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 had recent discussions with industry stakeholders on the level of Government support that will be required for the implementation of the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme.

Key stakeholders from industry have been involved throughout the policy development process, through forums such as the Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP), Defra’s Packaging and Collections Working Group and the Industry Sounding Board. We held an initial consultation on the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging in 2019 and a second consultation in 2021.

We have recently embarked on a series of visioning sprints to provide an opportunity for industry and UK Government officials to work together to propose a shared vision and develop a strategic roadmap for the delivery of our packaging and waste reforms. We are also running fortnightly Business Readiness Forums, to ensure we capture feedback and continue to relay key information to businesses across the packaging chain. A number of deep dive sessions on specific topics have also been arranged and we will continue to offer new sessions throughout 2023 to ensure business readiness.