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 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 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.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department still produces Emerging Trends reports, which were bi-annual publications highlighting key developments and their implications produced by the Defra Futures Project.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no plans to publish a 5th Edition of the Global Megatrends report at present. We continue to routinely monitor both long-term and short-term emerging trends and risks, including through engagement of our expert committees.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has (a) produced and (b) plans to produce a fifth edition of the global megatrends report that was published in 2024.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has no plans to publish a 5th Edition of the Global Megatrends report at present. We continue to routinely monitor both long-term and short-term emerging trends and risks, including through engagement of our expert committees.
Asked by: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make a statement on how Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council can produce a Local Plan which meets the Government housing targets, in the context of the objection from South East Water.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
National planning policy makes clear that local plans should be positively prepared and, as a minimum, seek to meet identified development needs.
Local planning authorities are expected to do all they reasonably can to meet need, including working proactively with infrastructure providers (including water providers) to align growth and infrastructure provision. If needs cannot be met, the authority must clearly and robustly explain the reasons during the plan examination.
The approach the authority has taken, including how it engaged with infrastructure providers, will be a key consideration for the independent Inspector in evaluating whether the local plan can be found ‘sound’.
Officials across the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are working in partnership with Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council to explore supply and demand interventions to progress both current planning applications and local plan development.
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, how many agency staff were employed by her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department employed 51 agency staff in the financial year 2025/26, 23 agency staff in 2024/25, 64 agency staff in 2023/24, 35 agency staff in 2022/23, and 52 agency staff in 2021/22. All headcount figures are as of 31 March of the relevant financial year.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to meet the Climate Change Committee’s proposed health targets for a well-adapted UK.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to develop the fourth National Adaptation Programme which will set out the Government’s strategy to adapt to the impacts of the changing climate. Ongoing action includes the Adverse Weather and Health Plan that provides guidance to reduce the health impacts of heat, £6.75 billion committed over nine years to address the most critical National Health Service infrastructure risks, including to cooling and ventilation, and requiring all New Hospital Programme projects compliant with hospital 2.0 from 2025 and new build neighbourhood health centres to include climate resilience in their design from the outset.