theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Sarah Olney:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is her policy to use the business rates system to help support high street businesses in the context of their competition with online retailers. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.

The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.

Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

The Government is paying for lower tax rates for RHL through higher rates on the top one per cent of most expensive properties. Large distribution warehouses, such as those used by online giants, will pay around £100m more in 2026/27, with this going directly to lower bills for in-person retail.
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money from speeding fines has been paid into the Consolidated Fund in each of the past 10 years. \p James Murray: Individual public bodies are responsible for detailed record-keeping of any funds surrendered to the Consolidated Fund and are not required to share this data with HM Treasury.
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Helen Morgan:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money from the Consolidated Fund was spent on (a) road maintenance and (b) road policing in each of the past 10 years. \p James Murray: The Consolidated Fund is a central funding account and does not track spending by individual service area. Spending by departments is managed and recorded through departmental budgets (using set budgeting rules) and published in Annual Reports and Accounts.
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Alex Mayer:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the number and type of businesses that will be impacted by business rates relief changes announced in the Budget 2025 in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) the East of England and (c) the UK. \p Dan Tomlinson: The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in the manifesto.

The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible RHL properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties. Around 82,100 RHL properties in the East of England are expected to benefit from these lower tax rates.

The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since Covid. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

The Government is also supporting small businesses to grow by extending SBRR so that businesses opening second premises can retain their SBRR for three years, tripling the current allowance.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the level of taxation as a result of the Autumn Budget 2025 on the economy. \p Lucy Rigby: HM Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy. Forecasts, including assessments of the impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR publishes its forecast in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – November 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility.

The OBR does not expect a material impact on economy-wide growth as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the level of taxation set out in the Budget on savings, dividends and property income on small investors, retired people relying on investment income, and small business owners. \p Lucy Rigby: The Government is taking action to ensure income from assets are taxed more fairly. That is why we have increased taxes on property, dividend and savings income to narrow the gap between tax paid on work and tax paid on income from assets.

The majority of taxpayers, and the majority of pensioners, have no taxable savings, dividend or property income and will pay no more tax as a result of these changes.

Those with small amounts of income from assets will continue to be protected by tax-free allowances, and all income from savings and investments held in ISAs will continue to be entirely tax-free.
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Saqib Bhatti:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of rateable value increases and changes to business rates relief on a) vacancy rates on local high streets, b) jobs, c) businesses closures and d) price levels. \p Dan Tomlinson: The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest. The Valuation Office Agency has published statistics on changes in the rateable value of properties in the 2026 revaluation.

More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.

The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. The 40% RHL relief was forecast to cost £1.7 billion in 2025/26, less than the £2.1 billion we are spending on Transitional Relief and Supporting Small Business relief in 2026/27. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.

The new RHL tax rates will be 5p below the national tax rates.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what analysis her Department has carried out of the potential macro-economic effects (on investment, business growth, rental markets, and savings behaviour) of raising dividend, property and savings income tax rates by two percentage points as part of the 2025 Autumn Budget. \p Lucy Rigby: Economic forecasts, including assessments of the impact of policy decisions, are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR publishes its forecast in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The OBR’s latest EFO can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – November 2025 - Office for Budget Responsibility.

The OBR does not expect a material impact on economy-wide growth, investment, or savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the (a) number of savers who will exceed the new reduced annual ISA limit and (b) additional revenue from that measure. \p Lucy Rigby: The overall annual ISA limit has not changed and remains at £20,000. Individuals under 65s and subscribing £12,000 in a Cash ISA can still invest the remaining £8,000 in Stocks & Shares and/or Innovative Finance ISAs and up to £4,000 in a Lifetime ISA.

HMRC estimate that 1.3 million individuals aged under 65 subscribed over £12,000 into Cash ISAs based on the latest available data.

The exchequer impact for this measure, combined with other savings measures, has been published (Page 79) in the AB25 Budget policy costing document: Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations she has received from airport operators regarding the potential impact of business rates changes announced in the Budget on the competitiveness of UK airports. \p Dan Tomlinson: The government is committed to enabling investment so that airports can play their full role in the growth mission.

HM Treasury received budget submissions from several airports and AirportsUK. Both Ministers and officials have met with the sector and corresponded throughout the year on the impact of changes to rateable values as a result of the 2026 revaluation.

Properties seeing large bill increases as a result of the business rates revaluation - including airports - will benefit from a redesigned transitional relief scheme worth £3.2 billion over the next 3 years.

At Budget 2025, the government also published a Call for Evidence on Business Rates and Investment. It will explore the concerns that airports and a small number of other ratepayers have raised around the ‘Receipts & Expenditure’ valuation methodology and its impacts on long-term, high value investments. The government is seeking to address issues raised ahead of the 2029 revaluation, aiming to conclude this work in sufficient time before pre-list discussion commences.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in spirit duty on trends in levels of pub closures. \p Dan Tomlinson: Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.

At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to maintain its current real-terms value.

Using HMRC’s published ready reckoner, freezing alcohol duty rates when inflation is 3.66% would cost the Exchequer around £400m a year. This ready reckoner can be found here:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes-bulletin-january-2025#change-in-various-duties.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HMRC has made of the causes of customs delays affecting parcels entering the UK from the European Union during the period 1 November 2024 to 31 January 2025. \p Dan Tomlinson: HMRC understands the importance of consumers receiving their parcels on time and has robust procedures alongside Border Force to help maintain the flow.

HMRC have confirmed there were no significant system outages during the period requested but has not conducted an assessment of what factors may have negatively influenced clearance times during that period.

Whilst HMRC does have average customs clearance times for declarations made on the Customs Declaration Service, it is not able to identify parcels specifically from this data and does not hold data on the average customs clearance time for parcels imported by the UK’s designated postal operator, Royal Mail.
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Sarah Olney:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the difference in the projected changes in liabilities for (a) pubs and (b) distribution warehouses over the three-year revaluation period after transition. \p Dan Tomlinson: The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

Without this support, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in the total bills they pay next year. Because of the support we’ve put in, this falls to just 4%.

More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto. The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.

The RHL multipliers are being funded through a higher rate for high-value properties (those with a RV of £500,000 and above). These high-value properties cover the majority of distribution warehouses, including those used by the online giants. Distribution warehouses will pay around £100 million more in business rates in 2026/27, with this going directly to lower bills for in-person retail, including pubs.
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Jerome Mayhew:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of passengers who will pay more than £1,000 in Air Passenger Duty on a long-haul Premium Economy family flight by 2027. \p Dan Tomlinson: Air Passenger Duty is levied on the airline on a per passenger basis. The charge in respect of any individual passenger does not exceed £1,000 on a long haul flight in premium economy class.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to WPQ 93776, if she will provide a hyperlink to that information, as set out as correct practice in paragraph 234 of the Government's Guide To Parliamentary Work. \p Dan Tomlinson: Apologies. The draft 2026 Rating List valuations, and current 2023 List valuations, which can be filtered using the advanced search by special category code, can be viewed at: www.gov.uk/find-business-rates
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to improve decision making times at the Valuation Office Agency. \p Dan Tomlinson: The VOA is meeting the majority of its performance targets. In the areas where it isn’t, it has robust service recovery plans in place. These include moving staff to where there is the greatest customer demand and upskilling its workforce in a wider range of casework, to ensure greater flexibility. It continues to prioritise any cases where a customer is facing financial hardship.

The VOA reports monthly on performance to the HMRC Executive Committee and Board. The decision to move the VOA’s functions into HMRC next year will strengthen direct accountability to ministers.

Integration is being carefully managed by a joint HMRC and VOA team, with detailed transition plans in place and appropriate oversight from my department.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had discussions with banks on maintaining high street branches to 2030. \p Lucy Rigby: The Chancellor and Treasury Ministers regularly engage with banks on a range of issues, including access to banking services.

Banking is changing, with many customers benefiting from the convenience and flexibility of managing their finances remotely. However, Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to high streets and communities and is committed to championing sufficient access for customers. The financial services industry is committed to rolling out 350 banking hubs across the UK by the end of this Parliament. Over 240 hubs have been announced so far, and more than 190 are already open. Government is working closely with industry on this commitment.

While decisions on branch provision are commercial decisions for banks themselves, Financial Conduct Authority guidance requires firms to conduct a robust impact analysis. In the case of closures, firms must show they have considered customer needs and identified potential reasonable alternatives. The FCA also expects engagement with stakeholders at least 12 weeks before closure and firms must ensure that any replacement services are in place before a branch closes. These measures aim to ensure closures are implemented fairly and transparently.

As well as bank branches, alternative non-digital options to access everyday banking services include telephone banking and the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers of participating banks to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK.

Some banks also provide points of access through initiatives such as pop-up services in libraries and community centres, or mobile banking vans serving remote areas. The Government supports initiatives which give customers access to in-person banking, as well as digital access.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to further regulate business lending where (a) a private residence is used as security (b) personal guarantees are required as a condition of the loan. \p Lucy Rigby: The Government has set out its plans in this area in its small business strategy, ‘Backing Your Business’, published this summer, and in the Government’s reply to the Call for Evidence on SME Finance, published earlier this month.

As set out in the Government’s small business strategy, the Government is committed to working with lenders to ensure the appropriate use of personal guarantees. This includes the introduction of a mandatory Code of Conduct for accredited lenders that use the British Business Bank’s Growth Guarantee Scheme, to ensure that personal guarantees under the Scheme are used fairly and transparently.

The Government is also working with UK Finance to build on its existing lender commitments to use personal guarantees responsibly, and with the business finance community to help businesses access the right finance on the right terms, including where personal guarantees are involved.

More widely, personal guarantees can play a necessary role in business lending, where they may help enable SMEs to access lending that might otherwise not be advanced, or where the price of lending would deter SMEs from accessing finance. This includes cases where a business has limited or no trading history, nor assets for use as collateral to access debt finance. While personal guarantees may be called upon, this does not automatically result in enforcement action, and property repossessions linked to personal guarantees remain rare.

The Government will continue to keep the issues relating to personal guarantees under review and promote further transparency around their use.
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Alex Mayer:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when her Department plans to publish the consultation on the technical detail of the new small parcels regulatory arrangements. \p Dan Tomlinson: At Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced the removal of the low value imports relief and published a technical consultation covering the design and implementation of the new LVI customs arrangements.

You can read and respond to the government’s consultation here: Reforming the customs treatment of low value imports into the United Kingdom - GOV.UK
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Mr Louie French:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of business tax rises on physical activity levels. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government recognises the important contribution that sport and physical activity make to health and wellbeing in the UK.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties, including those in the hospitality sector as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.

The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, worth nearly £900 million per year and benefiting over 750,000 properties, including sports and physical activity centres with rateable values under £500k.

Additionally, businesses within the physical activity sector can continue to benefit from measures including the increase in the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and the Government remains committed to the small profits rate, under which companies with profits of £50,000 or less are subject to a 19 per cent rate. Marginal relief for companies with profits of between £50,000 and £250,000 means only around 10 per cent of actively trading companies pay the full main rate of 25 per cent. This means firms within the physical activity sector that meet these conditions will continue to face lower effective corporation tax rates.
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Nick Timothy:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has carried out an impact assessment on removing (a) racehorse training yards and (b) racecourses from the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure business rate relief scheme. \p Dan Tomlinson: The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000.

On 16 October 2025, the Government published legislation and accompanying guidance detailing the eligibility criteria for the new multipliers. To ensure the new tax rates are appropriately targeted, only properties that are wholly or mainly used for providing RHL activity (as defined in legislation) to visiting members of the public are eligible for the new multipliers.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2025 to WPQ 95612, whether the (a) new style and (b) old style State Pension payable in 2027 where both categories have a gross income of £13,000 as a result of the old style pension recipient having a small personal pension will be precluded from paying income tax. \p Torsten Bell: As I set out in my answer to WPQ 95612, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more details next year.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of water infrastructure. \p Emma Hardy: A record £104 billion of investment is planned for the water sector in the next investment cycle. This will provide the water supply and wastewater capacity to secure future water supplies, including nine new reservoirs and several large-scale water transfer schemes.
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Brian Mathew:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her department monitors the impact of highway runoff on rivers and lakes. \p Emma Hardy: The Environment Agency (EA) has a monitoring regime that sets out to identify pressures on rivers and lakes as well as estuaries and coasts and groundwaters. This involves monitoring (of water quality, chemicals and ecology) to determine reasons for not achieving good ecological or chemical status. This includes understanding the risk posed by the category ‘Urban and transport’, which road runoff is a key component of.

Monitoring undertaken is not designed to specifically monitor the impact of highway runoff on rivers and lakes. The EA is working with National Highways under the Department for Transport, to evolve its monitoring strategy that is to be focused on highways outfalls, where highway runoff enters watercourses.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues about the adequacy of government funding for the Environment Agency. \p Emma Hardy: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

The Department works closely with the Environment Agency (EA) at every level to closely monitor funding to ensure it can carry out its duties effectively and deliver for the public and the environment.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate the Department has made of the number of communities that remain without modern flood-defence infrastructure. \p Emma Hardy: The Environment Agency (EA)’s National Flood risk assessment data and national coastal erosion risk map provides the best evidence to inform our long-term risk assessment and the development of flood mitigation strategies to protect communities from flooding.

The EA maintains over 90,000 assets, which reduce the risk of flooding to 2.6 million properties in England.

The EA is delivering the Government’s flood and coastal risk management (FCRM) Investment Programme of flood and coastal defences, investing £2.65 billion over 2024/5 and 2025/6 with a target of 52,000 properties better protected.

A new 3-year £4.2 billion FCRM Investment Programme will start in April 2026, progressing projects already in construction and new projects that are either currently in development or still to be developed.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of measures to reduce agricultural ammonia emissions. \p Emma Hardy: The latest UK projections of air pollutants were published in the informative inventory report 2025 in March this year.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve resilience to flooding in high-risk communities. \p Emma Hardy: This Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 – the largest flood programme in history – a record investment that’s projected to better protect nearly 900,000 properties. We are already making a difference. We delivered 151 schemes in our first year in Government and £108 million was reprioritised into urgent flood and coastal defence maintenance to halt the decline of flood asset condition following years of under-investment.

Following consultation in October, the Government announced major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy. The new funding policy will optimise funding between building new flood projects and maintaining existing defences and will ensure that deprived communities continue to receive vital investment.

Flood Re is a UK-wide flood re-insurance scheme with the purpose to provide reinsurance in such a way as to promote affordability and availability of insurance for UK households at high flood risk. It also aims to manage, over the period of operation of the scheme, the transition to risk-reflective pricing of flood insurance for household premises.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has received from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain on amending the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010. \p Dame Angela Eagle: The Department has not had any recent discussions with, or representations from, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain about amending the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support younger people into agricultural careers in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Young farmers are essential to the long-term resilience of UK agriculture and DEFRA works closely with the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs, alongside other industry bodies, to understand the challenges facing new entrants and how best to support them. During my recent visit to Harper Adams University, we explored how this partnership approach can help equip the next generation with the skills and opportunities they need.

Through our agricultural reform programme, we are investing £2.7 billion a year in the sector. This includes measures designed to improve business resilience, productivity and skills development, all of which help make agriculture a more accessible and attractive career option for young people, including those in Surrey and Surrey Heath.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_244

Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many consignments of agri-food products were exported from the UK to the European Union in each (a) week, (b) month and (c) year since July 2024. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Data on the number of export health certificates issued for Great Britain to EU exports is available at: Export Health Certificates (Live Animals and Animal Product Origins) Issued between Great Britain and European Union by APHA - data.gov.uk. This data includes the exports of live animals and the products of animal origin.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_245

Alex Mayer:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to adapt existing farming subsidy schemes to incentivise the (a) housing of (i) pigs and (ii) poultry in woodland and (b) the planting of woodland in permanent pasture to support (A) animal welfare, (B) climate and (C) biodiversity objectives. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Our in-field agroforestry offers under the Environmental Land Management schemes include support for establishing and maintaining silvopastoral systems, where trees are planted in pasture to realise their multiple benefits such as enhanced animal welfare and supporting biodiversity. Under Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, land managers can plant and maintain in-field agroforestry systems up to an average of 400 trees her hectare, as well as create, manage and restore Wood Pasture and Parkland systems. Land managers can be supported to design agroforestry in a way that meets their objectives through the Agroforestry Plan capital item.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_246

James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure food and drink sold in the UK is labelled according to RSPCA standards. \p Dame Angela Eagle: We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The RSPCA Assured scheme is an animal welfare assurance initiative which sets standards which go beyond the UK’s legal baseline. It is independent from Government.

While food businesses can choose whether to adopt RSPCA Assured standards and apply this label to their products, an underpinning rule of existing legislation is that food information, whether it be mandatory or is provided voluntarily, must not mislead.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_247

Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to give the public a right of responsible access to all rivers in England. \p Emma Hardy: The Government recognises the importance of access to nature for people’s health and well-being. There is already public access to regulated rivers owned and managed by navigation authorities, available through their licensing regimes. We are considering our approach to improving access to unregulated rivers and are committed to working with stakeholders as this develops.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_248

James Cartlidge:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the use of cages and other confinement systems for farmed animals. \p Dame Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 29 April 2025 to the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole, PQ UIN 47556.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_249

Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the UK’s opening position at bilateral and trilateral negotiations for the years 2023 and 2024. \p Dame Angela Eagle: Each year the UK negotiates with other coastal States to set fishing opportunities, informed by the best available scientific advice. Due to the recurring nature of these negotiations, it is not appropriate to publicly disclose the UK’s opening positions. The Government’s negotiations with the EU, and with the EU and Norway have both concluded and details of the outcomes are available on gov.uk.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_250

Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she will announce the decisions on the measures for the Stage 3 offshore MPAs. \p Emma Hardy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ely and East Cambridgeshire on 13 November 2025, PQ 88509.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

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Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of how many farms in Somerset and Gloucestershire use farrowing crates in pig production. \p Dame Angela Eagle: No such estimate has been made for Somerset and Gloucestershire, but 50% of the national sow breeding herd give birth freely on outdoor units, with no option for confinement. Of the 50% of breeding sows kept indoors, approximately 42% are confined in farrowing crates from around five days before they are due to give birth, until the piglets are weaned at approximately 28 days of age.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

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Dr Roz Savage:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the HPMAs will be implemented. \p Emma Hardy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Rotherham, Sarah Champion, on 3 December 2025, PQ UIN 94184.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_253

Dan Norris:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress her Department has made on phasing out the use of farrowing crates in pig production. \p Dame Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 2 April 2025 to the hon. Member for Birmingham Northfield, PQ UIN 41698.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_254

Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of deforestation regulations under the Environment Act 2021 on smallholder farmers; and what steps the Government is taking to ensure that those farmers are not disproportionately excluded from UK supply chains, including through the (a) provision of support, (b) training and (c) more equitable terms by UK companies and the Government. \p Mary Creagh: The Government recognises the need to prevent UK consumption of forest-risk commodities from driving deforestation while minimising impacts on low-income smallholder farmers in the Global South.

We acknowledge their vital role in producing essential commodities and safeguarding forests. Through programmes such as the Official Development Assistance-funded Investment in Forests and Sustainable Land Use and the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade Dialogue, we support sustainable practices, new business models, and international collaboration to reduce exclusion risks.

We remain committed to working with partners globally to build climate-resilient, nature-positive communities and will set out our approach to addressing forest-risk commodities in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_255

Chris Hinchliff:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she has plans to implement the RSPB's Action Plan for Curlew published April 2025. \p Dame Angela Eagle: This Government is committed to recovering our threatened native species, such as curlew, and we welcome the UK Curlew Action Plan which sets out actions which will drive recovery of the species in the UK. Defra officials are carefully considering the Plan’s proposals for action across the six key areas identified and, with Natural England (NE) colleagues, we will continue to engage with the Curlew Recovery Partnership to understand how we can support delivery of the Plan.

We are however, already taking action to support recovery of this species. Agri-environment schemes are providing funding to deliver habitat for wading birds such as curlew. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and the Sustainable Farming Incentive include actions for the management of key habitats used by curlew, including wet grasslands, hay meadows and moorlands. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier also pays for additional support for threatened species that can fund tailored actions to benefit curlews such as later cutting dates in silage fields. In addition, many of the Landscape Recovery projects currently in development aim to implement targeted actions to support curlews.

Furthermore, through their Species Recovery Programme, NE have funded projects to identify causes of decline and are trialling conservation measures to benefit curlew.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is co-ordinating the African Eurasian Waterbird Agreement’s (AEWA) International Working Group for Curlew. The group aims to deliver AEWA’s International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Eurasian Curlew, and to co-ordinate action across the flyway to restore the conservation status of the curlew.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_256

Mr Angus MacDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of demographic decline in rural areas on long-term climate adaptation needs for remote communities. \p Emma Hardy: Defra publishes statistics on rural population trends in The Statistical Digest for Rural England.

Defra prepares a Climate Change Risk Assessment every five years which considers the key risks that relate to both rural and urban areas. It’s followed by a National Adaptation Programme (NAP), setting out actions by relevant government departments to address the risks identified in the latest risk assessment. The NAP is focussed on England with the exception of issues that are reserved and relate to the UK more broadly like international climate risks.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-12-11)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-12-11 conversation_257

Samantha Niblett:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that farmers are protected from the monopsony sugar beet processor. \p Dame Angela Eagle: The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers and their vital contribution to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.

We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market.   There is a well-established process in place to agree the domestic sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties.

While this process has been effective over many years, we continue to keep it and the regulatory framework under review.