Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 publish the detailed criteria his Department uses to calculate avian flu compensation payments for industrial poultry units.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Compensation paid for birds culled by the Government for disease control purposes is designed to promote prompt reporting of suspicion of disease and is only payable for healthy birds as set out in the Animal Health Act 1981. There is no compensation available for sick birds or birds that have died. Compensation is not paid for consequential losses, including business interruption caused by control measures, nor for eggs or poultry meat.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) makes its assessment of the disease status of the birds based on clinical inspection and veterinary judgment. The amount of compensation is established by APHA using the relevant valuation rate card (or for specialist stock by a specialist valuer). The valuation rate cards are updated by APHA five times per year (in January, March, June, September and November) to ensure rates are in line with average market values for the types of birds.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 future disease outbreak compensation payments conditional on (a) evidence of private insurance in place and (b) demonstrable compliance with specified biosecurity standards.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Compensation is paid by Defra for animals culled by the Government for disease control purposes, as set out in the Animal Health Act 1981. In addition to the financial support offered to producers directly affected by outbreaks through compensation, producers can insure privately for losses not covered by Defra’s compensation scheme, this may include consequential losses including business interruption caused by control measures.
Defra continues to monitor the situation and to remind producers that they are responsible for the on-farm management of their flocks. Having strong biosecurity measures in place, and maintaining them year-round, significantly reduces the risk of infection on site.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to seek closer environmental cooperation and collaboration with the European Union and its agencies as part of the UK-EU reset.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
At the UK-EU Summit on May 19th, the Government announced the intention to agree a Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The agreement will cover SPS standards and controls and also wider agrifood rules related to food labelling, organics, and marketing standards - as well as pesticides.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of excess sewage sludge on river pollution.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989 (SUiAR) supported by the Sewage Sludge Code of Practice provide environmental and health protections from sludge spreading.
The Government is continuing to work with the Environment Agency to assess the regulatory framework for spreading sludge. We recognise that effective and proportionate regulations are an essential tool to improve the water environment.
The Independent Water Commission’s Call for Evidence, published in February 2025, highlighted the Environment Agency’s recommendation to strengthen the regulatory framework for sludge application on land by incorporating the Sludge Use in Agriculture Regulations 1989 into the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.
A set of recommendations will be delivered by Q3 of this year. The UK Government will then respond and consult on proposals we intend to take forward.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of land-spreading sewage sludge on soil contamination.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations 1989 (SUiAR) supported by the Sewage Sludge Code of Practice provide environmental and health protections from sludge spreading.
The Government is continuing to work with the Environment Agency to assess the regulatory framework for spreading sludge. We recognise that effective and proportionate regulations are an essential tool to improve the environment.
The Government has been working with water companies under their Chemical Investigations Programme (CIP), to improve the evidence base on the behaviour and fate of contaminants in during treatment processes. CIP phase 4 will include a Groundwater, Soil and Biosolids investigation. This will be looking at the fate and behaviour of multiple chemical compounds, including PFAS substances, to establish whether detected substances pose a risk to long-term soil health, groundwater quality ansd the wider environment.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 support restoring (a) natural processes to river corridors within river catchments and (b) (i) native vegetation, (ii) floodplain connectivity and (iii) wetland habitats; and if he will take steps to work on these restoration projects with (A) local authorities, (B) environmental groups, (C) farmers and (D) catchment partnerships.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The England Woodland Creation Offer provides 100% of standard woodland creation capital costs and further incentivises the restoration of native riparian vegetation for water benefits through stackable supplementary payments for woodlands that improve water quality, reduce the risk of flooding, and riparian buffers that improve water habitat.
This year (2025/26) Defra have committed £10.9 million of capital Water Environment Improvement Funding (WEIF), administered by the Environment Agency (EA), which is designed to help achieve the Environment Improvement Plan goal of achieving clean and plentiful water. The primary objective is of the fund is to address “orphaned” water environment issues where the polluter pays principle does not apply. Typical WEIF projects include river restoration, wetland habitat restoration and creation, floodplain connectivity, removal of barriers for fish and eel migration. WEIF projects are developed through Catchment Partnerships and are primarily delivered by local delivery partners, including eNGOs and Local Authorities.
The EA is also accelerating investment in Natural Flood Management (NFM) through the £25 million NFM fund. NFM protects, restores, or emulates the natural functions of rivers, floodplains, catchments, and the coast to reduce flooding and coastal erosion. Projects being delivered through the fund involve a range of stakeholders including wildlife and rivers trusts, local authorities, landowners, farmers, and local communities. Additionally, the EA also carries out large scale habitat creation projects through its Habitat Compensation and Restoration Programmes. These programmes compensate for impacts to protected sites due to human activity and have created approximately 1,600 hectares of intertidal habitat.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 take steps to increase the amount of funding available to support (a) rewilding and (b) natural process-led grazing at landscape scale along (i) river and (ii) the river Wye catchments.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is making the largest investment into nature in history, with over £7 billion directed into nature’s recovery. This includes environmental farming schemes (£5.9 billion), tree planting (£816 million) and peatland restoration (£85 million). In a joint initiative worth up to £1 million, Defra and Welsh government will fund comprehensive cross-border research to understand pollution and other pressures and develop plans to tackle these issues in the Wye catchment. This funding will ensure farmers, environmental campaigners, citizen scientists and other local experts, can help us gather essential evidence about what is causing this iconic river to be so polluted, and chart a course towards improving water quality and restoring nature across the catchment.
The Landscape Recovery scheme has two projects in development on the River Wye and within the Wye catchment: these are ‘Wye Valley – Ridge to River’, and ‘Wyescapes – Food, Nature and Water’, respectively. The ‘Wye Valley’ vision is for a resilient, multi-functional landscape, where a mosaic of woodlands, parkland, meres, farmland, and floodplains provide food, boost biodiversity and protect water whilst contributing to climate mitigation and social value. It aims to create and connect wildlife rich habitat and to farm regeneratively to increase carbon storage, reduce emissions and nutrient losses.
‘Wyescapes’ aim is to recover priority habitats and species, reduce nutrient runoff, restore hydrological/ecological function and resilience, and reduce CO2e emissions. The project consists of riverside land and adjacent farmland, where the managing farmers will be supported to reduce intensity of existing practices and create new wetlands, floodplain meadow, and woodland.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 it his policy to support the removal of barriers to keystone species reintroduction projects (a) in England and (b) over devolved boundaries.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports species reintroductions including keystone species, where there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment.
All reintroductions in England are expected to follow the Code for Reintroductions and other Conversations Translocations. The Code states that, while it is specific to England, cross-border co-operation and engagement with relevant authorities and stakeholders is essential where releases occur close to England’s neighbours or involve a reintroduction of a species to Great Britain. We would therefore expect any reintroduction project to carry out cross-border coordination as part of the planning phase of their reintroduction project.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to support the reintroduction of (a) species, (b) elk, (c) water voles, (d) eels and (e) pine martens in river catchments.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports species reintroductions, where there are clear benefits for nature, people and the environment. Taking each species in turn:
A) We are not aware of any active proposals for the reintroduction of elk.
B) The conservation and recovery of water voles has been supported by a range of projects. The Environment Agency has carried out 279 projects over the last three years, including habitat works, reintroduction or translocation, research and monitoring. Forestry England has also reintroduced water voles to Kielder forest with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and have further plans to reintroduce water voles into Wild Ennerdale in the Lake District. In addition, Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme has invested in three reintroduction projects of captive bred water voles.
C) Defra has no current plans to support restocking of eels.
D) Forestry England works closely with both active and potential pine marten reintroduction projects across the country and are also partners on the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, and the South Cumbria Pine Marten Recovery Project, both of which released animals last autumn.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
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 is taking to encourage landowners in river catchments to transition toward nature-led farming.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are investing £2.7 billion a year into sustainable food production and nature’s recovery, with funding for our Environmental Land Management schemes increasing by 150%. This funding is available to all farmers, includes this in river catchments.
We have more farmers than ever in nature friendly farming schemes and are reforming SFI to target funds fairly and effectively towards food, farming and nature priorities. We will announce further details later this year.