Written questions by Shannon.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help support heritage farmland.

The Government is committed to supporting British farmers and the vital role they play. In England, the Government will continue to invest in our farmers and land managers to make their businesses, food production and our country more sustainable and resilient through Environmental Land Management (ELM), including our heritage farmland. Part of ELM, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier includes actions and capital items which support farmers and land managers in protecting and restoring historic or archaeological features and carrying out heritage actions. For example, actions include:“Control scrub on historic and archaeological features” (CHS4)“Manage historic features in woodlands supplement” (CWS7)“Stone wall restoration” (BN12) Furthermore, there are three boundary feature actions and two heritage actions remaining available in the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 offer, as follows:“Manage hedgerows” (CHRW2)“Maintain dry stone walls” (BND1) and “Maintain earth banks or stone-faced hedgebanks (BND2)“Maintain weatherproof traditional farm or forestry buildings” (HEF1) and “Manage historic and archaeological features on grassland” (HEF6)

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to tackle flooding in flood-prone areas.

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is a priority for this Government. That is why we set up a Flood Resilience Taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season. Protecting communities from floods is a devolved responsibility. Delivering on the Plan for Change, in England, this Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 to construct new flood schemes and repair existing defences, protecting communities from the devastating impacts of climate change. This Labour Government are investing £4.2 billion over the next three years—2026-27 to 2028-29—to construct new flood defence schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across England.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support biodiversity in rural communities.

This Government is committed to restoring and protecting nature in rural communities through delivering our legally binding biodiversity targets on species abundance, species extinction and habitat creation and restoration. The Land Use Framework (LUF) shows we have enough land to deliver all our targets and outcomes but need to be more strategic in its use. Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) are being prepared across the whole of England to enable local areas to set priorities for biodiversity and environmental improvement and to propose where action is most needed. Each strategy is being led by a local authority and co-developed with input from local communities, landowners, and stakeholders, ensuring that it reflects the unique environmental and social context of the local area, including rural areas.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with water companies on reducing agricultural runoff into rivers and waterways.

In January 2026, I hosted a cross-sector roundtable, which included water industry representatives, to discuss planned reforms to agricultural pollution regulations. Engagement continues with industry, farming and environmental representatives at official level. Regional planning will take a cross-sector approach to water management, ensuring agricultural water pollution is actively tackled. A Regional Water Planning Steering Group—established through a commitment in the Water White paper and chaired by Minister Hardy—held its first meeting with water company representatives and other stakeholders on 11 February. We are committed to the Environment Act target to reduce agricultural nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment entering the water environment by 40% by 2038. The Environment Improvement Plan sets out clear delivery plans to achieve these targets. We are already taking action to reduce this pollution, including doubling the funding for farm inspections.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of food waste reduction initiatives on household food costs.

58% of the food that is wasted in the UK is wasted in our homes, almost three quarters of which (73%) is edible. This food has a value of around £17 billion, which is around £80 per month or £1,000 per year for the average family with children. This Government is committed to moving towards a circular economy – a future where our resources are used as efficiently and productively as possible for as long as possible, and waste is reduced. To tackle food waste in the home, we fund a programme of action delivered by WRAP to help people save money by buying what they need and using what they buy. This includes campaigns such as Food Waste Action Week with the theme of ‘Make Your Food Go Further, helping the public to shop for, store and cook foods in ways that reduces food costs and minimises waste.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of extreme weather events on small-scale farms in the last two years.

Defra has made no assessment of the potential impacts of extreme weather on small farms. The Government has allocated £11.8bn to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament, including £5.9bn for environmental farming schemes. Defra is focusing efforts on actions with multiple benefits: for example, improving soil health so soil can hold more water, which both reduces flood risk in extreme rainfall (winter 2026) and drought risk in extreme dry weather (summer 2025). Later this year Defra will open the Sustainable Farming Incentive offer in two windows: the first from June 2026 for small farms and also farms without existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements; the second from September for all farms. Farmers contribute to and are affected by weather-related challenges. The measures the government is introducing will help British farming thrive and boost farmers’ resilience to extreme weather while protecting this country’s water resources and meeting environmental goals.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many times the fisheries protection vessel has been deployed in each of the last five years.

Defra is unable to confirm the position at a UK level as fisheries protection is a devolved matter. The Marine Management Organisation is responsible for regulating and enforcing fisheries activity in English waters. Its two dedicated Offshore Patrol Vessels maintain a near-continuous presence at sea to monitor compliance and safeguard sustainable fishing, with each vessel averaging over 350 days at sea per year since 2022. Information on at sea activity undertaken by the Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish authorities in the waters for which they are responsible can be obtained directly from the respective devolved governments.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help improve the profitability of UK farm produce.

The Farming Roadmap and the full Government response to the Farming Profitability Review will be published later this year, which will set out the wider plan to boost profitability and long-term viability. The Government is currently already taking forward a series of measures. A new Farming and Food Partnership Board will bring together farmers, processors, retailers, and the wider supply chain to strengthen collaboration across the sector. The Government is investing £30 million in a Farmer Collaboration Fund to support peer-to-peer networks so farmers can share knowledge and learn from each other. The Sustainable Farming Incentive will be also reformed to make it simpler and fairer, with two application windows this year. The June window will support smaller farms and those without agreements, and the September window will be open to all farms. The Farming in Protected Landscapes programme will be extended for three additional years, supported by £30 million of funding next year.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the labour supply to the agri-food sector.

The Government recognises that access to a sufficient workforce is essential for the resilience and productivity of the farming. Whilst Defra does assess the number of people currently working in agriculture this does not include questions related to adequacy of supply. The Farming Profitability Review, however, is a recent assessment of impacts on farming, which includes considerations of labour availability. Recommendations from this review covered a range of labour supply issues related to migrant workers, education and wider skills requirements.

Food and Rural Affairs, what her most recent annual estimate is for the amount of waste deposited illegally across England and Wales.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has undertaken an assessment of the environmental impacts associated with poor animal health.

Defra has made several assessments of the environmental impacts associated with animal health, including the impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. Improved animal health is recognised as important in reducing agricultural greenhouse gas mitigations in the Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan (2025).

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.

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.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set a target for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic.

Defra does not currently have plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set a target for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic. This Government is committed to moving to a circular economy and will publish a Circular Economy Growth Plan that sets out how government will deliver a more circular and more prosperous economy. Defra will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to improve food supply security across the UK.

The UK has a resilient food supply chain built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes. Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms have experienced TB outbreaks in the last 12 months.

In the 12 months to September 2025, the number of new TB herd incidents was as follows: England2,307Wales595Scotland29 New herd incidents are the number of herds which were previously Officially TB Free but either had cattle that reacted to an official TB test or had a tuberculous animal disclosed by routine meat inspection at slaughter, during the period shown. In Northern Ireland, the number of new reactor herds in the 12 months to September 2025 was as follows: Northern Ireland2,281 In Northern Ireland, new reactor herds refer to the number of herds during the period shown that were previously Officially TB Free but have had cattle that tested positive to the tuberculin skin test.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve flood defences.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are investing £4.2 billion over three years (2026/27 to 2028/29) to construct new flood and coastal erosion schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across England. In our first year in Government, 151 flood defence schemes have been delivered, better protecting over 24,000 homes and businesses. This Government will invest at least £10.5 billion into our flood defences between April 2024 and March 2036 benefitting nearly 900,000 properties across England. The Environment Agency’s National Flood Risk Assessment data now includes climate change scenarios, providing the best evidence to inform long-term risk assessment and the development of flood mitigation strategies. To halt the decline of our flood assets following years of under investment, over 2024/25 and 2025/26 £108 million has been reprioritised into asset maintenance, ensuring an additional 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extended producer responsibility on small businesses in local communities.

pEPR in the UK has some of the most generous support measures for small businesses across any packaging scheme globally. These are exemptions from disposal fee and recycling (PRN) obligations for producers with an annual turnover below £2 million and packaging tonnage below 50 tonnes; and an exemption from data collection and reporting obligations for small businesses with turnover below £1 million and packaging tonnage below 25 tonnes. These exemptions apply to approximately 70% of businesses supplying packaging in the UK. We have made a full assessment of the impacts that implementing packaging extended producer responsibility will have. This includes assessment of the impacts on small businesses, which can be found in Section 8 of the impact assessment.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help encourage the use of local food supply chains.

The food strategy recognises the key role that regional and local food systems can play in supporting delivery of the growth, health, sustainability, and food security / resilience outcomes. Defra wants to create an environment that champions UK food cultures and celebrates British food.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to address extreme flooding.

Over the last year, this Government has made significant progress by committing record investment in flood and coastal erosion defences; introducing the most significant change in flood and coastal erosion funding policy for nearly fifteen years; and building partnerships to improve flood preparedness and resilience. As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are investing £4.2 billion over three years (2026/27 to 2028/29) to construct new flood and coastal erosion schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across England. In our first year in Government, 151 flood defence schemes have been delivered, better protecting over 24,000 homes and businesses. This Government will invest at least £10.5 billion into our flood defences between April 2024 and March 2036 benefitting nearly 900,000 properties across England. The Environment Agency’s National Flood Risk Assessment data now includes climate change scenarios, providing the best evidence to inform long-term risk assessment and the development of flood mitigation strategies.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with ger counterparts in Northern Ireland in relation to the second outbreak of blue tongue in Portaferry.

Defra works closely with the Devolved Governments with the aim of providing, where possible, a consistent and coordinated response across the UK. Following the first confirmed bluetongue cases in Northern Ireland, Defra is working with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to review policy regarding movement of bluetongue susceptible animals between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. This has included a case conference, and a CVO stocktake attended by the chief veterinary officers and policy leads from Defra, Scotland and Northern Ireland.