Written questions by Mayer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the recent heatwave in UK waters on marine species and habitats.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the potential impact of high ocean temperatures on marine biodiversity in UK waters.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of heatwaves on farming, food production and animal welfare.

Awaiting answer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of the Food Foundation’s Broken Plate report, published on 10 June 2026.

Defra welcomes the Broken Plate report. It highlights many of the challenges facing our food system, especially around access and affordability of healthy food. The Good Food Cycle sets out the government's vision for the food system. It identifies priori...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support biodiversity net gain policy to ensure market confidence and environmental integrity.

Government has recently announced reforms to Biodiversity Net Gain including actions to make it easier and cheaper for smaller developers to access the off-site market. Government has also recently put in place the legal framework for mandatory BNG to app...

Food and Rural Affairs, when a funded delivery plan will be published to support the restoration of 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.

The UK Government is committed to protecting 30% of land and sea in the UK by 2030 (30by30). Defra publishes funded delivery plans under its Environmental Improvement Plan to deliver Environment Act targets including the Marine Protected Area (MPA) target...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to allow local authorities to treat connected entities as a single undertaking in cases where arrangements have been created primarily to avoid Exte

Local authorities do not play a role in the compliance and enforcement of Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR). PEPR is regulated by the Environment Agency in England and by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wa...

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to set out plans for spatial prioritisation of ELM in line with the Land Use Framework.

We will include information about the spatial prioritisation of ELMS in the forthcoming Farming Roadmap. In the Land Use Framework we committed to publishing the assumptions and analysis underpinning potential changes later this year to ensure the sector ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking in response to the consultation on tail docking and castration in lambs.

The consultations on lamb castration and tail docking closed on 9 March. The Government is now carefully analysing consultation responses and will publish a formal response in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the England Tree Action Plan will include measures to promote tree equity.

The Government committed in the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 to publish a new Trees Action Plan for England in 2026. The Trees Action Plan is currently being developed. It will set out how the government will invest in tree planting and the forestr...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle graffiti vandalism.

Local authorities have powers to tackle graffiti vandalism, such as by issuing fixed penalty notices of up to £500. Councils also have powers to tackle any persistent or unreasonable behaviour that is having a negative effect on a community’s quality of l...

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of conflict involving Iran on UK farming and food security; and what steps she is taking to mitigate any such impact.

The UK has a resilient food supply chain. The Government is acting now to limit the impact of any disruption. This includes including cutting the duty on red diesel by a third, bringing it to its lowest rate in over 20 years, as well as extending the 5p f...

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the domestic food production to supply ratio remains above at least 60 per cent during the next 20 years.

In the recently published Land Use Framework, the Government made a clear, long-term commitment to maintain overall food production in England by increasing farm productivity and profitability. The Government will support this ambition through a range of ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what enforcement mechanisms are planned to ensure compliance with a potential trail hunting ban.

This Government is committed to introducing an effective ban on trail hunting. On 26 March 2026, Defra launched a Consultation on Proposals to Prohibit Trail Hunting in England and Wales seeking views on how to deliver a ban. The approach to implementing ...

Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department holds on trespassing incidents in waterways in quarries.

Defra holds no data on trespassing in waterways in quarries, but the Mining Remediation Authority may hold some information on this matter.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of levels of fly-tipping in woodland areas in the last 12 months.

The Government has made no specific assessment of fly-tipping levels in woodland areas over the last 12 months. Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents to Defra, which are published annually, which can be found on: Fly-tipping statistics for England - GOV.UK Local authorities are required to report to Defra the size of a fly-tipping incident, its waste type and the land-type where it occurred. However, this does not cover if the area is a particular habitat or a woodland.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a single national reporting route for instances of fly-tipping.

Individuals can already report illegal waste activity anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online. Local authorities are often best placed to tackle local issues such as fly-tipping, and so any single national reporting route would need to pass reports on to the relevant local authority. Incidents can already be reported to the relevant local authority online. Individuals can get help on identifying the relevant local authority webpage at: https://www.gov.uk/report-flytipping.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, whether her Department plans to support voluntary efforts to move away from the use of fast-growing meat chicken breeds.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 March 2026 to the hon. Member for Stockport, PQ UIN 118907.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, whether her Department plans to require that all chicken is sourced from higher welfare systems meeting the standards of the Better Chicken Commitment in Government procurement contracts.

As set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy, public sector food procurement policies have the potential to drive more positive animal welfare outcomes. We will explore such opportunities as we develop our policy, including the potential to strengthen the animal welfare provisions across a range of products within the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (GBSF). Further, the National Procurement Policy Statement, published in February 2025, underscores the government's commitment to increasing the procurement of food that meets higher environmental standards and upholds ethical sourcing practises across public sector contracts.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, what is the timeline for the publication of the evidence base on welfare issues affecting decapod crustaceans.

The Government is committed to an evidence-based and proportionate approach to setting welfare standards for decapod crustaceans. The Government set out in the Animal Welfare Strategy that it will develop this evidence base through research and continued stakeholder engagement. Research on how live decapods move from sea to plate is due to finish later this year and a project on the welfare of decapod crustaceans across the supply chain is included in the Animal Welfare Committee’s current work plan.