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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reinstating the waiver on the plastic bag charge for home-delivery purchases that applied during the covid-19 lockdown announced in March 2020, to help prevent virus transmission via delivery drivers through allowing the doorstep deposit of delivered goods.

The obligation for supermarkets to charge for single-use carrier bags (SUCBs) supplied with online deliveries was temporarily removed in response to the first Covid-19 lockdown. This change was only temporary to allow retailers time to adapt their delivery systems, and the charge was reinstated in September 2020.

The department does not have any plans to further assess the need to reinstate the suspension of the charge for online deliveries. Since March, supermarkets have updated and improved their delivery systems to meet the increased demand due to the pandemic. They have also developed new practices to improve safety for both drivers and customers, and citizens are far more aware of the importance of social distancing. Retailers can still provide single-use carrier bags as a delivery option for customers so long as the charge is still in place.