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, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses to benefit from largest flood defence investment programme in history, updated on 2 July 2025, on what evidential basis the £7.9 billion commitment over 10 years represents (a) a record level of investment and (b) the largest flood defence investment programme in history; and whether this level of funding represents an increase in funding on an annual basis.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change, we’re investing a record £2.65 billion over two years (2024/25 and 2025/26) to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences. We’re committing a further £4.2 billion over three years from April 2026, an increase of 5% compared to current investment levels, as announced at Spending Review 2025. These investments compare to an annual average of £1.09 billion spent under the previous government between 2021/22 and 2023/24.
On 16 June we announced a £7.9 billion capital commitment into flood defences for the next 10 years, to March 2036. This commitment represents a record level of capital investment and is the largest flood defence investment programme in history, both in terms of its total amount and the 10-year duration of the commitment.
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 an assessment of the potential merits of requiring intensive poultry units to hold private insurance to cover losses in excess of DEFRA’s statutory compensation for poultry culls.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We would like to refer the honourable member for North Herefordshire to the response UIN 63221 published on 3 July 2025.
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 has taken to ensure that the process of appointing the new Chair of the Office for Environmental Protection protects its independence.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Chair role is appointed by the Secretary of State acting jointly with the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The appointment will be conducted in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments as regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The role will be publicly advertised, and an Advisory Assessment Panel, including a Senior Independent Panel Member, will be appointed to assess candidates objectively against the published criteria. The appointment will also be subject to pre-appointment scrutiny by a Parliamentary Select Committee.
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 his planned timetable is for publication of the revised Environmental Improvement Plan.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Tamworth on 17 March 2025, UIN 37341.
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 the time taken to introduce the due diligence scheme for forest risk commodities enabled by schedule 17 of the Environment Act 2021 on the achievement of targets in the global biodiversity framework.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Deforestation linked to UK consumption is estimated to have fallen by 55% since 2005. However, progress has slowed over the last decade and in 2022 UK consumption was still associated with 35.6 thousand hectares of deforestation. The Government recognises the urgent need to address the deforestation impact of UK demand for forest risk commodities, and we will set out our approach in due course.
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 has taken to ensure the farming budget is used to meet legally-binding (a) environmental targets under the Environment Act 2021 and (b) emissions reduction targets under the Climate Change Act 2008.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As a result of the spending review and determination of the farming budget for this period:
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, when he plans to publish updates to the Farming Rules for Water.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The updated and amended Farming Rules for Water were published on 18 June and we are continuing to support the EA to work with farmers to meet their legal obligations.
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.