Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answers of 4 and 12 November 2025 to questions 84180 and 87719 on Alpacas: Bluetongue Disease, if her Department will consider reassessing restrictions for animals in which no cases of Bluetongue Disease have been identified.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As Great Britain is currently not recognised by the EU as bluetongue disease-free, the export of all susceptible live animals from the whole of GB territory, including alpacas, to EU and EFTA countries, is suspended. The same restrictions also apply for imports into GB from EU and EFTA countries. The EU and GB rules for trade from BTV affected territories reflect the World Organisation for Animal Health’s (WOAH) Terrestrial Code that sets international standards for Animal Health.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 4th November 2025 to question 84180 on Alpacas: Bluetongue Disease, what restrictions there are on the export of alpacas to (a) Ireland and (b) mainland Europe as a result of the Bluetongue virus.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As Great Britain is currently not recognised as bluetongue disease-free, the export of all susceptible live animals, including alpacas, to EU and EFTA countries is suspended.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cases of bluetongue virus in alpacas have been recorded since October 2023.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There have been no confirmed cases of bluetongue virus in alpacas since October 2023. Bluetongue is a notifiable disease, which means all suspected cases must be reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish guidance on how businesses should report extended producer responsibility-related costs in their financial accounts.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It is not for the Government to provide guidance on how, or when to account for pEPR fees and we would encourage producers to engage with their respective audit firms where required. Further context on intended application of Regulation 60 Liability of producers to pay annual disposal and administration fees was issued in January, which is sufficient for respective audit firms to advise where required.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
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 ensure transparency in the (a) calculation and (b) use of extended producer responsibility fees.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Local Authority Packaging Cost and Performance Model (LAPCAP), alongside the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 will provide transparency on fee calculations and how the fees are used by Local Authorities. PackUK, the scheme administrator for pEPR, is required to publish information explaining how it has assessed Local Authority payments for the Operational Year.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
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 plans to take to ensure that the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme does not discourage investment in manufacturing.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations.
Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with (a) the brewing industry and (b) other sectors on the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has worked closely with industry, including the brewing sector, throughout development of Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging. Feedback from stakeholders has been factored into finalising the regulations, including consulting stakeholders on a draft of the pEPR regulation in 2023. Defra regularly holds stakeholders’ forums which are well attended by stakeholders across the drinks' value chain, and these are used to provide updates and capture feedback from impacted stakeholders. Since August 2024 we have worked closely with packaging producers to refine the approach to modelling fees and ensure they more accurately reflect the price drivers for local authority collection costs. My officials recently attended events organised by industry, and on 18 March attended a conference held by the National Association of Cider Maker’s to discuss the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging and respond to concerns raised by their members.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department determined the fee rates for Extended Producer Responsibility; and whether he consulted industry on those rates.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Illustrative base fees are calculated by dividing packaging waste management costs (for household packaging waste) and other relevant costs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market and this principle was consulted on in 2019 and again in 2021. Since August 2024 Defra have worked closely with packaging producers to refine the approach to modelling fees and ensure they more accurately reflect the price drivers for local authority collection costs. On 20 December Defra published the third iteration of illustrative fees, based on the agreed final proposed modelling scenario for the total disposal costs that should be recovered through EPR in 2025. The illustrative base fees use packaging tonnage data submitted to date by producers on the Report Packaging Data (RPD) online portal for the first six months of 2024, with adjustments applied (see below for further details). These fees represent the best possible point estimate of base fees given currently available information. Final fees, used to invoice producers from October 2025, are expected to be calculated in June 2025 using tonnage data reported by producers for the full year of 2024.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
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 (a) the cumulative cost burden of the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme and (b) other business costs on the food and drink sector.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment: The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether local authorities will be required to spend the full funds generated through the extended producer responsibility scheme on waste (a) management and (b) processing.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local authority grant funding for waste management through MHCLG block grants has not typically been ringfenced, to protect the sustainability and liquidity of local authority finances and protect principles of devolution. The additional income local authorities receive through pEPR is calculated to cover the modelled costs they incur in fulfilling their statutory waste management duties in regard to household packaging waste and should therefore be spent on waste management. We are encouraging local authorities to invest this income into their recycling services in the 2025 financial year. We recognise that packaging producers have a strong interest in ensuring pEPR fees are used to support transition to a circular economy and we are currently exploring options to support this ambition.
For year 1 of pEPR, we have agreed with HM Treasury and MHCLG that pEPR funding will be an additional revenue stream for local authorities. In England, Simpler Recycling introduces new standard for the management of dry recycling. We will focus on engagement with local authorities and encourage the use of this additional funding to help drive investment in additional infrastructure that may be needed to meet these standards.