Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
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 merits of (a) strengthening, (b) publicising and (c) enforcing the Code of Practice on Conservation, Access and Recreation.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Code of Practice on Conservation, Access and Recreation issued in May 2000 (https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20030731231207/http://www.defra.gov.uk:80/environment/water/industry/copcar/chapter1.htm) sets clear expectations of how water and sewerage companies are expected to comply with statutory duties under sections 3-5 of the Water Industry Act 1991, covering concerns such as conservation and public access. The Environment Agency must have regard to this Code of Practice.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her planned timetable is for the abolition of Ofwat.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will publish a White Paper and introduce a new water reform bill, early this parliament, bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors and the environment, and restore trust and accountability. As part of this reform the Government has committed to create a single powerful regulator responsible for the entire water sector. Ofwat will be abolished, and the new regulator will take responsibility of water functions across Ofwat, Environment Agency, Natural England and Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to bring forward a Water Reform Bill.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will publish a White Paper and introduce a new water reform bill, early this parliament, bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors and the environment, and restore trust and accountability. As part of this reform the Government has committed to create a single powerful regulator responsible for the entire water sector. Ofwat will be abolished, and the new regulator will take responsibility of water functions across Ofwat, Environment Agency, Natural England and Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish a water reform white paper.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will publish a White Paper and introduce a new water reform bill, early this parliament, bringing forward root and branch reform to secure better outcomes for customers, investors and the environment, and restore trust and accountability. As part of this reform the Government has committed to create a single powerful regulator responsible for the entire water sector. Ofwat will be abolished, and the new regulator will take responsibility of water functions across Ofwat, Environment Agency, Natural England and Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on banning foie gras imports.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government shares the British public's high regard for animal welfare and has made clear that the production of foie gras from ducks or geese using force feeding raises serious welfare concerns. Foie gras production using force feeding has been banned in the UK for nearly 20 years as it is not compatible with our animal welfare legislation.
Defra is continuing to consider the evidence and options in relation to foie gras.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
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 merits of expanding access rights for (a) swimming and (b) non-motorised craft on inland waterways.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The government recognises the importance of providing access to nature and is considering the approach to improving that, including access onto unregulated inland waterways. We are committed to working with stakeholders as this develops, and a further update will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2025 to Question 49987, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there is no funding gap between the end of Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme and the opening of the application window for Environmental Landscape Management schemes for landscape-scale restoration of upland peatland areas.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of England’s peatlands, and in our manifesto, we committed to expanding nature-rich habitats such as wetlands and peat bogs. This will contribute to ensuring nature’s recovery, one of Defra’s five priorities. We have ambitions to restore hundreds of thousands of hectares of peatlands across the country, and we are working to ensure that we have the most effective mechanisms in place to go further than we have before.
Peatland restoration is currently funded via the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme. We will continue to work with partners, farmers and land managers to enable the delivery of peat restoration, supported by agri-environmental schemes that provide long-term funding to support restoration projects. We are providing advice and guidance to enable partners to transition to new funding arrangements.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
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 plans to take to support the horticultural industry in transitioning to peat-free growing.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ministers are committed to protecting our nature-rich habitats, including peat bogs and are looking at next steps for measures to end the use of peat in horticulture. We continue to work alongside the horticultural sector to support progress on the peat free transition. This includes support for the Royal Horticultural Society’s peat free transition fellowship amounting to £330,000 over three years.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential impact of increasing public access to the outdoors on public health.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises health and wellbeing benefits of outdoor access and is taking action to increase opportunities for everyone to engage with nature through nine new national river walks and three new national forests.
We work closely with DHSC to embed improved access to nature as part of preventative healthcare through, initiatives such as green social prescribing.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support councils to establish food partnerships.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Towards a Good Food Cycle, the UK Government food strategy for England, published on 15 July, sets out the Government's plans to transform the food system. A UK government food strategy for England - GOV.UK.
As we develop the food strategy, we will be considering how we can better support local and place-based initiatives, to deliver the changes needed to deliver our health, sustainability and resilience outcomes. We are working with the Local Government Association to better understand the role of local authorities in supporting resilient local food systems.
The Department will continue to work with partners and seek views from across the food system.