Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 meet farmers, veterinary professionals, scientists and livestock industry representatives to discuss a national strategy to tackle the spread of bluetongue virus serotype 3, and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra engages regularly with farmers, veterinary professionals, scientists, devolved governments and livestock industry representatives on bluetongue virus (BTV-3). Baroness Hayman met industry leaders and veterinary representatives on 8 September to discuss the outbreak. The Secretary of State is also engaging directly with the farming sector, including at the NFU’s Back British Farming Day event on 9 September. Defra is supporting the industry-led Battle Bluetongue campaign to encourage vaccination, and signposting support through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. Defra will continue to work closely with industry and scientific experts to inform its response.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what work is being done by her Department to establish how epidemiological, genetic, meteorological and geographical evidence explain the pattern and speed of bluetongue virus serotype 3 transmission during the current outbreak.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) work closely with scientific partners to monitor and assess the spread of bluetongue virus serotype 3 (BTV-3). Epidemiological, meteorological, virus characteristics and geographical evidence is used to support disease surveillance and disease-control decisions, including improving understanding of disease patterns and vector activity. APHA is operationally supporting The Pirbright Institute in delivering enhanced bluetongue testing capacity, and accredited molecular diagnostic tests used by APHA support the detection and monitoring of virus circulation. This evidence-based approach helps inform the Government's response and ensures control measures remain under review as new information becomes available.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's long-term education, vaccination and disease-control strategy is to prevent bluetongue virus serotype 3 becoming an annual cycle of infection, reproductive losses and reduced livestock production.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bluetongue will likely recur in 2027. The best way to protect against reproductive and production losses is to vaccinate early. Defra supports the industry-led Battle Bluetongue campaign and continues to encourage animal keepers to speak to their vet about vaccination. The department take part in industry led webinars and provide other communications. During her recent roundtable with industry representatives affected by bluetongue on 8 September, Baroness Hayman heard first-hand the challenges faced by the sector, the importance of partnership working, and the need to strengthen long-term preparedness and resilience across the sector.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 consider a coordinated programme combining large-scale vaccination, Culicoides surveillance and systematic genetic monitoring, similar to measures adopted in France, to tackle the spread of bluetongue virus serotype 3.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government keeps its approach to bluetongue under continual review and considers scientific evidence and international experience when developing control policies. While the decision to vaccinate remains one for animal keepers, in consultation with their private vets, we have worked closely with sector representatives to encourage take-up, including supporting the Battle Bluetongue campaign to advocate for vaccination. The Animal and Plant Health Agency publishes a heat map of suspected and confirmed cases. The bluetongue virus genome is not prone to variation and recent genetic sequencing shows the virus in 2026 is very similar to the virus first detected in the Netherlands and later England in 2023.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 base fees for steel packaging under the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on plastic use; and whether she plans to review those fees.
Answered by Mary Creagh
In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers as a whole, pre base fees calculation. This assessment did not split the assessment by material sector impact. Since, Defra and PackUK have engaged extensively with waste management experts and the packaging industry across all materials to ensure that the modelling of local authority costs underpinning the pEPR scheme base fees fairly reflects the costs on-the-ground in reality of waste management operations. From year 2 of EPR (2026/27) onwards, fees will be modulated to ensure that less recyclable packaging materials incur higher fees, and more recyclable packaging materials incur lower. The fee modulation policy will be reviewed every 3 years.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 the amount of smoke pollution caused by wildfires in the UK in (a) 2024 and (b) in 2025; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The estimates for emissions from wildfires in 2024 will be published in February 2026, and the estimates for 2025 will be published in February 2027.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support farmers who are not registered to the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a two-year period.
Following the announcement that Defra has closed SFI for the submission of new applications, outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.
SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.
Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 increase the number of available sites for biodiversity net gain credits in south west Devon.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Biodiversity net gain is a post-permission matter, meaning a Biodiversity gain plan needs to be submitted and approved once planning permission has been granted and before the commencement of development.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to reduce the time taken for planning applications to commence for developments for which biodiversity net gain credits are required.
Answered by Mary Creagh
Biodiversity net gain is a post-permission matter, meaning a Biodiversity gain plan needs to be submitted and approved once planning permission has been granted and before the commencement of development.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
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 support developers to comply with biodiversity net gain policy for large housing developments when credits (a) are and (b) are not available.
Answered by Mary Creagh
The Government has published extensive guidance on biodiversity net gain (BNG), alongside the statutory biodiversity metric tool, which supports developers in calculating the biodiversity value of their developments.
Defra are also funding the Planning Advisory Service (PAS) to support LPAs administer biodiversity net gain in their areas and support the development of local biodiversity markets. The biodiversity gain sites register operated by Natural England at a national level and allows developers to record off-site gains and evidence that they will achieve BNG.
Where developers are not able to achieve BNG on the development site, or through the purchase of off-site habitat enhancements, the statutory biodiversity credits scheme, also operated by Natural England, is available. The intention is for statutory credits to be a last resort, enabling developers to meet their biodiversity net gain if other options are not possible. Revenue generated from statutory credits will be used to support habitat creation in England.