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

To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making with regard to the provision of the Deposit Return Scheme arising from the provisions of the Windsor Framework.

The UK Government, the Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland consulted in 2019 and 2021 on the detail of introducing a DRS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In January 2023 we published the Government response to the 2021 consultation, setting out policy decisions and next steps for introducing the scheme which can be found here. A copy is attached to this answer.

We are currently drafting the legislation to enable delivery of DRS, reflecting the positions set out in the consultation response published in January 2023. The legislation then needs to go through the necessary clearances before it can be laid in UK Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. We are aiming to have the regulations in place in order to appoint the DRS scheme administrator (the Deposit Management Organisation) by summer 2024.