Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 will take to support farmers in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has allocated £11.8 billion this parliament to sustainable farming and food production, targeting public money where it delivers most value, in Newcastle-under-Lyme and across the country.
The Government is making supply chains fairer to ensure farmers, particularly smaller farmers who can be most exposed to market pressures, are protected in their contracts, while unlocking new markets for British produce.
The department has published Baroness Batters’ independent Farming Profitability Review 2025. A 25-year Farming Roadmap setting out the long-term direction for farming will follow next year.
Defra is establishing a farming and food partnership board to give farmers a stronger voice in Government.
Changes to planning rules will place greater emphasis on food production, making it easier for farmers to develop infrastructure.
We will take forward sector plans to build profitability in sectors with great potential, and we will seek to boost private finance into farming.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 made an assessment of the potential impact of access to green open spaces for the health and wellbeing of people in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s ambition is that access to nature is recognised as a key enabler of prevention of ill-health and is harnessed for the health and wellbeing of communities and individuals. Increasing equitable access to nature is a key method in delivering on preventative healthcare and a neighbourhood centric approach and supports health and wellbeing for all demographics.
The government has worked with Staffordshire County Council in support of improving opportunities for residents to realise the benefits of improved access to green spaces.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to tackle waste crime in rural communities.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is making the necessary policy and regulatory reforms to close the loopholes being exploited by waste criminals. Key reforms include carrier, broker, dealer reform, waste permit exemption reform and the introduction of digital waste tracking. I believe these reforms are the best way to drive criminality out of the waste sector whether in urban or rural communities.
However, the Government recognises that there can be challenges in responding to rural crime. That is why the Government collaborated with the National Police Chiefs’ Councils to deliver their renewal of the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy, which was published in November. The strategy, lasting until 2028, will ensure efforts to reduce crime benefit every community no matter where they live, including rural communities.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 standalone clean air act.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan, we are committed to a series of interventions to improve air quality to deliver benefits for public health, the environment, and the economy.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Environment Agency's budget.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department works closely with the Environment Agency (EA) at every level to provide constructive challenge and support on performance and to closely monitor funding to ensure it can carry out its duties effectively and deliver for the public and the environment.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the cost to the public purse of waste crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has made no recent assessment. The Environmental Services Association estimated in 2021 that waste crime costs the economy in England about £1 billion per year.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what fiscal steps she plans to take to cut levels of waste crime in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, b) Staffordshire and c) England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In addition to driving forward the policy and regulatory reforms designed to close the loopholes being exploited by criminals, we are also increasing the resources available to the Environment Agency (EA). The EA’s total budget for 2025 to 2026 has increased and includes £15.6 million for waste crime enforcement. This is a more than 50% increase from 2024/25. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams across England by 43 full-time staff.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues about tackling illegal waste sites in a) Staffordshire and b) England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State meets regularly with Cabinet colleagues and discusses a wide range of issues including tackling illegal waste sites and other kinds of waste crime. I hold similar discussions on a regular basis with the Environment Agency.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 consider the potential merits of developing a stand alone waste crime strategy.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to transitioning towards a circular economy where resources are kept in use for longer and waste is designed out. The Government convened a Circular Economy Taskforce of experts to help map that transition; in the new year we will publish a Circular Economy Growth Plan that sets out how government will deliver a more circular and more prosperous economy.
Waste crime threatens this by undermining waste businesses and by taking resources away from that circular economy. The priority is to focus on tangible action to address waste crime, including working with the Environment Agency to drive improvements, swift delivery of our planned reforms and our transition to a circular economy.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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 Cabinet colleagues about the adequacy of government funding for the Environment Agency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.
The Department works closely with the Environment Agency (EA) at every level to closely monitor funding to ensure it can carry out its duties effectively and deliver for the public and the environment.