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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage Parish Councils to adopt single-use plastic-free policies.

We published our 25 Year Environment Plan on 11 January. This states our ambition to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste and, in particular, the waste from single use plastics. The steps we will take to achieve this include exploring the introduction of plastic free aisles by retailers; exploring how we can develop our producer responsibility schemes to give producers more incentives to design more resource efficient products; and extending the carrier bag charge to small retailers.

HM Treasury published a call for evidence on 13 March that seeks views on how the tax system or charges could reduce the amount of single use plastics waste by reducing the unnecessary production of these items; increasing reuse wherever feasible; and increasing the levels of recycling.

The Government would like to see all levels of government support the 25YEP and its initiatives, including parish councils.