Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much OFWAT has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat has spent a total of £74,983 on translation and interpretation services in the last five financial years. This expenditure is for translating key documents into Welsh given Ofwat’s role as the water regulator for England and Wales.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 reduce water bills for (a) households and (b) businesses in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bill payers are understandably concerned that bills have risen. For too long, investment has not kept pace with the challenges of an ageing infrastructure system, a rapidly growing population, and climate change. Over the next four years, water companies will deliver substantial and enduring improvements for customers and the environment through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector. This investment will accelerate improvements in infrastructure to meet these challenges, secure our water supply, and to meet new environmental requirements.
We are working to ensure that both business and household consumers can reduce their bills through decreasing their usage, including by pursuing a Mandatory Water Efficiency Label, smart meter rollout acceleration and a review of water efficiency standards in the Building Regulations.
All companies have measures in place for customers struggling to pay for water and wastewater services, and the Government expects industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure customers across the country are supported.
It is important that support is targeted at the most vulnerable. We have therefore acted decisively by consulting on reforms to WaterSure, which caps bills for low-income households in England with higher essential water use due to a medical condition or a large family. The Government also doubled compensation payments paid to consumers for service failures through the Guaranteed Standards Scheme.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to encourage public bodies to prioritise the purchase of produce from (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has set a clear ambition for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards within legal constraints. The Government is undertaking work to ensure we can deliver on this ambition, including to improve our understanding of what food the public sector currently buys and where it comes from. The Government has already published a new national procurement policy statement which sets expectations for Government contracts to favour products certified to higher environmental standards. The Government believes that high-quality British producers, including those based in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire, will be well-placed to meet these standards.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Veterinary Medicines Directorate has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate’s spending on translation and interpretation service was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The below table shows the total cost over the past five years.
This information is in the public domain.
Financial Year | Total VMD Cost | Function – All funded by a BMGF project. |
20/21 | Nil | Nil |
21/22 | £1,913.51 | Online Translation subscription and workshop interpretation from English to French and vice versa. |
22/23 | £19,257.00 | Online Translation subscription and interpretation service at three regional conferences in Sub-Saharan Africa from English to French and vice versa. |
23/24 | £212.54 | Online Translation subscription |
24/25 | £141.19 | Online Translation subscription |
Total | £21,524.24 |
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Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 help reduce levels of food waste in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra funds the groundbreaking UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste in the supply chain. We also fund a programme of action delivered by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to tackle household food waste and help people buy what they need and use what they buy. Through our Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate fund, we have allocated £13.5 million to food redistribution charities in England to ensure more surplus fresh produce is redistributed to those who need it most. By 31 March 2026, local authorities will be required to collect the core recyclable waste streams from all households in England. This includes introducing weekly food waste collections for all homes, unless a transitional arrangement applies.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Animal and Plant Health Agency has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) uses an external company to translate some of its correspondence, GOV.UK pages and communication products into Welsh when required. There is a charge for this translation service. Specific details of this expenditure could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many vehicles were seized for fly-tipping offences in Lincolnshire in each of the last five years.
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 actions, including vehicles seized, to Defra, which are published annually here. This data is not available at a constituency level. Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is still being collected.
The Environment Agency works with local authorities and other partners through the Lincolnshire Environmental Crime Partnership (ECP). The ECP has targeted “days of action” to tackle fly-tipping, with various sanctions available – including vehicle seizure – to prevent, disrupt and tackle waste related offences.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in his Department since 2017.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
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 ensure that food labelling schemes used by UK retailers provide consumers with (a) clear and (b) accurate information on (i) environmental and (ii) animal welfare standards, in the context of the Advertising Standards Authority ruling on Red Tractor.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government supports the objective of preventing misleading labelling. The fundamental principle of food labelling rules is that information provided to the consumer must not mislead and must enable consumers to make informed decisions. The rules also specify what particular information must be provided and how it must be presented.
The Government cooperates with a number of food assurance schemes, which help provide UK consumers and businesses with information about the food they buy. Whilst assurance schemes operate independently of Government, the Food Standards Agency and the Competition and Markets Authority maintain close contact with these organisations and monitors whether communications and claims made by them are accurate.
To further support transparency and prevent misleading claims, the Competition and Markets Authority has issued the Green Claims Code. This guidance is particularly relevant for businesses that make environmental claims or rely on certifications and accreditations.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of grants for farmers to support (a) sustainable and (b) regenerative agricultural practices in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production across the country, including Lincolnshire, over this Parliament. All our Environmental Land Management schemes will continue, and we will continue to evolve and improve them in an orderly way.
We have committed nearly £250 million in funding up to 2030 to improve productivity, trial new technologies and drive innovation in the agricultural sector.