Written questions by Snowden.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Fruit and Vegetable Scheme on producers in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

The Government is committed to our horticulture sector and the vital role it plays in strengthening food security by ensuring a reliable and sustainable supply of fresh home-grown produce. The Fruit and Vegetable Scheme Aid Scheme is an EU legacy scheme, and we will not be continuing that model of support in England when it ends on 31 December 2025. Future funding for the sector will be considered alongside Defra’s work to simplify and rationalise agricultural grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. The Good Food Cycle, published as part of our food strategy gives the food sector a blueprint for an economically successful and innovative domestic food sector, including horticulture. It will work alongside the Farming Roadmap, the Land Use Framework, the Circular Economy Strategy and the Environmental Improvement Plan to deliver a resilient and healthy food system, that works with nature and supports farmers, growers and food producers.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the suspension of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on farmers in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) Lancashire.

We do not produce constituency level assessments. We publish regular statistics on Farm Business Income broken down in various ways. The latest data currently available are for 2023/24, 2024/25 data will be published on the 20 November 2025. Farming evidence packs have been recently updated including key statistics and farm performance. These set out an extensive range of data to provide an overview of agriculture in the UK. We will continue to carry out appropriate and timely assessments of our interventions to inform policy development. Across England, 50,000 farm businesses are already in agri-environmental schemes.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to increase funding for coastal clean-up and restoration projects.

The Government has supported schemes to clean up marine litter, such as Fishing For Litter and similar local schemes. Fishing For Litter is a voluntary, unpaid litter bycatch removal scheme by commercial fishermen, run by KIMO, which provides fishing boats with bags to dispose of marine-sourced litter collected during normal fishing operations. Defra has provided £2.5 million of investment in the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative since 2024 through the Water Environment Improvement Fund. ReMeMaRe, led by the Environment Agency, aims to restore 15% of saltmarsh, seagrass and native oyster reefs in England by 2043. Defra is also providing £168,000 funding this financial year for the ReMeMaRe Programme Office which is supporting local partners to significantly increase the scale and pace of practical estuarine and coastal habitat restoration in England.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many incidents of untreated sewage discharge into coastal waters in Lancashire were reported in each of the last five years.

Analysis of Event Duration Monitoring summary spill data is publicly available on GOV.UK. The EA routinely monitors this data to assess compliance with permits, and where non-compliances are identified the EA takes appropriate enforcement action.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the quality of coastal waters around England.

Defra assessed the quality of coastal waters around England in 2024, publishing these assessments as part of the UK Marine Strategy Part One Update and good environmental status consultation in June 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many instances of water quality breaches have been reported by water suppliers in Lancashire in the last 12 months.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate does not compile water quality breach data by county. The figures provided relate to United Utilities' operations across its entire supply area, which serves Lancashire and the wider Northwest region. In the 12-month period from Q4 2024 to August 2025, there were 107 water quality breaches reported by United Utilities, which is the water supplier serving Lancashire. This data is reported as of 24 October 2025 and is subject to change as new data is reported. These figures are not yet final, as water companies have one month following a breach to investigate the cause and rectify any issues before completing their compliance reports. Data for September and October 2025 is not yet available. The Drinking Water Inspectorate does not compile water quality breach data by county. The figures provided relate to United Utilities' operations across its entire supply area, which serves Lancashire and the wider Northwest region.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure funds raised through Extended Producer Responsibility are used by local authorities on advanced recycling infrastructure.

The Government has implemented robust measures within the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme to ensure that funds raised are directed by local authorities towards recycling infrastructure. I have instructed PackUK to use regulatory powers to recover monies from local authorities in England where these funds have not been spent on packaging waste management services.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of rent increases in agricultural tenancies on UK food production; and what support the Government is offering tenant farmers.

Defra monitors farm rents in England annually and the most recent farm rents data publication shows changes in farm rents per hectare vary according to the type of tenancy agreement, type of farmland and by location. A range of economic factors can affect UK food production including output prices, input costs, global trade, market demand and public support policies. Schemes delivered under the farming budget are open to tenants to help them produce food and also deliver environmental benefits. The Government has appointed a Commissioner for the Tenant Farming Sector to support collaborative relationships across the tenanted sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, how the Commissioner for the Tenant Farming Sector will ensure that the voices of small-scale and marginal tenant farmers are represented in policy discussions and recommendations.

The Commissioner will proactively engage across the sector as part of his wider role to gather intelligence and insights on how the sector operates within the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice for England. All tenant farmers and other parties to tenancy agreements can raise an enquiry, concern or issue with the Commissioner. The Commissioner will work closely with the joint Defra / industry Farm Tenancy Forum, including on trends and issues raised and provide insights on how to improve practice in the sector for industry and government to consider.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to protect swans.

In England all wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, including Swans. This makes it an offence to kill, injure or take wild birds and to take or damage their eggs and nests.Defra supports the valuable work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit and is a principal funder. The unit helps to prevent and detect wildlife crime (including crimes against swans) by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis, and directly assisting law enforcers in their investigations.

Food and Rural Affairs, what formal powers the Commissioner for the Tenant Farming Sector will have to (a) investigate complaints and (b) enforce the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice.

As a non-statutory role, the Commissioner will promote and encourage good relations between tenants, landlords, and advisors, and provide a neutral and confidential point of contact for anyone who has concerns that the Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice for England is not being followed. Where concerns or issues cannot be resolved the Commissioner will signpost sources of further professional advice as appropriate. The Government is committed to keeping the effectiveness of this approach under review.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent estimate of the population of Hen Harriers in Lancashire.

The most recent estimate of the population of Hen Harriers in Lancashire is 13 successfully breeding females, which produced 42 young this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the preparedness of local authorities in England to collect food waste separately to household waste from March 2026.

Under the Simpler Recycling reforms, all local authorities in England must provide weekly food waste collections from households by 31 March 2026, unless a transitional arrangement applies (a later date set in legislation). We have invested over £340 million to date to support councils as they get ready for weekly food collections. We have also published guidance to help local authorities and funded sector specialists WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to provide further resources and support. This includes guidance on good practice when delivering services to householders and communications guidance for household food waste collections. We have consulted and engaged extensively with local authorities throughout the development of this policy. This has included focused working groups, sector events and holding monthly stakeholder forums. We meet monthly with local authority waste network chairs to partner on delivery of these reforms. We are aware of some specific delivery challenges faced by some local authorities to meet these new obligations and are working with local authority waste networks and the wider industry to provide additional support where we can. We will continue to monitor progress and work with the sector to deliver these reforms.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to work with the Secretary of State for Transport to reduce the number of wildlife-related road accidents.

There is currently no joint programme of work between Department of Transport and Defra to reduce the number of wildlife-related road accidents.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential ecological impact of animal road casualties on native wildlife populations.

The Secretary of State for Defra has not assessed the potential ecological impact of animal road casualties on native wildlife populations in general. However, studies have shown that road traffic collisions are one of the factors in the decline in species such as the hedgehog.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department will take steps to provide (a) financial support and (b) incentives for (i) developers and (ii) households to install water-saving devices.

The Government works with Ofwat who offer financial environmental incentives for developers to meet certain water efficiency standards. On 23 September we launched a consultation to consider tighter water efficiency standards for new homes in the Building Regulations. We are working with Ofwat to ensure that environmental incentives in the future align with the ambition set out in this consultation and are considering how we can support developers as part of the £25 million fund held by Ofwat to fund a Water Efficiency Lab which aims to encourage innovation across the sector and is from November focusing on actionable insights for consumers. To support households to reduce their water usage we are rolling out mandatory water efficiency label to ensure consumers can make informed decisions on their purchases, this will align with existing incentives for consumers to install water saving devices including free devices from water companies and the incoming £100 million Water Efficiency Campaign from Ofwat.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department provides guidance or best practice to local authorities on integrating animal protection measures into local transport and infrastructure planning.

When determining any planning application, it is the responsibility of the local planning authority to ensure that protected species are fully considered and that ecological surveys have been carried out where appropriate. Natural England has issued Standing Advice to assist both local planning authorities and developers in deciding whether there is a reasonable likelihood of protected species being present on a proposed development site. It provides detailed advice on those protected species most often affected by development to enable an assessment to be made of the suitability of a protected species survey and, where appropriate, a mitigation strategy to protect the species affected by the development. To help integrate nature into new development, the government has also amended the National Planning Policy Framework. This encourages the incorporation of features, such as swift bricks and hedgehog highways, to protect threatened species through local plans and decisions on planning applications.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department has issued on animal welfare regulations that apply to construction activity taking place on land where horses are kept.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (the 2006 Act), it is an offence to cause any animal unnecessary suffering or to fail to provide for its welfare. The 2006 Act is backed up by the Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses, Ponies, Donkeys and Their Hybrids which provides guidance on the legal duty of care for horses, as required by the 2006 Act. This guidance applies to any land where horses are kept, including land affected by construction activity. The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) Regulations 2018 require businesses hiring out horses to provide for a suitable environment. The guidance is available here - Hiring out horses licensing: statutory guidance for local authorities - GOV.UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 75416 on Dangerous Dogs, if she will consider introducing an interim scheme until the withdrawal scheme is active.

We are currently working to develop a withdrawal scheme so that owners who no longer believe that their dog is an XL Bully can apply to have their certificate of exemption for their dog withdrawn. Information about this process will be available soon.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 75416 on Dangerous Dogs, when the withdrawal scheme will become active.

We are currently working to develop a withdrawal scheme so that owners who no longer believe that their dog is an XL Bully can apply to have their certificate of exemption for their dog withdrawn. Information about this process will be available soon.