Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of water infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to include saltmarshes in the UK's greenhouse gas inventory.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is actively exploring the role of marine nature-based solutions, such as seagrass and saltmarsh restoration, to deliver both carbon sequestration and broader benefits.
Defra is working in partnership with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Devolved Governments – through the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership – to address evidence gaps that currently prevent the inclusion of saltmarsh in the Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Defra Group have funded five flux towers to provide important carbon emissions data for saltmarsh habitats. Alongside investment to deliver a roadmap setting out the steps needed for potential inclusion of saltmarsh in the Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Other marine habitats will be kept in consideration as the evidence base around them develops.
Reflecting this ongoing work, saltmarsh was included within Defra’s Net Zero pathway for Carbon Budgets 4–6 as an early-stage policy.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain on amending the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010 to include dog nose prints as an means of identifying racing greyhounds.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
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.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.