Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Government has introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains associated with agricultural commodities. This is in recognition that, globally, a significant proportion of deforestation is illegal - close to 90% in some of the world's most important forests. The due diligence legislation complements the UK Timber Regulations, which prohibit the placing of illegally harvested timber and timber products on the UK market and require those first placing such products on the UK market to exercise due diligence.

Basing our approach on compliance with the local laws of producer countries, of which the UK is one, recognises the primacy of national and sub-national Governments' decisions in determining the management of their natural resources. Through the UK's aid programmes we work in partnership with producer countries to reinforce and strengthen their efforts to protect their ecosystems, which is fundamental to enhancing forest protection in the long term. The legislation also contains a provision requiring the Secretary of State to conduct a review of the law’s effectiveness every two years once it comes into force, and set out any steps they intend to take as a result, ensuring we will take action if we do not see progress.

These regulations are part of a wider package of measures being adopted by the UK in our leading role working with partners globally to halt and reverse forest loss.

On human rights, the UK Government has consistently supported the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on business and human rights, which are widely regarded as the authoritative international framework to steer practical action by Governments and businesses worldwide on this important and pressing agenda. Implementation of the UNGPs will support access to justice and remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuses, wherever these occur, and encourage businesses to adopt due diligence approaches to respecting human rights.

The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UNGPs. In response to the Guidelines, the UK was the first State to produce a National Action Plan. The UK is also the first country in the world to require businesses to report on the steps they have taken to tackle modern slavery in their operations and global supply chains, and we have announced measures to strengthen the transparency in supply chains legislation in the Modern Slavery Act.

We have provided a substantial sum of £132 million from the Clean Air Fund to Greater Manchester authorities to help businesses and individuals upgrade to compliant vehicles. This is on top of providing £36 million to enable the implementation of the Clean Air Zone.

The HGV support scheme has recently opened for applications. Schemes for other vehicle types affected are due to launch later in the year. It is for Greater Manchester authorities to administer and distribute the funds according to the agreed business plan.

The Defra Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) and UK Urban NO2 Network (UUNN) have a combined 106 monitoring sites in Greater Manchester. We also model annual mean concentrations of air pollutants on urban major roads across the UK. However, we do not assess air pollution at motorway junctions because the Air Quality Standards Regulations stipulate that air quality should not be assessed in microenvironments, including within 25m of a junction.

There are locally managed sites in Greater Manchester, including sites monitoring urban traffic concentrations of particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, located on 'Trafford A56' and 'Tameside A635 Manchester Road'.

The UK Air website provides data from monitoring sites within Greater Manchester, including locally managed sites and sites managed by Defra. This data is accessible through the following URL:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/interactive-map?network=nondefraaqmon

The Government is delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare). One of the ways we wish to improve the welfare of farm animals is strengthening protections against animal confinement. We are actively exploring options to phase out the use of cages in farming, including the use of enriched cages for laying hens, farrowing crates for pigs and cages for breeding pheasants and partridges. Ending the use of cages would have a significant impact on some sectors of the farming industry and so we would need to undergo a public consultation.

For pets, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations, introduced in 2018, require businesses that carry out activities involving animals to obtain a valid licence from their local authority. Licences must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences. The 2018 Regulations are supported by statutory guidance which provides specific information about the conditions for each activity. This includes guidance on the size of cages that should be sold in the course of selling animals as pets:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animal-activities-licensing-guidance-for-local-authorities

Current requirements on how farmed livestock should be kept, including detailed provisions on accommodation, are set down in The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 with further guidance provided in Defra’s species-specific farm animal welfare codes.

For gamebirds, the Statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes provides keepers with guidance on how to meet the welfare needs of their gamebirds as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It recommends that barren cages for breeding pheasants and small barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used and that any system should be appropriately enriched.

The Government is delivering a series of ambitious reforms, as outlined in the Action Plan for Animal Welfare (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/action-plan-for-animal-welfare). One of the ways we wish to improve the welfare of farm animals is strengthening protections against animal confinement. We are actively exploring options to phase out the use of cages in farming, including the use of enriched cages for laying hens, farrowing crates for pigs and cages for breeding pheasants and partridges. Ending the use of cages would have a significant impact on some sectors of the farming industry and so we would need to undergo a public consultation.

For pets, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations, introduced in 2018, require businesses that carry out activities involving animals to obtain a valid licence from their local authority. Licences must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse or revoke licences. The 2018 Regulations are supported by statutory guidance which provides specific information about the conditions for each activity. This includes guidance on the size of cages that should be sold in the course of selling animals as pets:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/animal-activities-licensing-guidance-for-local-authorities

Current requirements on how farmed livestock should be kept, including detailed provisions on accommodation, are set down in The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 with further guidance provided in Defra’s species-specific farm animal welfare codes.

For gamebirds, the Statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes provides keepers with guidance on how to meet the welfare needs of their gamebirds as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It recommends that barren cages for breeding pheasants and small barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used and that any system should be appropriately enriched.

We are taking action to reduce single use plastic packaging for all products in supermarkets, with whom we meet regularly.

We are planning to introduce Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging, which will place responsibility on producers for the full cost of managing their packaging waste, powerfully incentivising them to cut waste wherever possible. The Government’s Plastic Packaging Tax comes in from April and will see a charge of £200 per tonne on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content, helping to support the use of increasingly sustainable packaging.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has published guidance on the sale of loose and prepacked foods and we continue to explore opportunities to provide the best environmental outcome, reduce household food waste and the provision of unnecessary single-use plastic packaging.

Natural England’s review of historical SSSI consents relating to gamebird releasing on sites designated as Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2022.

Natural England’s SSSI consenting regime provided by section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 only extends to land which is designated under this provision; it does not extend to the adjacent 500-metre buffer zone around the site.

Defra provided Natural England with additional funding in 2021 to support their review of historical SSSI consents relating to gamebird releasing on sites designated as Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation.

Natural England’s SSSI consenting regime provided by section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 only extends to land which is designated under this provision; it does not extend to the adjacent 500-metre buffer zone around the site.

Natural England’s review of historical SSSI consents relating to Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation is ongoing.

Natural England’s SSSI consenting regime provided by section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 only extends to land which is designated under this provision; it does not extend to the adjacent 500-metre buffer zone around the site.

Natural England are in the process of reviewing the historical SSSI consents issued under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, that relate to Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation.

Natural England’s SSSI consenting regime provided by section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 only extends to land which is designated under this provision; it does not extend to the adjacent 500-metre buffer zone around the site.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency is unable to provide the data requested for greyhounds as the breed of dog is not recorded on the system for commercial and non-commercial import of dogs from the Republic of Ireland to the UK.

Pay awards in the Environment Agency are established within the annually published pay guidance for the Civil Service. Information on staff roles and salaries is published in accordance with requirements for Civil Service departments and non-departmental public bodies: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/7c590663-2e85-4606-a60b-ab1bd103edcf/organogram-of-staff-roles-salaries.

Defra supports local authorities’ tree planting activity through access to several of the Nature for Climate Fund Grant schemes, such as the Local Authorities Treescape Fund (LATF) and the Urban Tree Challenge Fund (UTCF).

The £4.4 million LATF is available for local authorities to plant and encourage natural regeneration of trees to restore neglected green spaces in their communities. This fund is aimed at establishing more trees in locations outside of woodlands including riverbanks, hedgerows, parklands, urban areas, beside roads and footpaths, in copses and shelterbelts, including neglected, disused and vacant community spaces.

The UTCF will provide up to £6 million of funding over the next two years for planting around 44,000 large trees in towns and cities. This fund is targeted at the managers of urban land with a broad applicant base, including local authorities.

The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act.

Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law, and enforcement is an operational matter for the police.

The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law and enforcement is an operational matter for the police.

The Defra press office did not receive any such enquiries from journalists or media organisations in December 2021.

Great Britain's (GB) plant health regime is risk-based, and the history of compliance of specific trades (where the ‘trade’ is the combination of a specific commodity from a specific origin), is a significant factor in determining biosecurity risk. Consequently, trades with a proven track record of compliance and meeting prescribed eligibility criteria may be subject to a reduced frequency and/or intensity of checks. While the biosecurity risk of imported goods is largely trade based, there are areas where trader considerations may also play a role. For example, as the phased introduction of EU-GB plant health import controls is completed in 2022, Defra is enabling the performance of plant health controls away from the border, including through increased uptake in the use of designated plant health Control Points. Eligibility criteria to be designated as a Control Point include elements consistent with a trusted trader model.

Defra officials are actively exploring with stakeholders other options for minimising the regulatory burden on individual traders in a way which maintains the high biosecurity standards the United Kingdom enjoys.

The requested data is set out in the attached table.

The department has been unable to provide data for all years requested, due to changes in the management of the Corporate Estate, changes of categorisation of usage and method of storage over the requested period.

The square meter areas provided are Net Internal Areas.

The UK Government works with the devolved administrations to seek a coordinated response wherever possible to control disease. In November, the Chief Veterinary Officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland worked together to bring in an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone across Great Britain on 3 November 2021, and in Northern Ireland on 17 November 2021, with additional housing measures coming into force across the UK on 29 November 2021.

All four administrations are an integral part of the UK-wide decision-making processes for animal disease outbreaks. All attend the Defra Group’s National Disease Control Centre meetings, are members of the Animal Disease Policy Group and participate in daily stocktakes to review on-going disease control strategy. Decisions on disease control measures, made through these groups, are based on risk assessments containing the latest scientific and ornithological evidence and veterinary advice.

With regard to the recent case of bird-to-human transmission, it is inappropriate for us to comment on an individual’s health. However, the UK Health Security Agency has said that avian influenza is primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low.

We are designing the schemes to be accessible to as many farmers and land managers as possible, including tenant farmers.

As part of our designing in partnership process, we are engaging with a wide range of farmers and land managers to ensure that the future schemes are designed in a way that works for all, to maximise the delivery of environmental outcomes.

We have designed new flexibilities into the Sustainable Farming Incentive, in close consultation with farming organisations, including the Tenant Farmers Association, to ensure the scheme is accessible to tenant farmers. For instance, tenant farmers will be able to enter the scheme without proving they have landlord permission (although they will be responsible for checking their tenancy agreements to ensure they can participate in the scheme before applying).

For the early rollout of the scheme in 2022, scheme agreements will be three years (compared with a minimum of five years in Countryside Stewardship) and there will be annual flexibility to add standards, land, and levels of ambition into agreements.

In the first year, tenants with only two years left on their tenancy will be able to enter into the scheme. We will continue working with stakeholder groups representing tenants on the design of the three environmental land management schemes.

The testing of exempt appliances for use in Smoke Control Areas is carried out by an external contractor. Defra requires regular progress reports and reviews the mechanism and monitors the contractor’s performance to ensure standards are maintained.

We will consider the accessibility of this information as part of our review of Defra’s UK-AIR website.

The UK Air website provides data from monitoring sites within the Greater Manchester region, including locally managed sites and sites managed by DEFRA. This data is accessible through the data selector tool, found through the following URL:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/interactive-map?network=nondefraaqmon

An interactive map of monitoring sites in the UK provides information on all the monitoring sites in the Greater Manchester region, and can be accessed through the following URL:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/datawarehouse

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) submit to Defra a single Annual Status Report via The Greater Manchester Air Quality Working Group, led by Transport for Greater Manchester, representing the ten authorities that constitute the GMCA – Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan. The Annual Status Report submitted in 2021 (covering 2020) can be viewed on the GMCA website via the URL below.

https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/download/4166/air_quality_reports

This report includes the air quality monitoring data for 2020. Data for 2021 will be submitted as part of this years’ Annual Status Report expected later this year.

Defra recognises how central innovation and technology are to boosting productivity, enhancing the environment and feeding a growing global population. The Government is making significant investment to unlock innovation and translate our world leading research into practical, farmer-led solutions that improve productivity, environmental sustainability and resilience, and which move towards net zero emission farming systems.

We have several funding programmes open to industry as well as our own farming and food science research. These funding streams address key areas such as soil systems and land management, regenerative agriculture, sustainable feed and pest management, automation, alternative proteins, and precision farming.

The Government’s £90 million investment in the 'Transforming Food Production' (TFP) challenge, launched by UK Research and Innovation in 2018, is already supporting ground-breaking research and development to enable farmers and growers to harness the latest technology to produce high quality food, increase their productivity and move towards net zero emission farming systems by 2040.

On the back of this programme’s success, Defra launched a £14.5 million collaborative agricultural R&D competition called 'Farming Innovation Pathways' in spring 2021, targeting existing and new farm focused innovation, which will be delivered through the TFP initiative.

In October 2021, Defra launched the first £17.5 million share of funding in its ambitious new Farming Innovation Programme – as part of the proposed measures to stimulate innovation and boost sustainable productivity in England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors as we move away from the EU system of farming subsidy payments. This Programme will enable more farmers, growers, and agri-food businesses to become involved in collaborative agricultural and horticultural R&D, and will enhance knowledge exchange and adoption of innovation by farmers and growers to ensure innovation can make a real difference to the sectors. It will comprise three separate funds that will pull through innovation in different areas, from small farmer-led innovative research projects to larger industrial R&D projects that can transform the sector.

On January 19 we will launch the Improving Farm Productivity theme of the Farming Investment Fund, part of the £27 million grant scheme fund launched last November. Farmers and growers in England will be able to apply for grants to invest in cutting edge robotic and automation technology to boost productivity. Farmers will benefit from grants ranging from £35,000 to £500,000 to invest in innovative equipment including state of the art autonomous driverless tractors, and cutting-edge robots that harvest, weed and spray crops and voluntary robotic milking systems.

Defra is also engaged with the £47.5 million UK Research and Innovation led Strategic Priorities Fund in Food Systems, which is addressing planetary and health challenges to transform the food system.

Emissions of key air pollutants are compiled and reported by Defra on an annual basis through the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory at https://naei.beis.gov.uk/data. Emissions data for 2020 will be published on 15 February 2022.

Environmental Land Management schemes are being designed to contribute to a suite of measurable objectives to support the delivery of government priorities, including the targets which are due to be set under the Environment Act. We will be carrying out a programme of annual monitoring across a sample of agreements to ensure that actions are delivering both value for money and the intended outcomes. This monitoring will begin during the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot in 2022.

The methods for gathering our evidence base will combine established data collection techniques, including expert led farm/field surveys, with increased use of technology, including earth observation and remote sensing where appropriate. This will enable us to establish baselines and environmental change across a range of indicators in line with scheme objectives. Indicators will encompass a number of different spatial and temporal scales to capture the changes that occur as a result of the schemes. Some indicators will focus on changes at an action level where others will look at impacts across landscapes. Indicators for the Environmental Land Management Programme are aligned with the 25 Year Environment Plan indicators which monitor overall environmental delivery against the government’s strategic goals for environmental improvement.

We are also working closely with national monitoring programmes such as Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment to make use of existing and planned widescale environmental data collection. Data collection outside of agreements will provide valuable counterfactual information to enable us to establish changes that have resulted from scheme activities.

Alongside the national scale monitoring of schemes and environmental delivery, we will be continuing a programme of bespoke research and development projects as part of the Agri-environment Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation Programme. This long running programme assesses specific aspects of environmental delivery and will feed into policy design and improvement. As environmental outcomes can take longer to deliver, we will also be utilising modelling approaches to supplement data collection and provide additional insights.

Protein-based crops, such as pulses and legumes, are important to UK farming. They contribute to farm profitability, the food supply chain, and provide sustainable, low carbon, protein in human diets and animal feed. They contribute positively to crop diversification and insect recovery and pollination.

A focus on R&D and innovation, including Defra’s recently launched Farming Innovation Programme will help drive innovation including in pulses, legumes and other crops, to improve productivity and prosperity across sectors - enabling more farmers, growers and agri-food businesses to become involved in and benefit from agricultural research and development. Further R&D funding opportunities in this Programme are due to launch in spring 2022.

Defra continues to help our food producers and farmers capitalise on the global demand for British food and drink. The Government is expanding our agri-food and drink attaché network to give additional support on the ground, and we are establishing a new Food and Drink Export Council to deliver a dynamic, future-facing strategy for the sector across the whole of the UK. The GREAT campaign has recently undertaken research into the perceptions, awareness and purchase intent of UK food and drink in key international markets - including specific questioning on plant-based foods - to help plan future promotional and export-based activity.

Protein-based crops, such as pulses and legumes, are important to UK farming. They contribute to farm profitability, the food supply chain, and provide sustainable, low carbon, protein in human diets and animal feed. They contribute positively to crop diversification and insect recovery and pollination.

A focus on R&D and innovation, including Defra’s recently launched Farming Innovation Programme will help drive innovation including in pulses, legumes and other crops, to improve productivity and prosperity across sectors - enabling more farmers, growers and agri-food businesses to become involved in and benefit from agricultural research and development. Further R&D funding opportunities in this Programme are due to launch in Spring 2022.

Defra continues to help our food producers and farmers capitalise on the global demand for British food and drink. The Government is expanding our agri-food and drink attaché network to give additional support on the ground, and we are establishing a new Food and Drink Export Council to deliver a dynamic, future-facing strategy for the sector across the whole of the UK. The GREAT campaign has recently undertaken research into the perceptions, awareness and purchase intent of UK food and drink in key international markets - including specific questioning on plant-based foods - to help plan future promotional and export-based activity.

Protein-based crops, such as pulses and legumes, are important to UK farming. They contribute to farm profitability, the food supply chain, and provide sustainable, low carbon, protein in human diets and animal feed. They contribute positively to crop diversification and insect recovery and pollination.

A focus on R&D and innovation, including Defra’s recently launched Farming Innovation Programme will help drive innovation including in pulses, legumes and other crops, to improve productivity and prosperity across sectors - enabling more farmers, growers and agri-food businesses to become involved in and benefit from agricultural research and development. Further R&D funding opportunities in this Programme are due to launch in Spring 2022.

Defra continues to help our food producers and farmers capitalise on the global demand for British food and drink. The Government is expanding our agri-food and drink attaché network to give additional support on the ground, and we are establishing a new Food and Drink Export Council to deliver a dynamic, future-facing strategy for the sector across the whole of the UK. The GREAT campaign has recently undertaken research into the perceptions, awareness and purchase intent of UK food and drink in key international markets - including specific questioning on plant-based foods - to help plan future promotional and export-based activity.

We have not made a central assessment of the compliance of staff working from home against the Working Time Regulations (WTR) 1998. While we do not centrally monitor or hold records of employees’ working time (whether working from home, a Defra workplace or other location), we do ask managers and employees to ensure compliance and keep local records in accordance with WTR 1998.

Environmental Land Management scheme impacts on land use is being assessed through our modelling of expected scheme uptake and corresponding environmental actions on specific land types. Through our modelling we are mapping out expected land use changes resulting from scheme actions to estimate the environmental impacts, including on secondary impacts such as expanded access to green spaces / blue spaces for recreation. Impacts on food production and productivity will be modelled in a similar way, using expected uptake and scheme actions, informed by agricultural data, expert judgement, and external research to model changes in agricultural practices and impacts on crops grown and yields, for example.

A cross-Government ministerial group has been set up to monitor supply chains, identify critical sectors and consider necessary Government action. As part of this work and over the longer term, the Government is examining the options for the market to improve resilience in the provision of essential supplies such as CO2.

In the short term, the CO2 industry has come to an agreement to ensure UK businesses have access to a sustainable supply of CO2. This deal runs until the end of January. The parties to the agreement must now work together to negotiate a further market solution. This will ensure supplies to UK businesses.

Our overriding priority is to protect consumers and deliver value for money for the taxpayer. The agreement between the CO2 industry and CF Fertilisers confirms that the company’s plant in Teesside will continue to operate. The full press notice on this agreement can be seen here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/agreement-reached-to-ensure-supplies-of-co2-to-businesses. In September 2021, the Government provided limited financial support for CF Fertilisers’ operating costs for three weeks.

We are already taking steps to reduce emissions from domestic burning. In 2020, we introduced the Domestic Solid Fuels Regulations, which will phase out of the sale of the most polluting domestic solid fuels. As of January 2022, all stoves placed on the market in the UK must be Eco-design compliant.

We have commissioned a £1.6 million research project to systematically estimate the emissions associated with different solids fuels and appliances. We are commissioning an evaluation of the impact of the Domestic Solid Fuels Regulations 2020 and updating our understanding of trends in domestic burning practices, including within smoke control areas.

Additionally, the Government is expanding the PM_2.5 monitoring network to enhance measurement of this pollutant nationally.

We are already taking steps to reduce emissions from domestic burning. In 2020, we introduced the Domestic Solid Fuels Regulations, which will phase out of the sale of the most polluting domestic solid fuels. As of January 2022, all stoves placed on the market in the UK must be Eco-design compliant.

We have commissioned a £1.6 million research project to systematically estimate the emissions associated with different solids fuels and appliances. We are commissioning an evaluation of the impact of the Domestic Solid Fuels Regulations 2020 and updating our understanding of trends in domestic burning practices, including within smoke control areas.

Additionally, the Government is expanding the PM_2.5 monitoring network to enhance measurement of this pollutant nationally.

We are already taking steps to reduce emissions from domestic burning. In 2020, we introduced the Domestic Solid Fuels Regulations, which will phase out of the sale of the most polluting domestic solid fuels. As of January 2022, all stoves placed on the market in the UK must be Eco-design compliant.

We have commissioned a £1.6 million research project to systematically estimate the emissions associated with different solids fuels and appliances. We are commissioning an evaluation of the impact of the Domestic Solid Fuels Regulations 2020 and updating our understanding of trends in domestic burning practices, including within smoke control areas.

Additionally, the Government is expanding the PM_2.5 monitoring network to enhance measurement of this pollutant nationally.

The Emissions Factors for Domestic Solid Fuels research and measurement programme will begin to deliver results by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.

We have commissioned a £1.6 million research project to systematically estimate the emissions, including black carbon, associated with different solids fuels, and appliances, used in the UK.

We recognise the need to take action to reduce the impacts of air pollution on health and to particularly focus action on PM_2.5 - the pollutant of most significant harm to health.

Alongside setting a new concentration target, a new population exposure reduction will help prioritise action that is most beneficial for public health and drive continuous improvement, even where concentration targets have already been met. We will be launching a consultation on the new targets early this year.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has produced guidance for local authorities to tackle the problems of contamination in recycling, which can be found here:

wrap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-05/WRAP-Tackling-contamination-dry-recycling-May2021.pdf.

WRAP also produces the Recycling Tracker which is the largest and longest running survey on recycling attitudes, values, and behaviours. The surveys can be found at this link:

https://wrap.org.uk/resources/report/recycling-tracker-report-2020-behaviours-attitudes-and-awareness-around-recycling.

The Government wants to see the recycling of plastic film increased and plastic films included into the plastic recyclable waste stream for consistent collections. We have worked with stakeholders across the plastic packaging value chain to gather evidence on the issues related to introducing plastic films into kerbside collections, including food contamination.

In our 2021 consultation on 'Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England,’ we sought views on best practice around the separate collection of plastic films, to include guidance on this recognising that ideally plastic films would be segregated from other recyclable materials within the plastics waste stream to facilitate easier sorting and reduce contamination. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation and gathering further evidence around issues relating to material quality, sorting, reprocessing and contamination to include in best practice guidance.

Defra will provide an official Government response to the consultation on reducing ammonia emissions from solid urea fertilisers early this year.

We are preparing to launch a public consultation on proposed targets for reduction of PM_2.5 early this year. Following the consultation, we will publish a Government response and then set the air quality targets in secondary legislation by 31 October 2022.

At this stage, we have not made such an assessment as part of developing guidelines for the UK.

We have not made an assessment of this certification standard, which has a much wider remit than air pollution and wood burning stoves.

Last year the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) legislation was brought into UK law, retaining the fundamental approach and key principles of EU REACH and ensuring a high level of protection of human health and the environment.

Within UK REACH, the Candidate List is a list of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) that can be prioritised for inclusion on the Authorisation List. Once a substance is added to the Authorisation List, it may not be used after the specified ‘sunset date’ unless the Secretary of State has granted a business-specific authorisation for that use.

The substances on the EU REACH candidate list were automatically carried forward to UK REACH. In future, substances will be added to the list on the basis of the best UK scientific advice, taking into account our own risk assessments.

Defra, the Welsh and Scottish governments have agreed an interim approach to adding new SVHCs to the list (published on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-reach-approach-to-including-substances-of-very-high-concern-on-the-candidate-list). This is based on expert advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA), as well as feedback from a range of stakeholders.

We believe that focusing the Candidate List on identifying substances that are genuine candidates for authorisation – the statutory purpose of the list – will more effectively enable substitution away from the most hazardous substances. The regulatory pressure from inclusion on the Candidate List can be diluted if there is little realistic chance of added substances being made subject to authorisation.

As part of our approach, HSE and EA will conduct analysis to identify the most effective regulatory action to manage the risks from a chemical. When substances are on the incorrect regulatory pathway it can lead to unintended consequences such as regrettable substitution, where a hazardous substance is replaced by a substance with similar hazards; this can then increase the time taken to effectively control the risks. Both the HSE and EA are well placed to act as a strong and effective regulator to operate UK REACH. Both organisations have substantial expertise having worked on some of the most complex dossiers under EU REACH.

This approach makes no practical change to helpful consumer information.