Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 plans to have discussions with devolved Administrations on their experiences of developing proposals for licensing domestic rescue and rehoming organisations.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works closely with the devolved governments on a range of shared priorities and will discuss any relevant matters as necessary.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of inheritance tax policy on the viability and succession of family farming businesses, in light of the findings of the Farming Profitability Review.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the reforms to inheritance tax announced at Budget 2024, we have engaged with the farming community and businesses. Having carefully considered this feedback, we are going further to protect more farms and businesses, while maintaining the core principle that the most valuable agricultural and business assets should not receive unlimited relief.
The allowance for 100% rate of relief will be increased from £1 million to £2.5 million when it is introduced in April 2026. This means a couple will now be able to pass on up to £5 million tax-free between them, on top of existing allowances such as the nil rate band.
Raising the threshold will significantly reduce the number of farms and business owners facing higher inheritance tax bills under the reforms, ensuring only the largest estates are affected. This gets the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, fixing the public finances, and funding public services.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to require food labels to state the method of slaughter used for meat products, including pre-stunning.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Flyde, Mr Andrew Snowden, on 17 December 2025 to PQ UIN 99375.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
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 (a) per-consignment fees and (b) inspection charges on the retail price of sanitary and phytosanitary goods imported from the European Union.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), imported consignments of products of animal origin (POAO), and plant and plant products (P&PP), are subject to per-consignment requirements including health certification, pre-notification and inspection fees.
We estimate the measures introduced through the BTOM would have a minimal impact on consumer food price inflation of less than 0.2 percentage points in total over a 3-year period.
We do not hold sufficiently robust data at a commodity level to disaggregate this figure further.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department plans to have with animal welfare charities and sector bodies ahead of the consultation on licensing rescue and rehoming organisations; and if Ministers will meet with organisations including national animal welfare charities and representative bodies for rescue and rehoming centres.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra will engage with stakeholders, including animal welfare groups, as part of the consultation process on its proposals for licensing rescue and rehoming centres. Defra welcomes the input of interested parties and will maintain communication with these groups as part of the consultation process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2025 to Question 97170, what fees the Marine Management Organisation has charged in each year since 2018 for reviewing evidence submitted to discharge, vary, or comply with conditions on marine licences relating to mudflat surveys.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is not published and is not readily available. Due to the level of detail specified in the request, it would require a significant amount of time and resource to provide this, incurring disproportionate costs.
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, how she plans to enforce the ban on snares.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation and this included a commitment to bring an end to the use of snare traps in England. This was recently reaffirmed in the Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy. Defra is considering the most effective way to deliver this commitment and will be setting out next steps in due course. The detail of the enforcement of the ban will depend on the nature of the legislation that is ultimately progressed.
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) licensing shoots and (b) making the penalty for using snares the loss of such a licence.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is considering the most effective way to deliver its commitment to ban the use of snares in England and will be setting out next steps in due course. The use of snares is commonly associated with gamebird shooting. Defra has not yet made any formal assessment of the potential merits of licensing gamebird shooting in England or whether to make the penalty for illegally using snares the loss of such a licence.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 have discussions with the horticultural sector to embed green space delivery in the Environmental Improvement Plan.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of the environmental horticulture sector in promoting people’s health and wellbeing, and its potential contribution to our environmental goals.
I have met with stakeholders including the Royal Horticultural Society and the Horticultural Trades Association, in recognition of the importance of this sector.
Officials also meet regularly with the sector, including the Environmental Horticulture Group, a coalition of industry leaders from across the sector. These discussions help inform policy development and will continue to help us understand what support the sector needs to help it thrive and to best support delivery of the Environmental Improvement Plan.
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, how many applications for felling licences were refused by the Forestry Commission due to the potential impact of felling on ancient woodland remnants within plantations on ancient woodland sites in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Forestry Commission has only refused one felling licence in the past 10 years, in 2020. The reason for refusal was based on the fact that the licence would lead to a loss of woodland containing veteran and future veteran oaks and the felling of these would be against the "interests of good forestry …and the amenities of the district" and would not align with UK Forestry Standard.