Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on measures to achieve net zero targets in the last five years.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

While the Department for Net Zero and Energy Security leads across Government on net zero, Defra is responsible for reducing emissions from agriculture, land use (including peat), fluorinated gases and waste (including wastewater), whilst simultaneously increasing England's carbon saving potential through our forestry policies.

In Spending Review 2021 Defra received numerous funding allocations, which as well as providing direct funding for Defra's contribution to net zero they contributed towards wider departmental objectives such as tackling biodiversity loss, ensuring nature recovery and food security and providing opportunities for economic growth. These programmes include the food waste new burden (£295 million), Nature for Climate fund (£750 million) and Future Farming and Countryside Programme which includes the Environmental Land Management Schemes (£2.9 billion). Additionally, across the Spending Review period, funding was allocated to net zero research and development programme (£75 million).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to review the calculation of child maintenance payments, in the context of the use of gross salaries for assessments; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adjusting those calculations to reflect (a) the disposable income of paying parents after deductions and (b) any unusual expenses.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Any income subject to income tax, including bonuses and overtime received by an employed paying parent, is included within their gross weekly income when calculating a child maintenance liability.

Generally, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) caseload is governed by broad administrative rules and does not provide bespoke solutions for individual cases. However, there is some scope to take account of specific situations. Variations allow the Child Maintenance Service to look at some circumstances which are not covered by the basic maintenance calculation. Either parent may apply for a variation at any time during the life of their case, provided enough information for an appropriate ground can be identified. If a variation application is successful, the maintenance calculation will be adjusted accordingly.

The department is reviewing the calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This has included updating the underlying research and considering how we ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department plans to provide to assist with the environmental clean-up of beaches in Boston and Skegness constituency following the recent North Sea oil tanker collision.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Now the overall situation has stabilised, the response has moved from a Major Incident Response into the recovery phase. Both ships remain afloat and normal maritime traffic has resumed. Though the situation is stable, recovery work will continue with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency continuing to coordinate operational partners and maintaining their vigilance of the situation to ensure a safe resolution.

Defra is working with multiple organisations, including the Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) and the PREMIAM (Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring) has been activated to assess the impact of this incident on water pollution and the marine environment. No chemical pollution from the initial fuel spill has been detected.

Pollution in the form of nurdles and burnt plastic has shown up on beaches in NW Norfolk, Lincolnshire and at sea in The Wash. Vessels have been recovering the nurdles at sea and the ongoing beach clean-up in Lincolnshire is being co-ordinated by the relevant local authority. There has been no sign of any other pollution. The four Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are working together in a Joint East Coast Recovery Management Group to lead counter-pollution activities.

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 improve livestock (a) registration and (b) inspection, in the context of (i) avian influenza and (ii) the recommendations in Dame Glenys Stacey's report entitled Farm Inspection and Regulation Review, published in December 2018.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Since the 1 September 2024 in Scotland and 1 October 2024 in England and Wales registration has been a legal requirement for anyone owning poultry or other captive birds, with the exception of certain psittacines and passerines, even if only kept as pets. This builds on the requirement for keepers to register if they kept 50 or more poultry in Great Britain which had been in force since 2005. New online registration services have been launched to minimise the burden where possible on keepers in complying with these new requirements.

The new registration requirements address repeated recommendations from highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak lessons identified reviews since at least 2016, as well as the 2018 Dame Glenys Stacey review. The requirements will aid in the prevention and control of notifiable avian disease outbreaks, by facilitating both surveillance activities and communication to bird keepers. In particular, getting biosecurity and outbreak messaging out to hard-to-reach groups including small flock keepers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an estimate of the proportion of Personal Independence Payment recipients who would remain eligible for support under the proposed changes to the disability benefits system.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The publication ‘Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts’ provides some information on the numbers affected by the proposed changes to the disability benefits system.

In particular, table A3 on page 8 shows the estimated impacts of the proposed changes on the working age Personal Independence Payment and Daily Living Allowance caseload, and table A4 on page 9 shows the volume of people in receipt of PIP estimated to be affected by the change, divided into the pre-implementation caseload, and people claiming from November 2026 onwards.

More information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she will consider introducing a (a) transitional period and (b) grace window for homebuyers who began the property purchase process before recent changes to Stamp Duty rates to help prevent transactions from falling through.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

I refer the hon member to the answer given to UIN 38297.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions on charitable organisations; and what steps she plans to take to fiscally support those organisations.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

DCMS Ministers have met with representatives from the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector and are aware of their concerns about the National Insurance contributions (NICs) changes. We recognise the need to protect the smallest businesses and charities, which is why we have more than doubled the Employment Allowance to £10,500, meaning that more than half of businesses (including charities) with NICs liabilities will either gain or see no change next year.

We are expanding eligibility of the Employment Allowance by removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold, to simplify and reform employer NICs so that all eligible employers now benefit. Employers will also continue to benefit from employer NICs reliefs including for hiring those under 21 and apprentices under 25, where eligible.

The government has taken a number of difficult decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability. The need to raise income required the government to make this tough financial choice; the Chancellor was clear in her open letter to the voluntary sector that raising the rate of employer NICs was one of the most difficult decisions in the budget.

Within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving. The tax reliefs available to charities are a vital element in supporting charitable causes across the UK, with more than £6 billion in charitable reliefs provided to charities and their donors. The biggest individual reliefs provided are Gift Aid at £1.6 billion and business rates relief at nearly £2.4 billion.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered reallocating Child Tax Credit payments previously claimed by a child’s parents prior to their entering foster care to that child while in care.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Child Tax Credit has been fully replaced by Universal Credit and Pension Credit since 6 April 2025. The Department for Work and Pensions has invited all eligible customers to claim. There are consequently no plans to review past Child Tax Credit rules or arrangements.

Securing habitat for endangered swifts and other cavity nesting birds

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