Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 include a national social tariff for water bills in the Government’s Water White Paper.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are working with water companies to ensure vulnerable customers across the country receive support. This includes improving the guidance for companies to design the best social tariffs for their customers.
We expect all water companies to put appropriate support in place for customers struggling to pay their bills and to proactively engage with their customers to ensure they know what support schemes are available and how to use them. Over the next five years, water companies will have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs from 4% in 2025 to 9% in 2030. We expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end water poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to this end.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 prevent the illegal killing of hen harriers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The illegal killing of hen harriers is unacceptable. Bird of prey persecution is a national wildlife crime priority and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against birds of prey, including hen harriers. Defra supports the work of a national Tactical Delivery Group which brings stakeholders together to tackle such criminality.
Defra is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime and directly assists law enforcers in their investigations. Defra is providing £494,000 for NWCU this year. In 2024, the NWCU launched the Hen Harrier Task Force (HTF) – a partnership designed to help tackle the illegal persecution of hen harriers. Through the HTF, more efficient channels of communication, cooperation, and data sharing between partners such as Natural England, the RSPB, and the NWCU expedites the coordination of effective enforcement response. This also supports efforts to successfully prosecute criminals and deters other would-be offenders. The HTF represents a pivotal shift in combating wildlife crime; it is using innovative technology (such as tracking drones and specialised detection dogs) to overcome logistical challenges and enhance evidence collection in remote areas.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 (a) customs checks and (b) regulatory barriers in UK-EU trade on food prices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and manufacturing costs, and Sterling exchange rates. Some of these factors are influenced by our trading arrangements with other countries. Changes in food prices are dependent on changes in one or more of these factors.
One source of barrier facing UK-EU trade are SPS checks. The Government estimates the measures introduced through the Border Target Operating Model would have a minimal impact on consumer food price inflation of less than 0.2 percentage points in total over a 3-year period.
Final_Border_Target_Operating_Model.pdf
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 help people with food prices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is taking forward a range of actions to help address food prices by tackling the underlying drivers of cost and supporting access to affordable food.
The department is working closely with the Department for Business and Trade to assess how regulation affects food businesses and food prices, through the Food Inflation Gateway. This work is helping to identify where burdens can be reduced or sequenced more effectively. Alongside this, through the Good Food Cycle, Defra set out priority outcomes focused on improving access to healthy, affordable food and strengthening local food systems.
More broadly, the Government is providing targeted support to help households manage food costs. From April, the value of Healthy Start will rise by 10% to provide greater support for pregnant women and young children, alongside work with retailers to expand access to healthy, affordable food. Free School Meals will be extended to around half a million additional pupils, saving families up to £495 per child annually and lifting approximately 100,000 children out of relative poverty. The Holiday Activity and Food Programme will also continue with £600 million in funding.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to introduce legislation in 2026 to ban the sale and supply of peat for horticultural use.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government plans to legislate for a ban on the sale of peat and peat containing products when parliamentary time allows. This commitment is embedded within our Carbon Budget planning and, most recently, reflected in the latest iteration of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP).
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 take steps to ensure that egg production in the UK comes from cage-free systems.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 29 April 2025 to the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole, PQ UIN 47556.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to improve the level of transparency of method-of-production welfare labelling for (a) pork, (b) chicken and (c) eggs.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for York Central, Rachael Maskell, on 8 October 2025, PQ UIN 76016.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 bring forward secondary legislation to enact the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We continue to engage with stakeholders including the tourism industry and animal welfare groups to explore both legislative and non-legislative options to stop the advertising of low-welfare animal activities abroad.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 phase out the use of high concentration carbon dioxide gas for the stunning of livestock in abattoirs.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The Government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter. We understand that there is a pressing need to address the welfare concerns associated with this method of stunning pigs.
The Animal Welfare Committee has carried out an up-to-date and comprehensive animal welfare assessment of the evidence on high concentration carbon dioxide stunning of pigs and alternative pig stunning methods. The Committee carefully considered the evidence and provided their report to the UK Government, and Scottish and Welsh Governments, in July which we are now considering.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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 take steps to add meadows to the list of irreplaceable habitats in England.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Irreplaceable habitat includes some of England’s most ecologically valuable habitats. The list of irreplaceable habitats in the biodiversity net gain regulations reflects the non-exhaustive list of examples of irreplaceable habitat in the National Planning Policy Framework. Given the breadth of habitats which could be considered irreplaceable, the Government plans in due course to review the definition of irreplaceable habitats to ensure it is robust and comprehensive to support decision makers.