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

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many consultations have been held by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in each of the last ten years on proposals for statutory instruments that have not yet been laid before either House of Parliament; and of those consultations, how many were held (1) within the last six months, (2) within the last seven to 12 months, (3) within the last 13 to 24 months, and (4) over 24 months ago.

In the past two years Defra has undertaken 27 formal consultations related to proposals for secondary legislation. A breakdown of those which have led to an SI being laid is provided below. Not all consultations will necessarily result in legislation as alternative policies are sometimes pursued.

Where consultations held more than 12 months ago did not result in an SI this was in response to stakeholder responses to the consultation. In more recent cases there has not yet been enough time to lay legislation resulting from these consultations.