Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her most recent annual estimate is for the amount of waste deposited illegally across England and Wales.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Waste is a devolved matter and the information provided in this answer is for England only.
The Environment Agency (EA) focuses on tackling large-scale waste crime in England, often linked to organised criminal activity while fly-tipping is managed by local authorities.
The EA has no estimate of the total amount of waste deposited illegally each year - by its nature waste crime is hidden and so inherently difficult to measure. The EA estimates that the amount of waste deposited in illegal waste sites which came to their attention in 2025 was 845,906 tonnes. In addition to this, waste will have been deposited during 2025 at sites which came to EA’s attention in earlier years. This waste is of varying types, with significantly different environmental impacts. As these are estimates the true figure may be more or less. The estimates only relate to those sites of which the EA is aware.
Defra does not have an estimate for the total amount of fly-tipped waste in England annually. However, local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents to Defra, which are published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england. These figures are separate to the large-scale incidents dealt with by the EA, and we expect that they exclude the majority of private-land incidents.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure effective regulation and enforcement is in place to tackle the environmental and financial impact of waste crime.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to tackling waste crime from the fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages to the serious and organised crime groups who are exploiting the waste sector. Those responsible for committing waste crime, rather than taxpayers, should cover the cost of cleaning up the mess they create.
We are making policy and regulatory reforms to close loopholes exploited by criminals and have increased the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) budget for waste crime enforcement by over 50% this year to £15.6 million.
The EA hosts the Joint Unit for Waste Crime which brings together the EA, HMRC, National Crime Agency, the police, waste regulators from across the UK and other operational partners to share intelligence and tasking to disrupt and prevent serious organised waste crime. Our extra funding has enabled the EA to double the size of the Joint Unit for Waste Crime. Overall, the EA has been able to increase its frontline criminal enforcement resource in the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and area environmental crime teams by 43 full time staff.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve the inspection of water infrastructure in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under this Government’s watch, the Environment Agency has sharply stepped up its physical inspections – carrying out more than 8,000 inspections so far in 2025/26. That is a 76% increase on last year. It is on track to complete approximately 800 inspections of Thames Water wastewater assets in the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, including those in the Surrey Heath constituency such as the wastewater treatment works at Chobham, Camberley, Lightwater and Pirbright.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate undertakes a range of activities to assess the security of drinking water infrastructure. Building on this, the Government’s water White Paper announced the Government will introduce powers to allow ‘No notice’ inspections on drinking water company assets to improve security and resilience.
The new single regulator will include a Chief Engineer who will be part of shifting the culture of the regulator especially as part of infrastructure supervision.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on (a) improving access to and (b) streamlining the enforcement processes of the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government intends to remove the Direct Pay service and thereby speed up detection of non-compliance. Moving to a single, strengthened Collect and Pay system will allow the CMS to monitor all payments, identify missed or partial payments immediately, and take faster enforcement action. Ahead of this change, the CMS is already moving non-compliant parents more quickly from Direct Pay to Collect and Pay.
To further improve arrears collection, the CMS will introduce administrative liability orders (ALOs) to replace the current court-based process. This will streamline enforcement, reduce delays, and help the CMS act more quickly against parents who avoid their responsibilities. Work with HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government is underway, and regulations will be brought to Parliament as soon as possible.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support young people with Education, Health and Care Plans who stay in education after the age of 18.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education, health and care (EHC) plans can remain in place after age 18. If a young person has an EHC plan, it does not have to end when they leave school. Their plan can continue up to the age of 25, if they still have special educational needs and remain in education or training.
EHC plans must have a formal annual review every 12 months conducted by the local authority to ensure that the support and arrangements are relevant and fit the individual’s circumstances. The local authority can cease the EHC plan if it is no longer necessary for special educational provision to be made for the young person.
An EHC plan helps a person aged 18 or over by securing legally‑backed, tailored support across education, health, and social care so they can achieve their learning goals and move more confidently toward independence and employment.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Armed Forces Bill 2026 which, what assessment he has made if the (a) proportion of the cohort aged between 55 and 65 that would meet the physical requirements of service and (b) other forms of service appropriate to those who are not physically capable.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This measure would only apply to those personnel leaving the Regulars or Volunteer Reserves after the Bill comes into force, unless they opt out. It also would not affect existing leavers unless they wish to opt in.
Any former personnel recalled into Service would undergo routine medical checks to ensure that they are employed appropriately. We already have role-based medical standards that allow us to employ Reservists across a wide range of Defence activities. This approach would be equally applied to all of those eligible for recall.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average processing time was for driving licence applications in December 2025.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 January to question UIN 103613.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her proposed timeline is for publishing her Department's response to the consultation and evidence-gathering exercise on removing the 50km restriction for 18 to 20-year-old bus and coach drivers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In April 2024, the previous government launched a consultation to help support driver recruitment, including a measure to amend licensing restrictions which would enable 18 to 19-year-olds to drive a bus and coach over 50km when driving a regular service, aiming help to increase the number of available bus drivers, particularly for longer, more rural routes.
Following the change of government, the Department has re-engaged with industry to better understand the likely effect of removing the current restrictions.
Once all responses have been gathered, they will be considered alongside contributions from other stakeholders. This combined evidence base will be used to determine our next steps.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which Government departments other than his Department are able to have the biggest impact on improving levels of ambient air pollution; and how their policies seek to achieve this.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Air pollution comes from many different sources and has wide-ranging impacts. Issues such as air quality, climate action, public health and nature recovery are closely linked, creating opportunities for policies that deliver benefits across all these areas. Because of this, every part of government has a role in shaping policies that help reduce air pollution and its effects.
I will continue to work collaboratively with colleagues across government to tackle key sources of pollution, such as transport, health and energy policy, which play a vital role in meeting our statutory air quality targets.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what comparisons and best practices can be learned from other countries to help improve air quality in England in (a) ambient air and (b) indoor air.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that air pollution is a local, regional, and global issue, and that there is considerable expertise, knowledge, and skills that countries, experts, and organisations can share to help reduce pollution across the world. We remain committed to cooperating with our neighbours across Europe to reduce our regional air pollution, including through the ongoing revision of the 2012 amended Gothenburg Protocol, and to playing our part in wider global action to reduce pollution around the world.