Written questions by Murphy.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of trends in glass volumes reported through the Extended Producer Responsibility data portal in the first six months of 2024.

The glass volume data reported through the Extended Producer Responsibility data portal in the first six months of 2024 does not cover a long enough period for trends to be identifiable. An assessment of the trends in glass volumes will be made once sufficient data has been gathered and this assessment will be based both on the data from the portal and other reliable sources we may identify.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his Department's timetable is for publishing the final Extended Producer Responsibility fees.

Pending satisfactory regulatory checks, the confirmed, final base fees that will be used to invoice businesses (producers) will be available in June 2025, once the full year of packaging tonnage data has been reported on the Report Packaging Data (RPD) system by April 2025 and verified by the regulators.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Ofwat on the implementation of a national New Appointment and Variations licence for independent water networks.

The Secretary of State has not had any discussion with Ofwat on the implementation of a national New Appointment and Variations licence for independent water networks. Given the principle of regulatory independence, Ofwat conduct their functions at a distance from government. The licensing of new appointments and variations of appointment is set out in relevant sections of the Water Industry Act 1991 and Ofwat's published policy and process guidance. Ofwat is currently considering responses to its recent consultation on using monitoring data to evolve its approach to licensing new appointees. This consultation set out proposed changes to the licensing of new appointments and variations, and highlighted areas where it intends to conduct further work. In 2023-24, Ofwat had around 6 full time equivalent members of staff working on new appointee and variation licensing applications.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the cumulative regulatory time spent on the processing of New Appointment and Variations applications for independent water networks in 2023-4.

The Secretary of State has not had any discussion with Ofwat on the implementation of a national New Appointment and Variations licence for independent water networks. Given the principle of regulatory independence, Ofwat conduct their functions at a distance from government. The licensing of new appointments and variations of appointment is set out in relevant sections of the Water Industry Act 1991 and Ofwat's published policy and process guidance. Ofwat is currently considering responses to its recent consultation on using monitoring data to evolve its approach to licensing new appointees. This consultation set out proposed changes to the licensing of new appointments and variations, and highlighted areas where it intends to conduct further work. In 2023-24, Ofwat had around 6 full time equivalent members of staff working on new appointee and variation licensing applications.