Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in (1) the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (2) Natural England, and (3) Environment Agency.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not employ any civil servants through Skilled Worker visas as the department is not a sponsoring organisation.
As Natural England (NE) and the Environment Agency (EA) are non‑departmental public bodies (arm’s‑length bodies), they do not employ civil servants.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
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 had made of the potential impact of bottom trawling on meeting the target in the UN Global Biodiversity Framework of conserving 30% of earth’s seas by 2030.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The 30by30 target, Target 3 of the Convention on Biological Diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, is a global target to effectively protect 30% of the global ocean and of land by 2030. Just over 9.8% of the global ocean is now protected. Achieving this global 30by30 target will require an international effort, from all countries and sectors and the UK is leading the way. In England, we have a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 40% of our waters, and we are focusing on making sure they are properly protected.
Marine regulators make evidence-based, site-by-site assessments of the fishing activities that could prevent MPAs from achieving their conservation objectives and put in place the necessary management measures. Nearly 60% of MPAs already have byelaws in place to protect them from damaging fishing activity and the Marine Management Organisation consulted last year on proposals to prohibit bottom trawling over sensitive seabed habitats in a further 41 MPAs. It is currently analysing the large number of responses received and decisions will be made in due course.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
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 8 September 2025 to Question 72871, on Water Charges, what cost-benefit analysis her Department carried out when choosing not to introduce a national social tariff for water bills in the policy paper entitled A new vision for water: white paper published on 20 January 2026.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are working with water companies to ensure vulnerable customers across the country receive support. This includes improving the guidance for companies to design the best social tariffs for their customers.
We expect all water companies to put appropriate support in place for customers struggling to pay their bills and to proactively engage with their customers to ensure they know what support schemes are available and how to use them. Over the next five years, water companies will have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs from 4% in 2025 to 9% in 2030. We expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end water poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to this end.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 include a national social tariff for water bills in the Government’s Water White Paper.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are working with water companies to ensure vulnerable customers across the country receive support. This includes improving the guidance for companies to design the best social tariffs for their customers.
We expect all water companies to put appropriate support in place for customers struggling to pay their bills and to proactively engage with their customers to ensure they know what support schemes are available and how to use them. Over the next five years, water companies will have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs from 4% in 2025 to 9% in 2030. We expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end water poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to this end.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to analyse the forthcoming annual sewage discharge data to identify differences in company performance before and after the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 came into force.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Pollution incidents from the activities of the water industry are unacceptable and can have a devastating impact on our environment. The water industry must do more to reduce pollution and protect our rivers, lakes and seas.
As part of the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, a new duty has been created on water and sewerage undertakers in England and Wales, to produce annual Pollution Incident Reduction Plans (PIRPs).
These statutory plans require water and sewerage undertakers to report on the number and severity of pollution incidents attributable to their networks over the last calendar year and propose actions to reduce that number in the next year.
The first statutory PIRP will be published by 1 April 2026.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 increase awareness of the issues and impact surrounding light pollution.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that good use of artificial light can contribute to preventing accidents, reducing crime and creating safer spaces and promoting the night-time economy, benefiting us all in various ways.
The Government has put in place a range of measures to ensure that light pollution is effectively managed through controls in the planning system, the Permitted Development Regime and the Statutory Nuisance Regime.
Defra will continue to work closely with researchers, non-governmental organisations and across Government to improve our understanding of the impacts of light pollution.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 enforce restrictions against nuisance light pollution under the The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has put in place a range of measures to ensure that light pollution is effectively managed through the statutory nuisance regime. Local authorities have a duty to investigate complaints about light emitted from premises which could constitute a nuisance or be harmful to health and have powers to take action where there is a problem.
The Government believes that any mitigating actions to try to reduce light pollution in urban, suburban and rural areas are best taken by local authorities as these are best dealt with at a local level.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of attenuation ponds in reducing both the volume and flow of run from major roads where such works were not considered necessary pre-1990.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Attenuation ponds are deployed by Risk Management Authorities as a flood alleviation measure; they are determined by a range of factors including cost to benefit ratio and the standard of protection that can be achieved. In recent years, the highway sector has been innovative in its use of sustainable drainage and green infrastructure to help manage road flooding.
A new three-year £4.2 billion Flood and Coastal Risk Investment Programme will start in April 2026, where new projects will align with the strategic objectives set out in the Government’s new funding rules announced in October 2025. This means investment goes where it is most needed, accounting for flood risk, value for money, natural flood management opportunity and additional contributions to make Government investment go further. This investment will benefit properties, infrastructure and agriculture.
The Government and the Environment Agency are committed to improving England’s picture of flood and coastal erosion risk, including from surface water. The Environment Agency published its new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) data in 2025.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
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 relative cost benefit of attenuation ponds compared with repeated flood damage to (a) properties, (b) infrastructure and (c) agricultural land.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Attenuation ponds are deployed by Risk Management Authorities as a flood alleviation measure; they are determined by a range of factors including cost to benefit ratio and the standard of protection that can be achieved. In recent years, the highway sector has been innovative in its use of sustainable drainage and green infrastructure to help manage road flooding.
A new three-year £4.2 billion Flood and Coastal Risk Investment Programme will start in April 2026, where new projects will align with the strategic objectives set out in the Government’s new funding rules announced in October 2025. This means investment goes where it is most needed, accounting for flood risk, value for money, natural flood management opportunity and additional contributions to make Government investment go further. This investment will benefit properties, infrastructure and agriculture.
The Government and the Environment Agency are committed to improving England’s picture of flood and coastal erosion risk, including from surface water. The Environment Agency published its new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA) data in 2025.
Asked by: Ben Coleman (Labour - Chelsea and Fulham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had discussions with the Environment Agency on it registering property owners along the tidal Thames as riparian owners where legal evidence of ownership does not exist.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency does not register landowners in London as riparian owners. A landowner’s responsibility for a tidal flood defence arises under the Metropolis Management (Thames River Prevention of Floods) Amendment Act 1879, which requires flood defences to be created and maintained to a defined height (relative to ordnance datum) in order to protect London from flooding and inundations caused by overflows from the River Thames.