Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board has had with levy payers and businesses affected by the withdrawal of the horticulture levy; and what steps are being taken to ensure they are informed of alternative sources of support.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the horticulture sector’s vote to end the statutory levy, AHDB has confirmed that 1,260 levy payers paid levy in the final 2021/22 levy year. AHDB then needed to use the residual levy funds for the benefit of the horticulture sector. Following engagement with the industry and discussion with the British Growers Association and horticulture crop associations an industry-led proposal emerged to fund sector-led projects through 22 crop associations, with benefits available to all growers, including non-members. This approach has farming union support. As benefits are collective, the proportion of former levy payers who will benefit cannot be meaningfully calculated. Horticulture businesses can access wider Defra support, including the Farming Innovation Programme, subject to eligibility.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
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 proportion of those affected by the withdrawal of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board horticulture levy who will receive support through the decision to fund 22 horticultural crop associations.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the horticulture sector’s vote to end the statutory levy, AHDB has confirmed that 1,260 levy payers paid levy in the final 2021/22 levy year. AHDB then needed to use the residual levy funds for the benefit of the horticulture sector. Following engagement with the industry and discussion with the British Growers Association and horticulture crop associations an industry-led proposal emerged to fund sector-led projects through 22 crop associations, with benefits available to all growers, including non-members. This approach has farming union support. As benefits are collective, the proportion of former levy payers who will benefit cannot be meaningfully calculated. Horticulture businesses can access wider Defra support, including the Farming Innovation Programme, subject to eligibility.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many individuals, businesses and levy payers are affected by the withdrawal of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board horticulture levy and what support will be available to them in the levies absence.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Following the horticulture sector’s vote to end the statutory levy, AHDB has confirmed that 1,260 levy payers paid levy in the final 2021/22 levy year. AHDB then needed to use the residual levy funds for the benefit of the horticulture sector. Following engagement with the industry and discussion with the British Growers Association and horticulture crop associations an industry-led proposal emerged to fund sector-led projects through 22 crop associations, with benefits available to all growers, including non-members. This approach has farming union support. As benefits are collective, the proportion of former levy payers who will benefit cannot be meaningfully calculated. Horticulture businesses can access wider Defra support, including the Farming Innovation Programme, subject to eligibility.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
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 tackle illegal waste activities in (a) Worcestershire and (b) England.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Waste reforms will make it harder for organised criminals to exploit the waste system and that is why the Government is committed to introducing tighter controls on waste exemptions, introducing digital waste tracking from October 2026 beginning with waste receiving sites, and introducing new permit requirements for carriers, brokers and dealers. Connecting fragmented systems and digitising record-keeping will ultimately make it harder for rogue operators to compete in the industry and commit waste crime, from fly tipping to illegal waste sites to illegal waste shipments.
In Worcestershire, recent multi-agency work has resulted in the seizure of vehicles suspected of involvement in waste crime, thereby removing them off the road and preventing further illegal activity. Environment Agency investigators continue to gather evidence of suspected offenders with a view to pursuing enforcement action.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Environment Agency’s budget is for tackling illegal waste activity in the financial year 2025-26.
Answered by Mary Creagh
This financial year, the Government committed £12 million to the Environment Agency (EA) to fight waste crime. This is an additional £2 million to the £10 million it received in previous years. The funding will continue to afford resource of approximately 240 full-time equivalent across the EA to target waste crime; it is spent on specialised staff, such as enforcement officers, intelligence officers, financial investigators, and disclosure officers.
The EA also received £3 million for 2025/26 to enforce new duties introduced this year including the new Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility requirements. This helps to fund resources towards operational staff to tackle serious and significant offending.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites the Environment Agency has closed in the last three years.
Answered by Mary Creagh
In the period April 2021-March 2024, the Environment Agency stopped 1691 illegal waste sites.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs have been (a) seized and (b) taken into quarantine at (i) the Port of Dover and (ii) Eurotunnel in each month in 2019.
Answered by David Rutley
The number of dogs seized and taken into quarantine at the port of Dover and the Eurotunnel for each month of 2019 are as follows.
Month (2019) | Port of Seizure | Total seized | Detained in quarantine |
Jan | Eurotunnel | 24 | 7 |
Dover | 13 | 10 | |
Feb | Eurotunnel | 7 | 2 |
Dover | 20 | 4 | |
March | Eurotunnel | 5 | 2 |
Dover | 22 | 12 | |
April | Eurotunnel | 8 | 5 |
Dover | 29 | 5 | |
May | Eurotunnel | 3 | 3 |
Dover | 19 | 9 | |
June | Eurotunnel | 13 | 7 |
Dover | 16 | 8 |
The number of animals detained in quarantine for Eurotunnel may also include dogs that were seized at Coquelles and moved into the United Kingdom for quarantine purposes.
Some of animals will have been seized on welfare grounds only and therefore not put in quarantine.
The numbers provided are a true reflection of the information that we have access to. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data, as it is provided by a third party.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to help more children access and understand nature.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Government’s ambition is to connect more children with nature. We have supported a number of initiatives for children to access and better understand the environment. Our aim is to not only give all children the chance to experience the natural world, but also to understand it, and respond to it. For example:
Our Eight Point Plan for National Parks will:
Defra has also worked closely with its delivery bodies and partners on a Natural Connections Pilot Project that supported schools, not only to connect children with nature through outdoor learning, but also to make sure schools are able to connect outdoor learning to their curriculum.
We are also helping schools plant a million trees in their communities, so children can see first-hand the power of nature.