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 impact of the Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on (a) household costs through higher retail prices, (b) food price inflation and (c) business costs for (i) small and medium-sized enterprises and (ii) larger producers; and what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the retail, food manufacturing and packaging sectors on those impacts.

The 2024 final impact assessment for Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) estimated it could result in a one-off increase in CPI inflation of 0.07 percentage points, or an increase to average weekly household expenditure of £0.91. It did not provide a separate estimate of food price inflation. For the average producer, the assessment estimated pEPR costs at less than 1% of turnover. Businesses that do not meet both the £2 million turnover and 50-tonne packaging thresholds are not liable for disposal fees or recycling obligations.

Defra ministers and officials regularly engage with stakeholders on the operation of the scheme.