Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to include mandatory training and certification requirements for refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump technicians handling alternative refrigerants as part of the proposed reforms to the F Gas Regulation phasedown schedule.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparative estimate her Department has made of the cost to consumers of (a) the proposed SESRO reservoir and (b) a Severn-to-Thames water transfer pipeline.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water Resource Management Plans, which are approved by regulators, ensure that the strategic options pursued by water companies provide the best value for customers. Expenditure on infrastructure and customer bills are also controlled by Ofwat to minimise costs to billpayers. Defra are working to minimise bill impacts of any strategic resource option through the Water Delivery Taskforce, which brings together regulators and water companies to find cost-effective solutions.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential costs and benefits of a hybrid phasedown scenario that would maintain the existing phasedown schedule until 2030 before transitioning to the Medium Ambition Scenario, compared to the High Ambition Scenario proposed in the F Gas Regulation consultation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many responses his Department has received from (a) refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump industry representatives, (b) small and medium-sized enterprises and (c) trade associations representing environmental technology businesses to the F Gas Regulation consultation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is currently consulting on proposed reforms to the GB hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phasedown. The consultation remains open, and the Department is carefully considering all responses received from a wide range of stakeholders, including industry representatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, trade associations and other interested parties.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 adequacy of funding mechanisms under the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging scheme to enable local authorities and other land managers to address single-use packaging waste on public rights of way and in rural green spaces.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In autumn last year, Defra published the final impact assessment for the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) regulations when they were laid in Parliament. Payments for litter cleanup are outside the scope of the regulations and therefore this assessment did not include analysis of how pEPR funding might address littered packaging on public rights of way or in rural green spaces.
More broadly this Government remains committed to tackling litter. Most importantly the deposit return scheme for drinks containers which will be rolled out in October 2027, will have a major impact on littered single use packaging waste. Plastic bottles and cans account for 55% of litter volume and DRS is expected to significantly reduce the number of items littered.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
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 monitor and tackle the environmental impact of single-use packaging waste on terrestrial trail ecosystems, including public rights of way.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse.
We are targeting some of the more commonly littered items to reduce the presence of these in our communities. The sale of single-use vapes was banned from 1 June 2025 and a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers will go live in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland in October 2027. The Deposit Return Scheme will cover plastic and metal drinks containers (like bottles and cans which make up 55% of litter volume), and the goal is to reduce litter and help keep our streets, rivers, and oceans clean.
We have a number of restrictions on other unnecessary single use plastic products and we will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions. These measures help reduce litter at the source and reduce pollution on terrestrial trail ecosystems.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of reinstating (a) full public access and (b) navigation at Temple Footbridge in Hurley.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Full navigation access at Temple Footbridge will be reinstated once the central section of the bridge is removed and taken off site for inspection and secure storage. This is now expected to take place in November 2025, at a cost of approximately £450,000. Public pedestrian access will be reinstated once the bridge is either refurbished or replaced. The costs of this will be known once the outline design is completed in March 2026 and the removed central section in fully inspected.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency has allocated funding for the (a) repair and (b) reopening of Temple Footbridge in Hurley.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is investing up to £500k this financial year to progress the initial phases of the Temple Footbridge (Hurley) and Marsh Horsebridge (Henley on Thames) projects. This includes the preparation of outline designs, which are expected to be completed by 31 March 2026, along with any further specialist surveys and visualisations that are needed to assist the future delivery of these projects. The outline designs will be used to calculate the indicative costs of the completed projects, and therefore how much partnership funding will be needed alongside any government grant in aid that will be allocated. The EA has been working with local stakeholders to develop a partnership funding strategy for these projects. This will start to be implemented once the outline designs and completion costs are finalised.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to provide additional resources to the Environment Agency to support works to restore full navigation under Temple Footbridge in Hurley.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) will continue to invest in its Navigation infrastructure. Once the indicative costs of completing the Temple Footbridge project is known, the amount of additional grant in aid available to the EA for this project will be calculated.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to help ensure that staffing levels of lock keepers and river infrastructure on the non‑tidal River Thames are sufficient to guarantee public and operator safety.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ensuring public and operator safety on the non-tidal River Thames is a priority for the Environment Agency (EA). The EA is investing in additional lock and weir resource.