theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the expected return on investment from the Sustainable Farming Incentive. \p Daniel Zeichner: There are now 37,000 live Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements. This means 4.3 million hectares of land are now in SFI agreements.

As a result, returns on these agreements include:

We are evolving the SFI offer and are exploring ways to better target the money for instance, potentially towards smaller farmers, the least productive land or delivering specific outcomes. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Lincoln Jopp:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the water quality of water from places with floating solar panels on the source. \p Emma Hardy: Defra has made no such assessment. The Government takes the quality of all of our waterways very seriously; cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas is a top Government priority and that is why we have commissioned an independent review to fundamentally transform how our water system works.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what number and proportion of farms are part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in South Suffolk constituency. \p Daniel Zeichner: As of 21 March 2024, there are 154 farmers with a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement (SFI Pilot, SFI 23 and SFI EO) in South Suffolk constituency.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether local authorities will be required to spend the full funds generated through the extended producer responsibility scheme on waste (a) management and (b) processing. \p Mary Creagh: Local authority grant funding for waste management through MHCLG block grants has not typically been ringfenced, to protect the sustainability and liquidity of local authority finances and protect principles of devolution. The additional income local authorities receive through pEPR is calculated to cover the modelled costs they incur in fulfilling their statutory waste management duties in regard to household packaging waste and should therefore be spent on waste management. We are encouraging local authorities to invest this income into their recycling services in the 2025 financial year. We recognise that packaging producers have a strong interest in ensuring pEPR fees are used to support transition to a circular economy and we are currently exploring options to support this ambition.

For year 1 of pEPR, we have agreed with HM Treasury and MHCLG that pEPR funding will be an additional revenue stream for local authorities. In England, Simpler Recycling introduces new standard for the management of dry recycling. We will focus on engagement with local authorities and encourage the use of this additional funding to help drive investment in additional infrastructure that may be needed to meet these standards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage public bodies to prioritise the purchase of produce from (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire. \p Daniel Zeichner: The new national procurement policy statement sets out requirements for Government contracts, favouring high-quality products that we believe British producers, including those in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Staffordshire more broadly, are well-placed to supply: aiding our ambition for half of food supplied into public sector catering to be from local producers or those certified to higher environmental standards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Richard Foord:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that common land can enter (a) Sustainable Farming Incentive and (b) Countryside Stewardship schemes. \p Daniel Zeichner: We fully recognise the importance of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) for common land – and we strongly want the schemes to be available to commons as we move forward.

We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment.

We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. Our intention is that it will be possible to apply for SFI on common land when the reformed SFI offer reopens.

We have published preview guidance for CSHT setting out what funding will be available for farmers and land managers. This includes guidance on entering common land into a CSHT agreement. We will open the rolling application window for CSHT in summer 2025, and we have started inviting farmers and land managers to begin the pre-application process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) the brewing industry and (b) other sectors on the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme. \p Mary Creagh: The Government has worked closely with industry, including the brewing sector, throughout development of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging. Feedback from stakeholders has been factored into finalising the regulations, including consulting stakeholders on a draft of the pEPR regulation in 2023. Defra regularly holds stakeholders’ forums which are well attended by stakeholders across the drinks' value chain, and these are used to provide updates and capture feedback from impacted stakeholders. Since August 2024 we have worked closely with packaging producers to refine the approach to modelling fees and ensure they more accurately reflect the price drivers for local authority collection costs. My officials recently attended events organised by industry, and on 18 March attended a conference held by the National Association of Cider Maker’s to discuss the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging and respond to concerns raised by their members.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support (a) farmers and (b) landowners wishing to restore wild beavers on their land. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Farmers and landowners who would like to reintroduce wild beavers on their land must first submit an Expression of Interest, which will be assessed by Natural England (NE). Projects likely to meet the licensing criteria will be invited to make a full application.

A licence is needed to release any beavers into the wild. Applications will be considered against comprehensive wild release criteria. These criteria have been designed to ensure only high-benefit, low-risk projects are licenced, and that beavers are reintroduced at a measured pace in a well-managed way.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Andrew Bowie:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions (a) he and (b) his Department had with the (i) Scotland Office and (ii) Department for Business and Trade on the application for an English Whisky geographical indication prior to the submission of that application. \p Daniel Zeichner: The application to register English Whisky as a geographical indication was submitted in February 2022. There are no recorded discussions on the application held with other departments prior to that time.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage participation in the wild beaver reintroduction program in (a) areas prone to downstream flooding and (b) England; and whether he plans to provide additional (i) support and (ii) resources to farmers in those regions. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Government recognises that beavers can bring many benefits for the environment including reducing downstream flooding.

A licence is needed to release any beavers into the wild. Applications will be considered against comprehensive wild release criteria. These criteria have been designed to ensure only high-benefit, low-risk projects are licenced, and that beavers are reintroduced at a measured pace in a well-managed way.

Support for farmers, landowners and local communities will be provided through a rigorous risk assessment in the application process and the existing management framework laid out in our 5-step beaver management approach.

This will be backed up by support through local beaver management groups and Environmental Land Management options.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Imran Hussain:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff are employed by the Marine Management Organisation to carry out (a) catch certificate verifications and (b) refusals for seafood consignment imports to the UK; and whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of staffing levels to ensure effective oversight of high-risk seafood imports. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) and Port Health Authority (PHA) are the competent authorities for the purposes of the Sea Fishing (Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing) Order 2009. PHAs are responsible for receiving and checking catch certificates and other supplementary IUU documents that accompany consignments of fishery products at the UK border and have the power to stop and detain consignments for further investigation and refuse imports where necessary. There is a total of 28 PHAs that receive fishery products from the EU and the rest of the world, each of which assess their own resource requirements.

MMO's IUU Team comprises of 10 FTE who provide advice and training to PHAs on the UK’s IUU Regulation for importation and are the conduit for further information needed on an import through formal verification between the PHAs and 3rd country authorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to mitigate the potential impact of extended producer responsibility on food and drink prices. \p Mary Creagh: The aim of pEPR is to ensure businesses - rather than taxpayers - are responsible for the cost of dealing with packaging when it becomes waste. These regulations will encourage manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase recyclable and reusable alternatives. It is up to individual producers to decide how much of these costs are passed on to consumers. While pricing decisions by producers will differ by product, the impact of pEPR on overall inflation is estimated to be small, increasing consumer costs by less than £1 a week per household, or 0.1%.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that small businesses are not disproportionately impacted by extended producer responsibility fees. \p Mary Creagh: The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the Government also recognises the importance of protecting small producers from direct cost obligations. This is why the regulations include a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes which exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Victoria Atkins:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the details of a potential UK-US trade deal. \p Daniel Zeichner: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Euan Stainbank:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the availability of feedstocks for the production of renewable fuels. \p Mary Creagh: British farmers are world-leaders and know their own land best - carefully planning their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy.

The demand for UK produced crops is subject to global market prices and supply. Crop varieties grown in the UK can be of a specification for food, feed and/or bioenergy standards. This provides an in-built flexibility for farmers seeking an end-use market for their product. For farmers, the opportunity to sell into bioenergy often offers a secondary market for their surplus or lower quality crops and associated agricultural residues. The production of biofuels also produces valuable by-products including protein rich animal feed which is used by livestock farmers.

In 2023, 133 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the UK were used to grow crops for bioenergy. This area represents 2.2% of the arable land in the UK. 36% of land used for bioenergy was for biofuel (biodiesel and bioethanol) in the UK road transport market with the remainder mostly used for heat and power production.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the estimated cost is to the public purse of compliance with the Aarhus Convention. \p Mary Creagh: The UK Government is committed to the effective implementation of our international obligations.

The UK has been a party to the Aarhus Convention since ratification in 2005 and has long given effect to aspects of the Convention in domestic legislation. The Government has not estimated the cost of upholding its international law obligations as a Party to the Convention.

Over the past decade, the UK has been found to not be compliant with aspects of the Aarhus Convention. To ensure that the UK upholds its international law obligations, the Government is undertaking a call for evidence to gather views on the best way to bring policies concerning access to justice in line with our obligations under the Convention.

Where new policy contains provisions relevant to matters covered by the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision making and access to justice, the implications of the UK’s obligations under the Aarhus Convention are considered in the same manner as the UK’s other domestic and international legal obligations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on aligning the UK-wide bottle return scheme with the planned scheme for Wales. \p Mary Creagh: The Government is committed to deliver a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in England in October 2027 and to realise its benefits of reducing litter, increasing recycling, and creating high quality recyclate that will support the transition to a circular economy.

Following a period of joint development of DRS across all four nations, the Welsh Government made the decision to withdraw from this approach in November 2024.

Defra Ministers remain in close contact with Welsh Government counterparts through bilateral meetings, calls, and written correspondence. Officials remain in close working partnership with the Welsh Government as they take the decisions regarding a DRS in Wales.

The UK Government is keen to keep the door open to provide as much interoperability of schemes across the UK as possible.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing extended producer responsibility collection targets for glass bottles to 90%. \p Mary Creagh: Collection targets are not a feature of the extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging (pEPR). However, the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, which implement pEPR, set challenging, but achievable, recycling targets for all glass packaging which rise year on year to 85% by 2030.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce (a) financial support and (b) tax relief for businesses impacted by extended producer responsibility. \p Mary Creagh: The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the pEPR scheme includes generous exemptions to reduce the burden on small producers. Producers with an annual turnover of less than £2 million and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied will be exempt from pEPR payments but will be required to report packaging data. Producers supplying less than 25 tonnes and that have less than £1 million turnover will have no reporting or disposal cost obligations.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department consulted industry representatives on the level of extended producer responsibility fees. \p Mary Creagh: The Government consulted on the principles of extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, including the principle that producers would cover the full net costs to local authorities of managing household packaging waste. This included an estimate of the total costs of the scheme. In accordance with this principle, disposal fees per tonne for each material category are determined by dividing the total efficient cost to LAs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to commission an independent review of extended producer responsibility fees to consider whether the fees are (a) fair to and (b) sustainable for relevant businesses. \p Mary Creagh: The Scheme Administrator, PackUK, is required to set base fees in line with the regulations, which were developed by the previous Government following extensive engagement and consultation with stakeholders. Since the publication of the first illustrative base fees my department has continued to engage extensively with stakeholders, including through material specific workshops and the Scheme Administrator Steering Group (SASG) comprised of stakeholders across the sector. Most recently my department published a third set of illustrative base fees in December 24, which provided point estimates in direct response to industry feedback
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Greg Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not disproportionately impact (a) consumer choice and (b) product availability. \p Mary Creagh: Through making producers responsible for the costs of managing the packaging they use; packaging extended producer responsibility will incentivise producers to use less packaging and transition to re-usable or easy-to-recycle packaging. Defra have not identified any evidence that pEPR will lead to reduced consumer choice or product availability, including through assessment of international schemes.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department determined the fee rates for Extended Producer Responsibility; and whether he consulted industry on those rates. \p Mary Creagh: Illustrative base fees are calculated by dividing packaging waste management costs (for household packaging waste) and other relevant costs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market and this principle was consulted on in 2019 and again in 2021. Since August 2024 Defra have worked closely with packaging producers to refine the approach to modelling fees and ensure they more accurately reflect the price drivers for local authority collection costs. On 20 December Defra published the third iteration of illustrative fees, based on the agreed final proposed modelling scenario for the total disposal costs that should be recovered through EPR in 2025. The illustrative base fees use packaging tonnage data submitted to date by producers on the Report Packaging Data (RPD) online portal for the first six months of 2024, with adjustments applied (see below for further details). These fees represent the best possible point estimate of base fees given currently available information. Final fees, used to invoice producers from October 2025, are expected to be calculated in June 2025 using tonnage data reported by producers for the full year of 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) the cumulative cost burden of the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme and (b) other business costs on the food and drink sector. \p Mary Creagh: The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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John Glen:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to ensure that the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme does not discourage investment in manufacturing. \p Mary Creagh: The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.

Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Clive Lewis:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of Natural England's resources to run the Nature Restoration Fund, as outlined in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. \p Mary Creagh: Defra is working closely with Natural England and the wider Government to ensure appropriate resources are in place to administer the Nature Restoration Fund.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of wild beaver releases on the (a) economy and (b) environment. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Yes, Natural England have conducted assessments on the impact of beavers on the environment. This has primarily been done through the River Otter Beaver Trial and an evidence review of the interactions between beavers and the natural and human environments, published in 2021. The government recognises that beavers can bring many benefits for the environment, including boosting biodiversity, creating and restoring wetland habitats, and reducing downstream flooding.

The Government has not directly assessed the impact of beaver wild release on the economy. However, applications for beaver wild release licences must consider the socio-economic effect of their project, including conducting a risk assessment. Licences will only be granted for projects which are economically feasible and there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making Cornwall a priority location for a wild beaver release. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

A licence is needed to release any beavers into the wild. Applications will be considered against comprehensive wild release criteria. These criteria have been designed to ensure only high-benefit, low-risk projects are licenced, and that beavers are reintroduced at a measured pace in a well-managed way. Any wild beaver reintroductions in Cornwall must therefore meet the criteria.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish his response to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee's 7th Quinquennial Review of Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 relating to marine mammals; and whether he plans to consider the potential impact of this review on his review of the Environmental Improvement Plan. \p Mary Creagh: We are carefully reviewing the proposals, including for marine mammals, from the 7 Quinquennial Review, taking into account our nature recovery ambitions. The Government has concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) and published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025. We are developing a new EIP to protect and restore our natural environment, it will be published later this year. We will publish our response to the Quinquennial Review in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Anna Gelderd:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has set a timeline for the approval of wild release licences for beavers in England. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

On 28 February 2025, Defra announced its new approach to beavers, including opening a licensing scheme for beaver wild release.

Applicants must first submit an Expression of Interest, which will be assessed by Natural England (NE). Projects likely to meet the licensing criteria will be invited to make a full application.

NE aim to assess Expressions of Interest within 45 working days. Full application assessments are likely to take a minimum of four months. All applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and assessment may take longer for complex projects or if there is high demand.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Ms Polly Billington:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on the potential implications of the development of the Land Use Framework for the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan. \p Mary Creagh: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

When published, the Land Use Framework will seek to address the delivery challenges faced by communities, businesses, developers, landowners and farmers when considering how to make the best use of their land. It will be a cross-Government strategic document, setting out the evidence, data and tools needed to protect our most productive agricultural land and identify the best areas for nature’s recovery, while making sure appropriate plans are made as to where to build 1.5 million new homes, and the energy infrastructure needed to achieve Clean Power by 2030.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage producers to extend the lifespan of food, in the context of reducing (a) consumer waste and (b) costs for consumers. \p Mary Creagh: Defra is working closely with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the food industry to reduce consumer food waste. Through WRAP, Defra supports food businesses, including producers, and their work in making sure their products help consumers to waste less food at home. This includes developing best practice guidance on improving the clarity of ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ date labelling, clearer storage advice and optimised packaging design and pack sizes for fresh produce. This helps people to save money and reduce food waste by buying what they need and using what they buy.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2025 to Question 30440 on Housing: Construction, whether SANGS payments and other nature mitigation payments can be offset towards BNG payments. \p Mary Creagh: We have published GOV.UK guidance on “what you can count towards a development’s biodiversity net gain”. This confirms that Suitable alternative natural green space can count in part, and also lists other schemes which can count either in full or in part towards biodiversity net gain.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how often the Ancient Woodland Inventory is audited. \p Mary Creagh: The Ancient Woodland Inventory (AWI) was originally surveyed in the 1980s. Counties in the south-east of England were reviewed and updated between 2005 and 2015. The AWI is currently being audited with 35 counties in England being reassessed and where necessary boundaries are being redrawn to reflect changes in land use. Nine county revisions have been completed and published as the Revised Ancient Woodland Inventory (England). The remaining 26 counties are expected to be published over the coming months. Natural England also has a process in place to amend the AWI on a site-by-site basis where evidence for a change is supplied. You can find the original dataset here: Ancient Woodland (England) - data.gov.uk and updated and audited counties are being published here: Ancient Woodland - Revised (England) - Completed Counties.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_189

Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to support recycling (a) efforts and (b) infrastructure in Lincolnshire. \p Mary Creagh: We are improving recycling services across England through our upcoming Simpler Recycling reforms, which will ensure that across England, people will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school.

From 1 January 2025 the cost of managing household packaging when it becomes waste was transferred from taxpayers to producers placing that packaging material on the market. PackUK will make payments to local authorities (Approximately £1.4 billion across the UK) to cover the cost of the efficient and effective management of household packaging waste. In England, these payments will help local authorities to fund improvements to household recycling collections, enabling the consistent collection of all dry materials from every household. Additionally, through Simpler Recycling we have disbursed around £318 million of transitional funding to local authorities to support roll out of weekly food waste collections across England.

In February 2025, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) published a Recycling Infrastructure Capacity Analysis with anticipated waste arisings and associated infrastructure needs to 2035; this will support industry and decisions on investment in necessary infrastructure.
wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_190
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_190

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing guidance on ethical principles for licensing of wildlife management. \p Mary Creagh: This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Wildlife conflicts are often minor and tolerable, especially if basic avoidance measures are employed. If the problem is significant enough to warrant action, options should be explored that avoid harmful impacts on the species concerned while still resolving the problem. In the first instance, legal non-lethal measures should be considered. Only if these fail, are impractical or deemed ineffective, should available legal lethal options be considered.

Many laws in England protect and regulate how wild animals may be controlled and anyone carrying out wildlife management must ensure that they comply with the law. Many organisations have published Codes of Practice to summarise the law, as well as including information on best practice. Natural England can also offer advice on how to comply with laws that protect wildlife and the natural environment.

The Government has no current plans to assess the merits of publishing guidance on ethical principles for licensing of wildlife management.
wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_191
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_191

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help protect animal habitats from building developments. \p Mary Creagh: Protected sites designated under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 afford a high degree of statutory protection to some of our most valuable habitats. We are committed to making sure development contributes to nature’s recovery. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill gives us an opportunity to use development to support nature’s recovery, while providing greater speed and certainty for developers. We will use the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to establish a more efficient and effective way for obligations related to our most important sites and species to be discharged at a scale that has the greatest environmental benefits.
wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_192
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_192

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to release more criminals from prison early due to prison overcrowding. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: This Government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse and we were forced to take the necessary action to stop the criminal justice system from total gridlock.

Whilst the SDS change provided the intended medium-term relief to the system, this was never expected to be a long-term solution. To ensure we are never in a position where we run out of prison places again, the Lord Chancellor announced the Independent Review into Sentencing, alongside a series of prison capacity measures. This included reforming our recall practices to target the unsustainable growth in the recall population since the pandemic and an extension of the maximum period offenders can spend on Home Detention Curfew from 6 to 12 months.

The Independent Sentencing Review published its Part 1 report on 18 February. The Review’s final report is expected to be published in the spring of this year and will set out the immediate and longer-term recommendations for reform.

The 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy published on 11 December set out our plans to deliver more prisons places. By 2031, we aim to have delivered a further 14,000 prison places, with all places expected to be operational by 2032. To help achieve this, we are investing £2.3 billion in prison building across the estate this year and next year, which will provide modern accommodation that helps to improve safety, security, and decency in prison and to reduce reoffending.

We are also investing approximately £500 million over two years in prison and probation service maintenance to improve conditions across the estate. Beyond existing plans, work is underway to identify land that would be suitable for potential new prisons, should these be required in the future. This Government will also implement a new Crown Development Route later this Spring to allow faster planning decisions on new prisons.
wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_193
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_193

Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to amend the Human Rights Act 1998 to provide a legal right to access adequate housing. \p Alex Davies-Jones: The Human Rights Act (HRA) is an important part of our constitutional arrangements and fundamental to human rights protections in the UK. The Government has no plans to amend the rights protected by the HRA, which are drawn from those in the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Government will develop a new cross-government strategy, working with mayors and councils across the country to get us back on track to ending homelessness. We are taking action to tackle the root causes of homelessness including delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament, as well as abolishing section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_194
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_194

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the average daily cost of housing prisoners (a) under Operation Safeguard and (b) in standard prison accommodation. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: This Government inherited a prison system on the verge of collapse, which would have left the courts unable to send offenders to prison and the police unable to arrest dangerous criminals. We took decisive action and implemented changes to the standard determinate sentence release point which provided essential but temporary relief to the system.

In July 2024, the Lord Chancellor was clear that the capacity crisis would not disappear immediately and the changes to release points were never the whole solution to the prison capacity crisis we inherited. Over the last three months population growth in the prison estate has been high – January saw the highest average monthly prison population growth in almost two years, which has only just begun to slow. As of 24 March, there were 783 places remaining in the adult male estate. We are operating at more than 99% occupancy. Given this recent increase in demand and the subsequent disruption on the CJS, it is necessary, to temporarily reactivate Operation Safeguard to better manage the flow of offenders into the prison estate.

Between February 2023 and September 2024, when it was in operation under the previous Government, the average cost per police cell activated under Operation Safeguard was £688. This reflects costs incurred by police in making Safeguard cells available, such as additional staffing and food. We will continue to minimise costs by monitoring Safeguard closely and deactivating places where we can.

The cost of running a prison place is £150 per day. This is an average across the closed male estate, which includes costs such as staff costs, food, utilities and facilities maintenance, but does not include capital maintenance costs. Further information on this can be found in our published statistics: Prison performance data 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_195

Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an estimate of the number of foreign nationals from (a) Guinea-Bissau and (b) Portugal that have been convicted in the UK since 2010. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Ministry of Justice is unable to provide data on how many Bissau-Guinean nationals and Portuguese nationals have been convicted at court. This is because it is not possible to identify an offender's nationality from the centrally collated convictions data.

However, the Department is able to provide data on foreign nationals in prison and also those under probation supervision in the community.

(a) The nationality of foreign offenders in prison is published quarterly in table 1_Q_12 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (31 December 2024) available from prison-population-31-Dec-2024.ods. As of the 31 December 2024, there was one Bissau-Guinean national and 260 Portuguese nationals in HMPPS custody.

(b) The nationality of foreign offenders under probation supervision can be found in table 6_9 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (30 September 2024) available from Probation-Jul-to-Sep-2024.ods. As of the 30 September 2024, there are 474 Portuguese nationals under probation supervision in the community and no records of Bissau-Guinean nationals under probation supervision.

Previous publications of the Offender Management Statistics quarterly bulletin can be found at Offender management statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_196

Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the current average time to clear Personal Independence Payments appeals at the (a) First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) and (b) Upper Tribunal. \p Sarah Sackman: Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), including the average time to clear Personal Independence Payment appeals is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

The information requested for the Upper Tribunal is not currently available.
wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_197
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-28)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-28 conversation_197

Gareth Snell:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Magistrates Courts were (a) partially and (b) fully closed between 1 May 2010 and 1 July 2024, broken down by region. \p Sarah Sackman: The table below shows the number of Magistrates’ Courts that were permanently closed between 1 May 2010 and 1 July 2024, broken down by region. The figures do not include integrations, where workload remained in the local area by transferring to a building in close proximity, or courts that are temporarily closed.

Region

Magistrates’ Courts closed

London

19

Midlands

30

North East

19

North West

22

South East

32

South West

22

Wales

21

There are multiple situations that can require a court to be closed to the public for a temporary period of time. Reasons include, but are not limited to, severe weather disruption, building issues and disrepair, loss of utilities, and in response to security concerns.

HMCTS does not hold central data covering all temporary closures.