Written questions by Smith.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill on academies.

This government’s mission is clear: to break down barriers to opportunity by driving high and rising standards delivered through excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum, and a system which removes the barriers to learning that hold too many children back. All underpinned by strong and clear accountability.This is why we introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to give every family the certainty that they will be able to access a good local school for their child, where they can achieve and thrive, regardless of where they live.Through this Bill, we are creating a floor for all schools but placing no ceiling on what they can achieve, enabling healthy competition and innovation beyond a core framework to improve all schools.The department published updated impact assessments on the Bill’s measures on 21 March on GOV.UK. These include assessments of the impact on all types of school, including academies. It is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.Where measures are in scope, assessments follow the Better Regulation Framework, and we have received a ‘Green’ rating from the Regulatory Policy Committee.The department will continue to develop the Impact Assessments throughout the passage of the bill and undertake post-implementation reviews.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether pubs that have already paid for glass recycling will be reimbursed for Extended Producer Responsibility charges.

Since Autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders, including representatives of the hospitality sector, to consider potential amendments to the definition of household packaging. Despite considering multiple approaches, a consensus on a single approach that works for all sectors and within the bounds of legal and regulatory requirements, was not reached. We are continuing to engage with sectors on a way forward and on assessing the tonnages of packaging any amendment might affect in the hospitality sector and in other sectors. We are planning next steps as a priority.

What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Government has listened to feedback from small businesses and introduced support measures to help compliance with EPR, including: exemptions from fee obligations for producers with annual turnover below £2 million and packaging tonnage below 50 tonnes; exemptions from reporting for businesses with turnover below £1 million and packaging tonnage below 25 tonnes; and flexibility for those with obligations to pay in quarterly instalments.Both Secretaries of State will shortly be meeting representatives from across the impacted sectors, from Small and Medium Enterprises to larger companies alike, to discuss the economic impact of EPR in more detail.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to ensure that local authorities use funds from the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme solely for waste management and environmental purposes.

pEPR regulations include a range of measures to drive improved performance and ensure local authorities make the investments needed to support an efficient and effective waste management service for household packaging. These include:Introducing an Improvement Action Process (IAP), through which the poorest performing local authorities are identified and supported to deliver better recycling outcomes.Using financial disincentives to respond to continued poor performanceRequiring local authorities in England to collect all six recyclable waste streams (excluding plastic film), from all households by 31 March 2026 via the Simpler Recycling regulations.In addition, for year 1 of pEPR, the Ministry for Housing, Communities & Local Government has already guaranteed at least £1.1 billion in funding for local authorities in England through pEPR. This provides local authorities with the financial certainty necessary to plan and invest in service improvements accordingly. We will keep the effectiveness of these measures under review.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme on (a) local economic growth and (b) the financial resilience of local authorities.

Extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) and the packaging reforms more broadly, will deliver both positive environmental and economic benefits, supporting 21,000 jobs in our nations and regions, and stimulating more than 10 billion pounds investment in recycling capability over the next decade. The impact of pEPR on local economic growth has not been assessed. Local government in England is expected to receive over £1 billion of new funding in 2025-26 through the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging scheme. The government will guarantee that if local authorities in England do not receive Extended Producer Responsibility income in line with their November 2024 payment estimates in the first year of the scheme (2025-26), they will provide an in-year top up.This funding will cover the existing costs local authorities incur for managing household packaging waste, provide additional funding for new legal duties, and support much needed investment in the waste and recycling industry.

What steps she is taking to improve energy efficiency across her Department's estate.

We have interpreted this to refer to measures undertaken across the Department’s estate in support of broader sustainability and decarbonisation objectives. DWP is forecast to achieve the challenging energy efficiency related targets set out in the Greening Government Commitments (GGC), which finished in April 2025. While we await final clearance on the latest iteration GGC framework, we continue to prioritise energy efficiency across our operational estate. The DWPs strategy for improving energy efficiency includes: Strategic asset acquisition – Ensuring energy performance is a key consideration in the procurement and leasing of new assets.Decarbonising existing estate – Through technologies such as solar PV, decarbonisation of heating systems, LED lighting upgrades, minimum design standards for all works undertaken and building management system (BMS) enhancements.Operational optimisation – Including active monitoring, smart controls, management system development and behavioural interventions to reduce consumption and improve performance. Looking ahead to this financial year, we intend to expand and accelerate these activities, subject to available resources, building on successful projects and continuing to embed energy efficiency as a core principle of our estate strategy

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) pubs and (b) other businesses are not charged twice for glass recycling under the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.

Since Autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders, including representatives of the hospitality sector, to consider potential amendments to the definition of household packaging. Despite considering multiple approaches, a consensus on a single approach that works for all sectors and within the bounds of legal and regulatory requirements, was not reached. We are continuing to engage with sectors on a way forward and on assessing the tonnages of packaging any amendment might affect in the hospitality sector and in other sectors. We are planning next steps as a priority.

With reference to the Prostate Cancer Research report, Socio-economic Impact of Prostate Cancer Screening, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the macroeconomic modelling on the benefits of prostate cancer screening.

The UK National Screening Committee currently does not recommend prostate cancer screening because the evidence suggests that it does more harm than good. The committee is currently reviewing the evidence for both population wide screening and targeted prostate cancer screening. If the UK National Screening Committee makes a positive recommendation regarding screening for prostate cancer, an impact assessment will be produced using the HM Treasury Green Book methodology, which considers wider social and economic impacts.

Food and Rural Affairs, how his Department will monitor compliance with extended producer responsibility requirements; and what penalties will apply for non-compliance.

Defra officials are working closely with the Environment Agency (EA) and Devolved Governments to ensure robust plans are in place to both scrutinise the accuracy of submissions from enrolled producers, and identify and bring into compliance free riders who have not yet enrolled or reported their data. This is being supported by more than doubling the number of compliance officers. We are also encouraging compliant producers to report producers they suspect of being non-compliant to the appropriate regulator. The new pEPR regulations also significantly enhanced the potential penalties for non-compliance. This will give the EA the ability to secure compliance and to take swift and proportionate enforcement action with powers, including warnings, cautions, civil sanctions, and prosecution. In addition to regulator enforcement, PackUK, the new Scheme Administrator, also has the power to invoice producers for fees in the years in which they were non-compliant.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department considered alternatives to extended producer responsibility.

The Government consulted on the principles, objectives, and proposals for extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, and these received high levels of support. This followed initial lobbying in 2018 from the sector, which preferred extended producer responsibility, in which funds are invested back into the sector, to other fiscal measures such as a non-hypothecated tax.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the (a) efficiency and (b) effectiveness of how local authorities use extended producer responsibility revenue.

From 2028, the pEPR scheme administrator, PackUK, must assess whether each local authority is running an effective waste management service for household packaging waste. If PackUK determines that a local authority is not providing an effective waste management service, they are able to give notice to the local authority, work with them to determine how the services could be improved, and where necessary reduce the payments available to them in the following year by up to 20%. In relation to cost efficiency, local authorities will receive payments representing their estimated efficient costs.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to delay the implementation of extended producer responsibility.

No. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 came into effect on 1 January 2025, PackUK, the Scheme Administrator has been appointed, and producers will start to accrue scheme costs from 1 April 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not reduce investment in UK manufacturing.

The scheme treats domestic manufacturing and import equally, with all packaging and packaged products, whether manufactured and supplied domestically or imported into UK, subject to the obligations in the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations. Similarly, any packaging or packaged goods manufactured in the UK and exported will not be in scope of the UK Regulations but may be in scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility regime in the country the packaging or packaged goods are being exported to.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to introduce (a) financial support and (b) tax relief for businesses impacted by extended producer responsibility.

The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the pEPR scheme includes generous exemptions to reduce the burden on small producers. Producers with an annual turnover of less than £2 million and 50 tonnes of packaging supplied will be exempt from pEPR payments but will be required to report packaging data. Producers supplying less than 25 tonnes and that have less than £1 million turnover will have no reporting or disposal cost obligations.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that small businesses are not disproportionately impacted by extended producer responsibility fees.

The Government wants to see all businesses take steps to reduce packaging use, ensure packaging is easy to recycle, and where appropriate move to re-use systems. However, the Government also recognises the importance of protecting small producers from direct cost obligations. This is why the regulations include a de-minimis threshold of £2 million turnover and 50 tonnes which exempts approximately 70% of the UK's smaller producers from paying scheme fees.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to mitigate the potential impact of extended producer responsibility on food and drink prices.

The aim of pEPR is to ensure businesses - rather than taxpayers - are responsible for the cost of dealing with packaging when it becomes waste. These regulations will encourage manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging they use and increase recyclable and reusable alternatives. It is up to individual producers to decide how much of these costs are passed on to consumers. While pricing decisions by producers will differ by product, the impact of pEPR on overall inflation is estimated to be small, increasing consumer costs by less than £1 a week per household, or 0.1%.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department consulted industry representatives on the level of extended producer responsibility fees.

The Government consulted on the principles of extended producer responsibility in 2019 and 2021, including the principle that producers would cover the full net costs to local authorities of managing household packaging waste. This included an estimate of the total costs of the scheme. In accordance with this principle, disposal fees per tonne for each material category are determined by dividing the total efficient cost to LAs by the total amount of household packaging placed on the market.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to commission an independent review of extended producer responsibility fees to consider whether the fees are (a) fair to and (b) sustainable for relevant businesses.

The Scheme Administrator, PackUK, is required to set base fees in line with the regulations, which were developed by the previous Government following extensive engagement and consultation with stakeholders. Since the publication of the first illustrative base fees my department has continued to engage extensively with stakeholders, including through material specific workshops and the Scheme Administrator Steering Group (SASG) comprised of stakeholders across the sector. Most recently my department published a third set of illustrative base fees in December 24, which provided point estimates in direct response to industry feedback

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the extended producer responsibility scheme does not disproportionately impact (a) consumer choice and (b) product availability.

Through making producers responsible for the costs of managing the packaging they use; packaging extended producer responsibility will incentivise producers to use less packaging and transition to re-usable or easy-to-recycle packaging. Defra have not identified any evidence that pEPR will lead to reduced consumer choice or product availability, including through assessment of international schemes.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will regularly publish the methods by which extended producer responsibility fees are (a) calculated and (b) used.

We have previously published additional guidance to accompany any release of updated base fee amounts which provides a more detailed breakdown of fee calculations for each material and the data involved. Similar accompanying information will be provided alongside upcoming local authority payment notifications in April 2025 and the fee amounts for 2025-2026 in June 2025.