Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
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 ensure hunting laws are applied.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The enforcement of the Hunting Act is an operational matter for the police. This is in line with their duties to keep the peace, protect communities and prevent the commission of offences, working within the provisions of the legal framework set by Parliament.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's press notice entitled Nation to benefit from two new national forests backed by £1 billion investment in tree planting, published on 5 November 2025, what her planned timetable is for planting trees.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We intend to announce further details on the planned timetable for the OxCam corridor national forest in due course. Details of the competition for the third new national forest will also be published in due course.
Asked by: Andy MacNae (Labour - Rossendale and Darwen)
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 potential merits of opening paths on disused railway lines to increase public access to nature.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The management and maintenance of public rights of way (RoW), including keeping them free from obstructions, are the responsibility of local highway authorities. These authorities are best placed to understand local priorities and allocate funding for rights of way activities accordingly.
Local authorities are required to maintain a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP), which sets out how they intend to improve the rights of way network in their area for all users. These plans include assessments of the condition of the network and are typically available on the authority’s website.
Where disused railway lines exist within a local authority’s catchment area, it is for the authority to consider whether these can be integrated into the existing rights of way network. Decisions regarding such integration rest with the local highway authority, not central Government.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Nation to benefit from two new national forests backed by £1 billion investment in tree planting, published on 5 November 2025, what proportion of trees planted will be native species.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The design of the new forests will be led by delivery partners on the ground, so exact species mix is not known at this time. The woodlands created will be designed for multiple functions including recreation, flood management, timber production and wildlife habitat – the species will be selected to reflect these functions will differ from site to site.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reducing the maximum noise level for consumer fireworks from 120 to 90 decibels on the welfare of (a) horses and (b) other animals.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is continuing to engage with animal welfare stakeholders, businesses, consumer groups and charities on the impacts of fireworks, to inform any future action.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 potential merits of commissioning research into the impact of firework noise on animal welfare.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is continuing to engage with animal welfare stakeholders, businesses, consumer groups and charities on the impacts of fireworks, to inform any future action.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to help limit the impact of fireworks on (a) pets, (b) livestock and (c) other animals.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is continuing to engage with animal welfare stakeholders, businesses, consumer groups and charities on the impacts of fireworks, to inform any future action.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what coordination processes are in place between (a) the Rural Payments Agency, (b) the Animal and Plant Health Agency and (c) other arms-length bodies of her Department to (i) reduce administrative pressures on and (ii) enable simultaneous inspections of farmers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our arm’s-length bodies are implementing more risk-based approaches for inspections and increasing use of remote monitoring tools, reducing administrative burdens on farmers who are doing the right thing. We are also implementing a more advice-led approach, supporting farmers to meet regulatory requirements.
To further reduce administrative pressures, arm’s-length bodies have created online systems, such as the Animal Disease Movement Licensing Service. This enables livestock keepers to submit movement license applications online for bluetongue and avian influenza, streamlining the process and reducing paperwork.
We support our regulators to share intelligence. For example, we rolled out an app for field officers to share information on regulatory issues. Additionally, RPA and APHA co-ordinate regulatory visits where possible. Cattle identification visits are aligned when possible with TB tests, and where sheep identification visits coincide with APHA work, these are completed by APHA. These actions aim to ease burden on farmers with fewer visits overall.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
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 potential impact of ICL being the UK water industry’s sole domestic supplier of sodium hydrochlorite on the security of the water supply.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works routinely with the water sector to proactively identify and mitigate risks to safeguard the security of water supplies. The Government is preparing to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, including on assessing potential vulnerabilities in the supply chains needed to produce safe drinking water. Reforms outlined in this response will form the basis of a new water reform bill to be introduced early in this Parliament.
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 her Department has made of the potential risk to the health of birds from avian influenza (H5N1) in Fylde constituency.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The risk of HPAI H5 in wild birds in Great Britain has recently escalated from high to very high (event occurs almost certainly). The risk of poultry exposure to HPAI H5 in Great Britain is assessed as very high (event occurs almost certainly) where there is suboptimal or poor biosecurity and Medium (event occurs regularly) where stringent biosecurity is consistently applied at all times.
All exotic disease control and prevention measures are kept under regular review as part of the Government’s work to monitor and manage the risks of exotic disease.
Risk levels are being kept under regular review.
Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) mandating enhanced biosecurity and, for keepers of over 50 birds, housing is in force across the whole of England, including the Flyde constituency - to mitigate the risk of further outbreaks of the disease.