Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the police to ensure hunting laws are fully enforced.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not had recent discussions with the police regarding the enforcement of hunting laws.
The enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament.
It is for individual Chief Constables to determine how their resources are deployed, and it is for locally elected PCCs to hold their forces to account. This includes consideration of how the police tackle the crimes that matter most to residents and businesses in rural and urban areas alike.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by how much they plan to reduce their Department's budget to help fund the digital ID scheme.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Digital Identity policy is in development, with a dedicated team inside the Cabinet Office working to develop the proposals.
Costs in this Spending Review period will be met within the existing Spending Review settlements.
We are inviting the public to have their say in the upcoming consultation as we develop a safe, secure, and inclusive system for the UK. No final decisions will be made until after the consultation.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on jobs and employment on changes in regulation in the dairy sector, including through the proposed revisions to the Nutrient Profiling Model, the Soft Drinks Industry Levy proposed inclusion of dairy products, the increase to employer’s National Insurance contributions, and packaging taxes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) and National Insurance contributions are the responsibility of HM Treasury and packaging taxes fall under the remit of the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.
The Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) is under the remit of the Department of Health and Social Care. We are committed to updating the standards which underpin the advertising restrictions on television and online and the promotion restrictions in stores and their equivalent places online on ‘less healthy’ food and drink products. The NPM 2004/05 is plainly out of date and updating the standards will strengthen the restrictions by reflecting the latest dietary advice and more effectively target the products of most concern to childhood obesity. An impact assessment will be published alongside a consultation later this year.
It was announced at Budget 2025 that milk based and milk substitute drinks, for instance soya, almond, and/or oat, would be included in the scope of the SDIL from 1 January 2028. These reforms are not expected to have any significant macroeconomic impacts, including on employment, on the basis that the levy is limited to soft drinks, and an estimated 11% of United Kingdom soft drink sales will be affected. A full assessment of the impacts of these changes is included within the Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy – Summary of Responses document. This is available at the following link:
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the bill, containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts. The Government protected the smallest hospitality businesses from recent changes to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500.
The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs published the updated impact assessment of the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme in October 2024, which evaluated the overall effects on packaging producers, without disaggregating by sector.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2025, to Question, 90238, on Government Communications Service: Staff, if he will publish the number of (a) headcount and (b) FTE Government Communication Service staff in each government department, central public body and Arm’s Length Body, including NHS, according to information collated in the most recent Government Communications Service audit; and what are the aggregate figures.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Please see the table below that contains the full-time equivalent figures for departments. These figures incorporate the ALBs, which are grouped under their respective sponsoring organisations.
Sponsor Org | FTE |
Attorney General's Office | 97.72 |
Cabinet Office | 406.85 |
Department for Business & Trade | 348.06 |
Department for Culture, Media & Sport | 451.20 |
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs | 389.94 |
Department for Energy Security & Net Zero | 294.24 |
Department for Education | 285.90 |
Department for Transport | 630.47 |
Department of Health & Social Care | 772.76 |
Department for Science, Innovation & Technology | 333.67 |
Department for Work & Pensions | 239.39 |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | 149.12 |
HM Revenue & Customs | 294.10 |
HM Treasury | 84.35 |
Home Office | 197.44 |
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government | 124.15 |
Ministry of Defence | 501.54 |
Ministry of Justice | 285.96 |
Northern Ireland Office | 17.00 |
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | ≤5.00 |
Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland | 16.00 |
UK Export Finance | 20.90 |
Office of the Secretary of State for Wales | 7.80 |
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Off-Road Machinery Decarbonisation Strategy will be published.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is working closely with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the development of the Off-Road Machinery Decarbonisation Strategy. Further details of which, including publication timeline, will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the risk of using rubber crumb infill in synthetic turf pitches in schools, in light of the ban on safety grounds on disposing of shredded tyre material in landfill sites and with reference to possible (a) inhalation, (b) ingestion and (c) skin absorption of toxic particles.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Responsible bodies are responsible for managing premises, including for health and safety. They should ensure risk assessments are conducted and measures taken to minimise known critical risks, following Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance.
Guidance on promoting good hygiene when taking part in physical activity is available to schools at: https://resources.thegma.org.uk/sportshygiene.
The department’s technical guidance, due to be updated early 2026, outlines alternative pitch materials. While primarily intended for new build schools, this advice is available for wider use and outlines the merits of each material.
The department continues to work with other government departments, including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Culture Media and Sport, the UK Health Security Agency and HSE, to ensure any advice and guidance in this area aligns with best practice and the latest scientific evidence.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring water and sewerage companies to provide capacity assessments for water supply and wastewater infrastructure before large developments are approved in areas where existing networks and receiving water bodies are under pressure.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.
The consultation includes policies that will support the development and operation of energy and water infrastructure that meets the needs of existing and future development.
The policies in question emphasise the need for early engagement between relevant plan-making authorities, utility providers, regulators, and network operators. This will ensure that development plans align with the capacity and future requirements of water infrastructure, and support the delivery of water supply, drainage, and wastewater infrastructure.
The consultation will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here.
In addition, the Department for Environment, Food and Agriculture has established a Water Delivery Taskforce to hold water companies to account on the deliveryof their Price Review (PR24) plans, including in relation to their planned investments to provide water and wastewater capacity.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of health inequalities associated with a) asthma and b) chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is aware of the disproportionate impact that asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) have on deprived communities. The Government is acting on smoking, air pollution, and poor housing that will particularly benefit such communities.
Smoking is the number one preventable cause of COPD. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will be the biggest public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will help deliver our ambition for a smoke-free United Kingdom.
Poor air quality can exacerbate COPD and asthma. To address this, DHSC is working across Government with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to tackle air pollution, and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to fix housing and reduce damp and mould. Infections can also exacerbate COPD and asthma, so the National Health Service is running winter vaccine campaigns against respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu, and pneumococcal disease.
To enable faster diagnosis of asthma and COPD and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
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 disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct in the past 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In the last 12 months the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs concluded 51 disciplinary cases. All 51 disciplinary cases were conduct related and not performance related.
Outcomes from these cases were:
In the last 12 months the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Rural Payments Agency and the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science concluded a total of 48 disciplinary cases.
All 48 disciplinary cases were conduct related and not performance related.
Outcomes from these cases were:
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the press notice by the Royal College of Physician of 13 November 2025, which called for a UK-wide public health campaign on air pollution.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clean air is a key part of our shift from ‘sickness to prevention’ as per the 10-Year Health Plan for England, which sets out action to further improve the quality of the air we breathe.
Alongside the 10-Year Health Plan, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Environmental Improvement Plan, published in December 2025, outlines commitments to improve the communication of air quality information.
Government action is being informed by the recommendations from the Air Quality Information System review report published in 2025, which specifically considered ways to increase public awareness about air pollution.
We will continue to work closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to reduce the health harms of air pollution and to help make air quality part of everyday conversations.