Asked by: Lord Houchen of High Leven (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) desks, and (2) civil servants, are assigned to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs office in 2 Marsham Street.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of June 2026, Defra’s office at 2 Marsham Street provided 1,145 workstations and was the base location for 2,447 civil servants.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for each Arm's Length Body (ALB) their Department sponsors, (a) how many people are employed in the following bands of total earnings, or nearest equivalent, (i) under £25,000, (ii) £ 25,001 to £ 35,000, (iii) £35,001 to £50,270, (iv) £50,271 to £100,00, (v) £100,001 to £ 125,140 and (vi) over £125,140, and (b) what estimate they have made of the total unfunded public sector pension liability.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
(a) The attached table shows the headcount of employees in Core Defra and Arm's Length Bodies, broken down by salary band, as at June 2026.
(b) This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of full-time staff on full pay in her Department work compressed hours over a four day week.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of June 2026, there are 301 full-time payroll staff on full pay in Defra who work compressed hours over a four-day week. This equates to 5.2% of the total number of full-time payroll staff on full pay.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many FTE equivalent staff in (a) their Department and (b) each Arm's Length Body it sponsors are dedicated to fulfilment of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED); what the (i) annual employment and (ii) total annual cost incurred is as a result of PSED and compliance with PSED for each of those bodies; what the outputs are from the work of PSED teams and personnel dedicated to PSED; and if they will publish an assessment of their Department's compliance with PSED.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is a statutory obligation that applies across the public sector. As a procedural duty to have "due regard" to equality considerations, compliance is an ongoing responsibility rather than a one-off task. It is integrated into the day-to-day development and delivery of all policies and services; as such, it is a core responsibility of all civil servants across government, rather than being restricted to dedicated personnel.
Because it is a continuous, procedural duty applicable to all civil servants, it is impossible to disaggregate the specific fraction of time or cost dedicated solely to Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) compliance versus general policy and operational work. Attempting to calculate an FTE or cost figure would incur disproportionate cost and still be highly inaccurate.
There are small teams that provide advisory support, but their headcount is withheld under standard data protection protocols (teams of five or fewer).
Sponsored Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) are typically independent public authorities directly responsible for their own compliance. Information regarding ALBs’ internal resource allocation is not held by Defra.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2026 to Question 15465 on Department for Transport: Carbon Emissions, when the Greening Government Commitments (2025–2030) will be finalised.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The finalisation and publication of the Greening Government Commitments (2025-2030) is a matter for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and not for the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether any Non-Legally Binding Instruments have been signed by her Department and its Arms Length Bodies since July 2024 other than those subject to sensitive diplomatic, security and defence interest provisions.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department does not hold a single central register of all non-legally binding instruments signed by Defra and its Arm's Length Bodies. Some non-legally binding instruments signed since July 2024 include environmental cooperation memoranda of understanding with China and Indonesia; a fertilisers cooperation memorandum with Brazil; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew memoranda with Chinese scientific and botanical institutions; a Defra-RBG Kew Seeds to Trees memorandum; a UK-China Food Safety, Animal and Plant Quarantine memorandum; and bilateral arrangements reached with Vietnam, Uruguay and Canada under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in connection with establishing the UK’s independent WTO Goods Schedule.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government drafted and tabled the Environmental Delivery Plans (Appropriate Prioritisation) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/655) when Baroness Hayman of Ullock made a commitment to the House on 17 September 2025 (HL Deb col 2331) that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would take the lead on Environmental Delivery Plans.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for the enabling powers under which the Environmental Delivery Plans (Appropriate Prioritisation) Regulations 2026 were made and therefore took the lead in bringing forward the regulations. The regulations were developed in close collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Natural England, reflecting the shared responsibility for implementation of the Nature Restoration Fund and Environmental Delivery Plans.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, other than special advisers if her Department has appointed anyone from outside the civil service since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since July 2024, the Department has made appointments from outside the Civil Service through public appointments and direct ministerial appointments. Information on these appointments is publicly available on GOV.UK here and here.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for October to December 2025 for all departments, published on 31 March 2026, what the title and description are of the two social value KPIs only labelled as social value.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The table below presents the two Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for which ‘Social Value’ was included in the KPI descriptions within the October–December 2025 KPI Commission period
Contract Title | KPI Description |
Legal services in relation to CPTPP, Canada and Mexico trade negotiations | Social Value - Bi-annual reporting by the Supplier to the Buyer of initiatives of all companies in the supply chain under the contract to identify and tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce. |
Legal Services in relation to the UK - Gulf Cooperation Council Trade Negotiations | Social Value - Bi-annual reporting by the Supplier to the Buyer of initiatives of all companies in the supply chain under the contract to identify and tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce. |
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an estimate of the number of businesses which have stopped trading due to the extended producer responsibility scheme.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade) (Jointly with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of businesses that have stopped trading due to the extended producer responsibility scheme. The Department for Business and Trade is committed to supporting businesses to start, invest, grow and export through a range of measures, including improving access to finance, reducing barriers to trade, promoting investment, and providing practical support through the Business Growth Service and UK Export Finance.
The scheme is led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and is designed to ensure that producers bear the full net costs of managing household packaging waste, thereby supporting increased recycling and a more circular economy.