permitting to dairy and intensive beef farms through the Environmental Improvement Plan published in December last year. The Government is looking to develop a proportionate risk-based approach with requirements focussed on the most polluting farms.