Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is the evidential basis for determining that there is a clear need for Environmental Delivery Plans; whether that evidence will be published; and what assessment she has made of the value for money of Environmental Delivery Plans.

Answered by Mary Creagh

The NRF will focus on enabling development in areas where it has stalled due to specific environmental obligations. The first EDPs will focus on nutrient neutrality, which currently affects approximately 8% of housing. The Planning and Infrastructure Act requires that EDPs must include monitoring measures sufficient to track the effectiveness of conservation measures and the effect of the EDP in general. These reporting requirements will provide transparency around the environmental improvements that each EDP has delivered and whether they represent good value for money.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to publish its assessment of the effectiveness of Environmental Delivery Plans; what criteria will be used to evaluate their success; and whether further Environmental Delivery Plans will be introduced only following publication of that assessment.

Answered by Mary Creagh

An initial assessment of Environmental Delivery Plans will take place following the making of the first nutrient pollution EDP. EDPs covering other issues will only be made after a statement on the findings of this assessment has been made to Parliament. Over the longer-term, success of the NRF programme will be regularly assessed against a range of criteria as part of a monitoring programme to determine the extent to which EDPs enable development and deliver measurable environmental improvements.

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 the UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement on the UK's capacity to warn and sanction states that are non-cooperative in tackling illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK’s Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Regulation prohibits the import of seafood linked to IUU fishing and includes measures to warn and sanction states identified as non-cooperative in tacking IUU fishing. IUU is out of scope of the UK-EU SPS Agreement and the UK will maintain robust checks and controls to ensure imported seafood complies with our IUU requirements.

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 set out her Department's priority areas for improving fisheries transparency (a) domestically and (b) in the UK's international seafood supply chains.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to improving fisheries transparency as part of its efforts to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Domestically, we are strengthening IUU documentation requirements by requesting additional information for seafood imports and planning enhancing digital checks and controls at the border. Internationally, the UK is promoting greater information exchange through the FAO Global Information Exchange System and Global Record, in line with our commitments under the Agreement on Port State Measures, to help prevent IUU-caught fish entering global seafood supply chains. This includes work to establish connections with Regional Fisheries Management Organisations’ electronic systems.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the latest available figure is for Housing Revenue Account debt owed to the Public Works Loans Board by local authorities, including (a) the collective figure for all local authorities and (b) the debt for individual local authorities.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government publishes data on loans issued by the Public Works Loan Board lending facility here Historical Data and here Current Data, which includes loans taken out under the Housing Revenue Account discounted interest rate in place since 15 June 2023. Total debt attributable to the Housing Revenue Account is submitted to Government by local authorities as part of capital data returns and published here Local authority capital expenditure, receipts and financing - GOV.UK. Local authorities also provide the Government with data on their borrowing, including source of borrowing. The data can be found on gov.uk Live tables on local government finance - GOV.UK.

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 the proposed appropriate prioritisation approach within Environmental Delivery Plans on environmental harm; and what framework will be used to assess value for money under that approach.

Answered by Mary Creagh

The mitigation hierarchy remains at the heart of the Nature Restoration Fund. These Regulations require Natural England, where appropriate, to prioritise avoidance measures over mitigation and compensation measures, and mitigation over compensation measures, whilst also considering value for money.

These Regulations require Natural England to consider value for money as part of their consideration of whether it is appropriate to depart from this hierarchy. What constitutes value for money will depend on the circumstances of a particular EDP, and Natural England may also take into account any other factors relevant to determining whether it is appropriate to depart form the hierarchy. Any resulting EDP will be subject to consultation and approval by the Secretary of State

The potential impacts of the Nature Restoration Fund were assessed through the Impact Assessment published alongside the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025.

Nature rights

Autonomy’s report entitled Cleaning Up Politics

Found: Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Barry Gardiner; Alison Griffiths; Chris Hinchliff

Found: Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Barry Gardiner; Alison Griffiths; Chris Hinchliff

Found: Q73 Chris Hinchliff: Thank you. That tees me up nicely for my second question.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Jonathan Davies; Chris Hinchliff

Found: Letter dated 04/06/2026 from Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill to Chris Hinchliff MP regarding the Railways

Found: Letter dated 04/06/2026 from Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill to Chris Hinchliff MP regarding points raised