Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle wildfires in 2026.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government recognises that the impact of climate change is likely to increase and intensify fire incidents in England and Wales – with potential to impact fire and rescue service’s (FRS) resources, capacity, and strategical response.
As the lead government department for wildfire, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) maintains regular and ongoing engagement with other government departments including the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and Cabinet Office on this national risk. This is alongside the department’s work with national bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements and mitigations.
Since 2024 we have also funded a National Resilience Wildfire Advisor to assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the net zero targets for the Ministry of Defence and its arm’s-length bodies are; and what guidance has been issued on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Net Zero target in the Climate Change Act 2008, is a target for the whole of the UK, not individual departments or arms-length bodies.
Greening Government Commitments are the central framework setting out the actions UK Government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including setting targets to reduce emissions.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities.
For the Ministry of Defence, guidance was published by the last Government in the 2021 Climate Change and Sustainability Strategic Approach which set a target of reducing emissions from its built estate by at least 30% by 2025.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the net zero targets for the Department and its arm’s-length bodies are; and what guidance has been issued on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Net Zero target in the Climate Change Act 2008, is a target for the whole of the UK, not individual departments or arms-length bodies.
Greening Government Commitments are the central framework setting out the actions UK government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including setting targets to reduce emissions, during the framework period.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport committed to a 33% reduction in direct emissions and a 58% reduction in overall emissions by 2025.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with government priorities.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the net zero targets for the Ministry of Justice and its arm’s-length bodies are; and what guidance has been issued to prisons, courts and other agencies on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Net Zero target in the Climate Change Act 2008 is a target for the whole of the UK, not individual Departments or arms-length bodies.
Greening Government Commitments are the central framework setting out the actions UK Government Departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including setting targets to reduce emissions, during the framework period.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs is reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
With regards to a) the in-grade promotions: We are unclear how “in-grade promotion” should be defined in relation to the data we do hold.
Information on b) promotions to a higher grade is not held centrally. In particular, the information held centrally on outward secondments and loans does not record whether the secondment/loan is a promotion or whether it would be in-grade or not.
Collation and presentation of this data could potentially require significant manual work and data linking across departments and would come at a disproportionate cost and we are, therefore, unable to provide the information requested.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what process will her Department follow in order to set the visa allocations under the Seasonal Worker Scheme beyond 2026; and what factors will be considered when tapering the allocation.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The UK Government is committed to supporting the UK Horticulture sector, but it is also important that the sector reduces its ongoing reliance on significant numbers of seasonal workers from overseas. Decisions on future allocations will take into account a broad range of factors including, current usage, steps taken to reduce ongoing reliance, such as the adoption of automative technology, and the ongoing costs of operating the route, including compliance and asylum costs.
The Home Office will work closely with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to determine future scheme allocations.
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 and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for Defra FY 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defras-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.
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 full time equivalent staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help decarbonise refrigerated transport.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport continues to work with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on an Off-Road Machinery Decarbonisation Strategy, which includes transport refrigeration units (TRUs). This strategy will set out how off-road machinery can further decarbonise while maintaining competitiveness, attracting investment and supporting growth. To support this, we are reviewing the findings of a multi-year research project commissioned to ZEMO Partnership into the emissions from diesel-powered auxiliary engines, including from TRUs used on heavy goods vehicles. Alongside this, the Transport Industrial Commercial Refrigeration project, funded through the DESNZ Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, is expected to publish a roadmap that includes transport refrigeration in Spring 2026. The Department will review the roadmap and consider its implications.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
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 staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In core Defra, high performance substantive senior civil servants are those with an end-year performance rating of “Exceeded”. The headcount and proportion of each grade for those employed during the period November 2024 – October 2025 were:
Grade* | Number of employees | Proportion of Grade who achieved ‘Exceeded’ as their end-year performance decision |
Senior Civil Servant Pay Band 1 | 16 |
|
Senior Civil Servant Pay Band 2 |
|
|
* Where individuals changed substantive grade during the period, they are reported against their earliest substantive grade.
c. These numbers are suppressed in accordance with the Defra data protection policy.
End-year performance decisions were removed from the performance management framework for delegated staff grades in April 2023. Delegated staff grades are recognised through continuous recognition awards.