Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
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 to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) are responded to within the appropriate time frame; how many complaints have been recorded against the RPA each year for the past five years; and what processes the RPA is putting into place in order to deliver the next generation of the Sustainable Farming Incentive effectively.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency RPA) are supporting Defra as they continue to develop the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive. This includes fully considering deliverability and opportunities to simplify scheme administration.
The RPA administers a wide range of services, including applications for Grants and subsequent payments, applications for cattle documentation to support animal traceability requirements and applications for licences.
Performance is reported each year within the RPA Annual Report and Accounts within the Performance Overview section. This provides the most recent public information across all areas of the Agency’s delivery.
The table below shows the number of complaints received by the RPA over the last 5 years.
Year | Number of Complaints Received* |
2020 / 2021 | 657 |
2021 / 2022 | 497 |
2022 / 2023 | 440 |
2023 / 2024 | 349 |
2024 / 2025 | 322 |
*Between 01/04 and 31/03 of each year.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
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 ensure that supermarkets are required to use packaging that is recyclable through household recycling systems; and whether she has considered taking legislative steps to promote the use of such packaging.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is taking several steps to incentivise the use of use or recyclable packaging by supermarkets and other producers.
Under the UK wide Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) scheme, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, producers are incentivised to reduce their material footprint and use easier to recycle packaging by being required to bear the end-of-life costs associated with packaging that they place on the market. The Scheme Administrator, PackUK, can modulate (increase or decrease) the household packaging waste disposal fees for each category of packaging a producer supplies. This will reflect the environmental sustainability of the packaging and provide an incentive to the producer to use more environmentally sustainable packaging.
Additionally, under Simpler Recycling, every household and workplace (such as businesses, schools, and hospitals) across England will be able to recycle the same materials in the following core groups: metal; glass; plastic: paper and card; food waste; garden waste (household only). This includes cartons (as part of the plastics recyclable waste stream). More consistent collections will help reduce contamination, improve material quality and boost recycling rates.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the turn around time for results on livestock samples at the Pirbright lab has been in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Pirbright Institute is the UK national reference laboratory and provides a commercial testing service five days a week. Results from submissions from private vets are reported within three working days from the time samples are received at the lab, as stated on Pirbright’s website.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if Pirbright lab will prioritise blood samples from sheep farmers in northern England ahead of the Kelso ram sales on 12 September 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All pre-movement tests for bluetongue virus performed at Pirbright are reported within three working days of receipt, with no prioritisation given to particular samples. Pirbright has the provisions to expand its testing capacity, if required, to meet higher demand.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to expand testing capacity for the bluetongue virus.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
All diagnostic testing for bluetongue virus is conducted at the bluetongue national reference laboratory at The Pirbright Institute. Current testing capacity is sufficient to meet the demands for disease control and movement testing. Nevertheless, Pirbright has the provisions to expand its testing capacity, if required, to meet higher demand.
The Official Laboratory in Weybridge is also designated by Defra for the purpose of surveillance and post-movement tests for bluetongue if required which provides additional capacity.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of waiting times for processing (a) applications to and (b) the release of funds from the Farm Equipment and Technology Fund in the past year.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
a) The application window for Productivity and Slurry FETF 2024 grants closed on the 07 April 2024; the application window for Animal Health and Welfare FETF 2024 closed on the 01 May 2024.
The majority of Productivity applicants received their Grant Funded Agreement offer on 24 May 2024 totalling a wait time of approximately 7 weeks.
The majority of Slurry applicants received their Grant Funded Agreement offer on 23 May 2024 totalling a wait time of approximately 7 weeks.
The majority of Animal Health and Welfare applicants received their Grant Funded Agreement offer on 29 May 2024 totalling a wait time of approximately 4 weeks.
b) More than 70% of all FETF 2024 claims paid to date have been processed within 30 working days.