Written questions by Holden.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled Defra: spending over £500, January 2025, published on 21 March 2025, what Natural England purchased from Sumup Event Bar Spar in January 2025.

The expenditure detailed relates to a Christmas meal hospitality event held to recognise the contributions of volunteers at Fenn’s, Whixall, and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve. The total cost of £1,462.50 was processed for payment in January 2025, and it was attended by 65 volunteers invited to a celebratory event to thank them for their volunteering over the previous year. This is a total spend of approximately £22 per attendant. This National Nature Reserve has the most volunteers (over 100 registered volunteers) for any Natural England National Nature Reserve in the West Midlands . The volunteers contribute to many aspects of the running of the National Nature Reserve. These include: Outreach / Engagement /Education - Leading guided walks, Giving talks, assisting with School/College groups, helping with public events, and ensuring that those with disabilities can still enjoy natureAssisting with practical works including habitat management, maintenance & access worksResearch / surveys / monitoring – carrying out & assisting with research projects, carrying out surveys / monitoring (inc. species & hydrology) The volunteers in 2024/25 contributed over 6,000 hours to the National Nature Reserve. The Cabinet Office has recently announced measures to cut down on this kind of expenditure. This is to correct the lack of respect for public money by the previous government, which allowed this type of spend to be entirely unchecked and unmonitored, including for the time that he was a minister in that department. The policy detail can be found here:Government-branded merchandise and away days banned - GOV.UK

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled Defra: spending over £500, January 2025, published on 21 March 2025, what Natural England purchased from Amazon Marketplace on 30 January 2025.

The expenditure detailed relates to the purchase of equipment for public use (binoculars and a spotting scope) for a project at Goss Moor. The connecting people with nature project enables the public a closer view and experience of wildlife on the National Nature Reserves, it is funded through the national health and environment budget. The scope was necessary to be inclusive for people who would struggle to hold the binoculars for health reasons. The total amount of £625.42, including VAT, was processed for payment in February 2025. This transaction is in line with our standard financial procedures, and the expenditure was reviewed and approved accordingly. The Cabinet Office has recently announced measures to cut down on this kind of expenditure. This is to correct the lack of respect for public money by the previous government, which allowed this type of spend to be entirely unchecked and unmonitored, including for the time that he was a minister in that department. The policy detail can be found here:Government-branded merchandise and away days banned - GOV.UK

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled Defra: spending over £500, January 2025, published on 21 March 2025, what the Environment Agency purchased from VAT: GB 695449381 on 14 January 2025.

On 14 January 2025, the Environment Agency purchased training for qualifying staff who hold a professional qualification provided by the Institute of Asset Management. The training was provided by Asset Management Consulting Limited, described on the publication as VAT: GB 695449381. The description comes from the supplier. The Cabinet Office has recently announced measures to ensure public expenditure offers maximum value to the taxpayer. This is to correct the lack of respect for public money by the previous government, which allowed this type of spend to be entirely unchecked and unmonitored, including for the time that he was a minister in that department. The policy detail can be found here:Government-branded merchandise and away days banned - GOV.UK

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2025 to Question 22359 on DEFRA: Unpaid Work, what Environment Agency summer internship opportunities for 2025 are open to (a) male, (b) white, (c) British and (d) working class people, other than industry placements, apprenticeships, training partnerships and scholarships.

The Environment Agency (EA) does not offer unpaid internships. Employment opportunities with the EA are advertised on the jobs board: External Opportunities - Environment Agency Jobs. In 2025 the EA is running its Summer Development Internship Programme, which is open to men, working class people, British people and white people who also come from a minority ethnic background (e.g. White Irish, Roma, Jewish or other white ethnic minority backgrounds). We are happy to consider any application that he may want to put forward for one of these roles.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support closed loop recycling schemes; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to protect those schemes through regulations.

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, which reform the UK’s producer responsibility system for packaging came into force on 1 January 2025. Extended Producer Responsibility is a major reform that will be iterated over several years to incentivise packaging producers to reduce their material footprint and use more recyclable packaging. We continue to consider further improvements to the scheme with input from a range of stakeholders, including how to treat businesses which run closed loop recycling systems for packaging that is commonly collected by Local Authorities, and my officials are reviewing options to bring forward an offset for closed loop recycling systems at the earliest opportunity.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many times the Flood Resilience Taskforce has met since 4 July 2024.

The Floods Resilience Taskforce held its first full meeting on 12 September 2024. Following this meeting a series of working level discussions have been held with various Taskforce member organisations on specific issues, which will report back to the full Taskforce. These include a roundtable on the opportunities and barriers to delivering natural flood management, and sessions on flood forecasting and warning, and the new National Flood Risk Assessment and National Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment. The second full meeting of the Taskforce was held on 5 February 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to assist producers in driving sustainability in production of sugar that is refined in the UK.

The Government recognises the importance of the sugar beet crop for many farmers in the centre and east of England, and its vital contribution to UK sugar production. It often plays a vital role in soil and crop health in the arable farm rotation allowing a season of “rest” from intensive cereal production, Long-term productivity growth and sustainability is dependent upon technological progress and the industry has worked hard over the last 15 years to improve efficiencies and produce the same amount of sugar from less land and with fewer factories. Defra remains committed to supporting the sector over the coming years as they embrace the latest research and innovation to improve the resilience of the crop and the sustainability of the processing factories. Supported by Defra funding, Tropic, British Sugar and the John Innes Centre are collaborating to produce sugar beet that is resistant against pest and disease pressures – especially Virus Yellows - using precision breeding. This will help to reduce use of pesticides and prevent yield losses such as those that cost the sector £67 million in 2020.

Food and Rural Affairs, if the Environment Agency plans to run an internship programme which is open to people from white British backgrounds in 2025.

The Environment Agency offers several career entry opportunities open to people from all ethnic backgrounds (including White British backgrounds) who meet the criteria of the specific programme. In 2025 these programmes include: Industry Placements (temporary position) – paid 12-month placement in environmental science, engineering and business and communications disciplines)Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Quest Scholarship programme (temporary position) - paid 8-week summer placement for engineering studentsEntry level apprenticeships (permanent position) – various entry level apprenticeships usually attached to a permanent role lasting between 12 and 24 monthsDoctoral Training Partnerships (work placement) – University PhD funded short term (4 weeks to 3 months) placements working on collaborative science projects Further information about career entry opportunities is publicly available on the Environment Agency’s careers website: Early careers - Environment Agency.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 21057 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Unpaid Work, if he will list each internship scheme operated by (a) his Department and (b) the Environment Agency since July 2024; how many interns were recruited in each scheme; how the interns were paid; and what restrictions were placed on who could apply.

Defra has participated in the following annual programmes for a minimum of three years: Cabinet Office led internship programmes: Summer Internship Programme (6-8 weeks) : 2024 - 41 internsAutism Exchange Internship Programme (4 weeks) : 2024 - 6 interns Salary:Interns are paid through the department payroll for the duration of their internship.Salary is based on the National Living Wage each year. In 2024 salary was £430.00 per week for both schemes. In 2025 salary will rise to £452 per week and the Autism Programme will extend to 8 weeks Defra Analytical Internships Summer Internships (3 months) : 2024 - 11 internsSandwich Internships (12 months) : 2024 - 7 interns Salary:Interns are paid through the department payroll for the duration of their internship, with the majority employed at Administrative Officer (AO) level. Salary is £28,680 for London (based on the Minimum for the grade) or £25,070 for National (based on the Minimum for the grade) Social Research Sandwich Placements are engaged at Executive Officer (EO) level. Salary for London - £32,220 (based on Minimum for grade) or £28,710 National (based on Minimum for the grade). Environment Agency Programmes Defra has participated in the following annual programmes for a minimum of 3 years: Industry Placement (12 months) : 14 Interns Salary:Interns are paid through the department payroll for the duration of their internship.In 2024, Grade 2 salary minimum - £24,096 per annum, pro rata. Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Quest Scholarship programme (8 week): 5 interns Salary:Interns are paid through the department payroll for the duration of their internship.In 2024 Grade 2 salary £24,096 per annum pro rata for the 8 week summer placement. In addition, the Environment Agency offers £1,000 per annum to each candidate in scholarship fee for each year at University. The ICE pay £500, a total of £1,500 per year as a scholarship fee. The EA also pays the candidate a further £2,000 when they join the Graduate Training Scheme after University Entry level apprenticeships - various including Environmental Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship (12 – 24 months) : 6 apprentices Salary:Apprentices are paid through the department payroll for the duration of their apprenticeshipSalary is variable depending on apprenticeship type and can go up to Grade 4 salary minimum £33,000 per annum pro rata Doctoral Training Partnerships (up to 3 months) : 4 interns Salary:No salary –work placements funded by the applicants’ PhD programme/university Summer Development Internship Programme (12 weeks) : 24 interns Salary:Interns are paid through the department payroll for the duration of their internship.2024 Grade 2 salary minimum £24,096 per annum pro rata This scheme aims to widen development opportunities and access to careers for those starting out on their careers, in this case specifically from underrepresented ethnic groups. The latest data (Q2 2024-2025) from the EA shows that 6.4% of Agency staff are from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, against a representation goal of 7.6% this year and a 2021 Census representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic respondents in England and Wales of 18.3%.

Food and Rural Affairs, what is (a) his Department's and (b) the Environment Agency's policy on the use of positive discrimination in the recruitment process for internships.

The core department, Defra, and its Non-Departmental Public Bodies, including the Environment Agency, comply with all legislation relevant to recruitment and will only target an internship recruitment campaign to a specific group as a proportionate form of positive action to address known workforce gaps, undertaken to achieve a legitimate aim in accordance with section 159 of the Equality Act 2010.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department planned to provide to drainage boards [for the 2024-25 financial year] on (a) 1 July 2024 and (b) 20 November 2024.

Internal drainage boards (IDBs) are independent statutory public bodies that are locally funded. As a matter of course they are not funded by the Government but can apply for government grants to deliver specific outcomes. For example, funding under the government’s flood investment programme to deliver flood risk defences. Defra is providing a one-off £75 million IDB Fund, to accelerate IDBs’ recovery from the winter 2023-24 storms and to provide opportunities to modernise and upgrade assets. This funding will support greater resilience for farmers and rural communities in the long term. Under the previous Government, Defra planned to provide all the IDB Fund grants in 2024-25 and the IDBs would have to deliver their projects by 31 March 2025. The Government took the decision to extend the IDB Fund into 2025-26.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much sewage sludge was used in the agricultural sector in each of the last 10 years.

The 9 English Water and Sewerage Companies (WaSCs) submit data to the Environment Agency on the total quantity of sludge sent to different outlets to meet the European reporting requirements. The total sludge sent to the agriculture outlet over the last 10 years is shown in the table below. YearTotal sludge to agriculture – England only (tonnes dry solids)2014716,9282015696,3552016750,0492017726,0632018752,9922019698,5972020761,2462021759,5782022766,6302023764,810

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting protected food status to traditional pie and mash.

Defra officials have already discussed the application process for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status with a representative of the producers. They are clear that an application for TSG status requires agreement on the recipe that producers would need to follow to use the name in future. They also understand that all those wishing to use the name would need periodic verification of their practices. Once a formal application is submitted a full assessment of the case can be made.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Essex and Suffolk Water on levels of investment in local water infrastructure.

Since taking office, the Secretary of State and I have met with representatives from all water and wastewater companies. Officials also regularly meet with water companies to discuss localised and regional issues. On 11 July, Ofwat proposed allowing a spending package of £88bn by water companies between 2025 - 2030. This investment will deliver upgrades across England and Wales to improve local water infrastructure including: 1500 wastewater treatment works, improvements of thousands of storm overflows and investment in improving bathing waters. For PR24, Essex and Suffolk Water are proposing to invest £1.5 billion in total in the region, notably £386 million on new water supplies and £17.5 million on leakage. This is the largest investment programme in the last 30 years, working to increase resilience and secure water supply for the future, reducing the impact on the environment.