Written questions by Rankin.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether citizen science will be embedded in the (a) Water Reform Bill and (b) Transition Plan.

In the recent Water White Paper, the Government committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. A fundamental part of this is supporting catchment partnerships across England, which are civil society-led and bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders to address water system issues at a local level. The value of citizen science as a key tool for catchment partnerships is widely recognised, and as such the Environment Agency has published the first ever Citizen Science Technical Advisory Framework to support and guide stakeholders when utilising citizen science. This ensures consistency and quality across the board and helps to identify where citizen science information can be used to inform the design of statutory monitoring programmes. The Catchment Data Explorer brings together the evidence used in River Basin Management Plans, showing the status of our waters, the objectives we are working towards, and the reasons some places are not yet meeting them. Some of that evidence is already informed by citizen science, which add valuable local insight that helps build a fuller picture of what’s happening in our catchments. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to improve how we share data with each other, including to support catchment and regional planning reforms. As these collaborations grow, it will become easier to bring citizen generated evidence into our core decision making, helping us plan and manage the water environment in a more joined up and informed way.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to integrate citizen science with statutory monitoring within Regional Systems Planners to more effectively monitor the water environment.

In the recent Water White Paper, the Government committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. A fundamental part of this is supporting catchment partnerships across England, which are civil society-led and bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders to address water system issues at a local level. The value of citizen science as a key tool for catchment partnerships is widely recognised, and as such the Environment Agency has published the first ever Citizen Science Technical Advisory Framework to support and guide stakeholders when utilising citizen science. This ensures consistency and quality across the board and helps to identify where citizen science information can be used to inform the design of statutory monitoring programmes. The Catchment Data Explorer brings together the evidence used in River Basin Management Plans, showing the status of our waters, the objectives we are working towards, and the reasons some places are not yet meeting them. Some of that evidence is already informed by citizen science, which add valuable local insight that helps build a fuller picture of what’s happening in our catchments. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to improve how we share data with each other, including to support catchment and regional planning reforms. As these collaborations grow, it will become easier to bring citizen generated evidence into our core decision making, helping us plan and manage the water environment in a more joined up and informed way.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the National Catchment Data Platform will include citizen science data.

In the recent Water White Paper, the Government committed to strengthening regional water planning to enable a more holistic, coordinated approach to water environment and supply planning. A fundamental part of this is supporting catchment partnerships across England, which are civil society-led and bring together cross-sectoral stakeholders to address water system issues at a local level. The value of citizen science as a key tool for catchment partnerships is widely recognised, and as such the Environment Agency has published the first ever Citizen Science Technical Advisory Framework to support and guide stakeholders when utilising citizen science. This ensures consistency and quality across the board and helps to identify where citizen science information can be used to inform the design of statutory monitoring programmes. The Catchment Data Explorer brings together the evidence used in River Basin Management Plans, showing the status of our waters, the objectives we are working towards, and the reasons some places are not yet meeting them. Some of that evidence is already informed by citizen science, which add valuable local insight that helps build a fuller picture of what’s happening in our catchments. We are working closely with a wide range of partners to improve how we share data with each other, including to support catchment and regional planning reforms. As these collaborations grow, it will become easier to bring citizen generated evidence into our core decision making, helping us plan and manage the water environment in a more joined up and informed way.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much their department spent on X and xAI since July 2024.

Paid advertising on X was suspended in April 2023 following a SAFE Framework assessment. X is currently used only for organic (non-paid) content to communicate policies and public services. One month of X Premium was purchased in August 2024 at a cost of £9.60. This was paid to use the livestreaming functionality available with X Premium at a departmental event.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent the closure of mechanical recycling sites.

The Collection and Packaging Reforms – Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (pEPR) and a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) – will help stimulate investment in recycling services across the UK. Defra is working with HMT on Plastic Packaging Tax reform, to further incentivise producers to use recycled plastic, stimulating demand.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure a level playing field between companies who export plastic recycling and UK based plastic reprocessors.

The export of waste is subject to strict controls set out in UK legislation. Facilities receiving UK waste must be operated in accordance with human health and environmental protection standards that are broadly equivalent to those established in UK legislation. Defra is committed to building a circular economy that enhances growth and capitalises on the UK’s potential in plastic processing, whilst realising our environmental objectives. The Government’s collection and packaging reforms will help to stimulate investment in the UK reprocessing infrastructure.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to repair and restore footbridges along the Jubilee River; and what estimate she has made of the associated cost to the taxpayer.

The Jubilee River is part of the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eaton Flood Alleviation Scheme which is operated and maintained by the Environment Agency. Footbridges along the Jubilee River are the responsibility of the respective local authorities including Buckinghamshire Council, Slough Council and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. The Environment Agency works closely with these councils; however, questions relating to plans to repair and restore these footbridges should be directed to the respective local authority, not the Environment Agency.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the cost of maintaining and keeping open the Jubilee River Channel in the last four years.

The Jubilee River is part of the Maidenhead, Windsor and Eaton Flood Alleviation Scheme which is operated and maintained by the Environment Agency. The cost of maintaining and keeping the Jubilee River channel open are difficult to extract from the overall cost of operating and maintaining the flood alleviation scheme; calculating this would fall into disproportionate costs. The Environment Agency has allocated £2.3m for maintenance and capital improvements on the whole Maidenhead, Windsor and Eaton Flood Alleviation Scheme this year. In previous years spending has varied, depending on the programme of work.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the Jubilee Flood Alleviation Channel.

The Jubilee Flood Alleviation Channel is part of the Maidenhead, Windsor, and Eton Flood Alleviation Scheme, protecting over 3000 properties in those areas. Since opening in 2002 it has successfully protected local communities from flooding on multiple occasions. The scheme also provides valuable local amenity and recreation benefit. The Environment Agency is currently undertaking mechanical & electrical refurbishment work to the structures which control the flow of water into the relief channel. This will ensure that the asset continues to provide protection to communities this winter and into the future. Additionally, they are carrying out repairs to a section of riverbank which was damaged during high flows in 2024 and supporting Buckinghamshire County Council with their removal of a timber footbridge which collapsed into the channel earlier this summer.

Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish a consultation on the funding formula for flood defences.

The Government launched a consultation on 3 June on proposals to reform the way we fund flood and coastal defences. Our proposals will help ensure funding is distributed more effectively across the country – protecting properties across all communities including in rural, coastal and poorer areas. The consultation also includes a call for evidence on alternative sources of funding to enable Government funding to go further and opportunities for English devolution to support flood risk management.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Government’s housebuilding target on funding for flood defences after 2026.

We are investing a record £2.65 billion over two years to March 2026. We’ll maintain the highest levels of flood protection, taking decisive action to fix our broken planning system and deliver 1.5 million homes through our Plan for Change. Funding decisions for after 2026 will be made at the Spending Review.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on implementing Schedule 3 of the Water and Flood Management Act 2010.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues. The Government is strongly committed to requiring standardised Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in new developments. These should be to designs that cope with changing climatic conditions as well as delivering wider water infrastructure benefits, offer reuse opportunities, reduce run off and help to improve water quality, amenity, and biodiversity. It is also important to ensure appropriate adoption and maintenance arrangements are in place.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) help ensure food is not contaminated with horsemeat and (b) improve the traceability of horses in Great Britain.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national authority responsible for food safety and food hygiene across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The FSA ensures that official controls and legislation for meat safety and traceability are met by deploying staff in every slaughterhouse. The FSA also conducts risk-based, intelligence driven surveillance to monitor food safety and authenticity. It also has a National Food Crime Unit to prevent, detect and investigate food crime. The Government recognises the importance of improving equine traceability. Defra is engaging with industry to consider improvements to this.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to implement a national Digital Equine ID system to ensure the traceability of all horses.

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. The Government recognises the importance of the equine sector to the UK economy and to improving equine identification and traceability. We have no current plans to implement mandatory digital identification, but we remain in close touch with the industry to look at potential improvements.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Border Inspection Post at Stansted Airport on the British horseracing industry; and whether he plans to take steps to ensure horses are able to continue travelling to and from the UK by air.

Defra is aware that Stansted has signalled an intention to relocate its Border Inspection Post to another site and that the timing of this remains uncertain. This is a commercial decision for the airport’s owners. No application to de-designate the existing site or designate a new site has been received. The Department stands ready to help progress such applications when received.

Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on reducing barriers to cross-border travel without physical checks for thoroughbred horses since 6 February 2025.

There have been no changes to the rules for importing thoroughbred horses into Great Britain since 6 February 2025. Imports of thoroughbred horses from the European Union do not currently need to enter Great Britain via a Border Control Post and are not subject to physical checks at the border. Guidance on importing horses into Great Britain is available on gov.uk