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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department plans to publish on the purpose to which proceeds of the single-use plastic bag charge can be put; and when that guidance will be published.

Regulatory guidance will be published once the legislation has been made. There is an expectation that the proceeds of the charge will be donated to good causes and retailers will be required to report centrally on proceeds. As the Climate Change Act 2008 does not include powers for the Government to provide directions concerning the use of the proceeds, neither the legislation nor the regulatory guidance will mandate a particular use of the proceeds.