Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration her Department has given to banning non-stun slaughter of animals.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Regulations require that animals must be stunned prior to slaughter so that they are unconscious and insensible to pain, and the only exception is where animals are slaughtered in accordance with religious rites. The Government would prefer all animals to be stunned before slaughter, but we respect the rights of Jews and Muslims to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 level of carbon emissions caused by (a) prescribed burns of vegetation and (b) wildfires during 2025.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to improving air quality to deliver benefits for public health, the environment, and the economy. This includes reducing carbon emissions.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the consultation on licensing domestic rescue and rehoming organisations will be launched; and what her planned timetable is for its conclusion and response.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, the Government will launch a consultation on licensing domestic rescue and rehoming organisations in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the modified heather dominated upland peat managed by Natural England is degraded.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Natural England manages 7,865 hectares of upland peat areas with a mosaic of dwarf shrub heath and blanket bog vegetation types. The latest condition assessments report that whilst 15% is unfavourable, either with no signs of change or declining, 72% is unfavourable recovering meaning that positive management is restoring the habitats and the ecosystem services they provide and 13% is recorded as favourable.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the net zero targets are for (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s-length bodies; and whether guidance has been issued on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Net Zero target in the Climate Change Act 2008 is a target for the whole of the UK, not individual departments or arms-length bodies.
The Greening Government Commitments are the central framework setting out the actions UK Government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including setting targets to reduce emissions, during the framework period.
Defra is reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with Government priorities.
The Environment Agency (Environment Agency: reaching net zero - GOV.UK), Foresty England (Cutting our carbon emissions | Forestry England), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew commits to become climate positive by 2030 | Kew) and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas 2030) have published separate emissions targets.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department plans to have with animal welfare charities and sector bodies ahead of the consultation on licensing rescue and rehoming organisations; and if Ministers will meet with organisations including national animal welfare charities and representative bodies for rescue and rehoming centres.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra will engage with stakeholders, including animal welfare groups, as part of the consultation process on its proposals for licensing rescue and rehoming centres. Defra welcomes the input of interested parties and will maintain communication with these groups as part of the consultation process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 plans to have discussions with devolved Administrations on their experiences of developing proposals for licensing domestic rescue and rehoming organisations.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works closely with the devolved governments on a range of shared priorities and will discuss any relevant matters as necessary.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
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 11 December 2025 to Question 97170, what fees the Marine Management Organisation has charged in each year since 2018 for reviewing evidence submitted to discharge, vary, or comply with conditions on marine licences relating to mudflat surveys.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This information is not published and is not readily available. Due to the level of detail specified in the request, it would require a significant amount of time and resource to provide this, incurring disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an estimate of the cost to port operators of surveying mudflats required under (a) environmental assessment and (b) marine licensing processes; and whether she has made an assessment of the (i) consistency and (ii) proportionality of those requirements across England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Costs for surveying mudflats vary. If surveying is a condition of a marine licence, the Marine Management Organisation charges a fee, to review evidence provided as part of a condition on a marine licence.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The information below relates to Defra and the Environment agency only.
Since 4 July 2024, the Department and its arm’s length bodies have spent £996k on the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities.
Since 4 July 2024, the Department and its arm’s length bodies have spent £278k on the purchase of electric vehicles.
The Department estimates that the capital cost of the electric vehicles purchased is approximately £50k (£4.1k per vehicle) higher than comparable diesel models.
The Department is working towards a government target of 100% Zero Tailpipe Emissions by 31 December 2027.