Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of (a) co-operative and (b) mutual forms of ownership in the water industry.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Independent Water Commission’s (IWC) final report in July found that there is no clear relationship between water company ownership models and outcomes.
The commission states that ‘With regard to alternative not-for-profit, or similar models that might be proposed by existing or prospective owners (as with Welsh Water and Kelda), the Commission believes that these models are viable and might be beneficial in some cases but that proposals need to be considered on a case-by-case basis’.
The Government is considering the IWC’s recommendations and will provide a full response in a White Paper later this year.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of total length and number of ancient and historic rights of way not yet added to the national database; and what progress is expected to be made on recording them.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government intends to repeal the 2031 cut-off date for recording historic rights of way. The legislative change to repeal the cut-off date will be enacted when parliamentary time allows. This will ensure that historic routes are not extinguished simply because an authority has not processed them in time and will give councils greater flexibility to deal with applications. It will also help prevent unrecorded public rights of way from being lost as a result of delays or backlogs.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people were prosecuted for fly tipping waste in England for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping enforcement action, such as prosecutions, to Defra, which the department have published annually since 2012, Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average value of fines issued for fly tipping offences in England was for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For 2023/24, the average value of fly-tipping fixed penalty notices was £520, based on information provided by 139 councils. This is the first year such information was collected.
The average court fine was £530 in 2023/24. Data on court fines in previous years are available here.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate has been made of the average time to clear fly tipping by local authorities in England from 2015 to date.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities are not required to provide data to Defra on the average time to clear fly-tipping, therefore no estimate has been made.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 total consumer debt outstanding for each water company in England and Wales for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat is the economic regulator for the water sector in England and Wales.
In January 2025, Ofwat published a report analysing consumer debt that outlines key statistics on debt for household customers in England and Wales (please see page 49 for a summary of each water company). This information was not collected before 2023.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many fly-tipping incidents were reported and how many prosecutions were secured for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents and enforcement action, such as prosecutions, to Defra, which the department have published annually since 2012, at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. This data isn't available at a constituency level and excludes the majority of private-land incidents. Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected.
Due to methodological changes, incident data for 2018/19 onwards is not comparable to earlier years.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support new farming entrants in England.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our young farmers are vital to the future of UK farming, and we work closely with the National Federation of Young Farmers to consider how best to support them.
To secure that future for young farmers, we are investing £2.7 billion annually and developing a 25-year roadmap to boost profitability.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 sewage discharges in the North West on (a) social and (b) economic well-being.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.
We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. In one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 contribution of co-operatives in agriculture to food security.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government strongly supports the benefits co-operatives can bring and recognises the important role they play in food security, the resilience of the food sector and as a lifeline for community access to food.
Through the food strategy, Defra is considering how to better support local and place-based initiatives to deliver the changes needed for resilience, including food and farming co-operatives and mutuals.