Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who die each year from wildfire smoke.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Whilst Defra considers smoke from wildfires to be important the department has not, to date, made an estimate of the number of people who die each year from wildfire smoke.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 trends in the level of household water bills in 2025; and what discussions her Department plans to have with Ofwat on levels of water bills.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is Ofwat's responsibility to independently scrutinise water company business plans and ensure that the prices water companies charge their customers are fair and proportionate.
On October 9, the Competition and Markets Authority published its provisional decision that, for the five companies that appealed, bills should increase further. This decision remains subject to consultation and they will not publish their final decision until early next year. This is an independent, statutory process.
The Government has acted decisively by consulting on reforms to WaterSure - the statutory scheme which caps bills for low-income customers with necessary higher water usage and by introducing new and increased compensation for companies to pay customers in the event of unforeseen disruption to supply.
We expect water companies to ensure that their customers know what support schemes are available and how to use them if they need help.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and his Brazilian counterpart on the Brazilian government's proposal to reclassify the Pernambuco tree from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has not had discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs or their Brazilian counterpart. Preparations for the CITES Conference of Parties are led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in Bromsgrove.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Agreements under the Countryside Stewardship scheme in the Bromsgrove Parliamentary Constituency area contain 2,139 hectares of land as of 2024. The scheme supports a range of enhanced environmental outcomes from restoring wildlife habitats, creating woodlands to managing flood risk.
Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier is expected to continue to deliver a range of environmental benefits to farmers when it opens to new applications.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote beekeeping.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In 2024 the annual Hive Count exercise produced a figure of 252, 647 honey bee colonies in the UK which indicates that there continues to be interest in keeping bees. There are over 52,700 beekeepers in England, Wales and Scotland registered on BeeBase, the voluntary register managed by the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU). Defra encourages all beekeepers to have good husbandry skills, including recognition of pests and disease and husbandry practices which can minimise the risk of introducing and spreading disease within an apiary.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will visit a farm in Worcestershire to meet with (a) local farmers and (b) hon. Members to discuss changes to agricultural property relief.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Ministers regularly engage and visit farmers across England and have met with farming organisations and representatives nearly every week since coming into Government.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of illegal fly-tipping on agricultural activity.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department does not intend to assess the potential impact of illegal fly-tipping on agricultural activity. The Government understands the difficulty that fly-tipping poses to all landowners. We have committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created and will provide further details on this in due course.
We continue to work with stakeholders, such as the National Farmers Union and local authorities, through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to share good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land. Various practical tools, including case studies and ‘how to’ guides on key issues such as setting up effective local partnerships, are available from their webpage at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group.