Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential economic impact of coastal communities on the national economy; and whether she plans to publish a strategy for supporting economic growth in coastal towns.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the lead for coastal communities across Government. Many coastal communities are also rural, and Defra is the lead department for rural communities. Rural areas contributed over £259 billion (12%) to the economy in England in 2023. Further information and analysis on the contribution of rural areas to the economy can be found in the Statistical Digest of Rural England - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 29 June 2026 to Question 12585 on Packaging: Recycling, whether the ongoing review of the wider impacts of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging includes extending the exemption of charities and non-profit organisations from producer fees to social enterprises that reinvest their profits for social or environmental purposes.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Under the scheme, obligations are based on packaging placed on the market and statutory thresholds, rather than business model. Producers are exempt from disposal fee and recycling obligations where they have annual turnover below £2 million and place less than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market. Defra keeps the thresholds and wider operation of the scheme under review as it is implemented. We are not currently considering a change to the status of social enterprises within the scheme.
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
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 has assessed the potential impact of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging charges on social enterprises; and whether she has considered extending exemptions from those charges to social enterprises.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) shifts the cost of managing household packaging waste from taxpayers to the producers who place packaging on the market. It funds local authorities and incentivises producers to reduce packaging and use packaging that is easier to recycle.
Producer obligations are determined by turnover and packaging tonnage, rather than business model. Producers are exempt from disposal fee and recycling obligations where they have annual turnover below £2 million and place less than 50 tonnes of packaging on the market.
Defra keeps the thresholds and wider impacts of the scheme under review as it is implemented.