Written questions by Savage.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of water company compliance with priority services register commitments during unplanned outages.

New customer service standards came into force on 1 October, which include a standard on the priority services register. These set out the minimum standards of service companies must provide to customers registered for any of the three core priority services, one of which is delivery of an alternative water supply during any supply interruption. If, during a supply interruption, a company does not provide or is late in providing this service to the registered customer, they must automatically make a minimum £100 payment to the customer.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of households registered on water companies’ priority services registers in each region of England.

Approximately 3,112,400 customers were on the Priority Services Register in 2023/24. More precise information is not held by the department.

Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of households on water company priority services registers that have experienced supply interruptions of (a) six, (b) 12 and (c) 24 hours or more in each of the last five years.

Approximately 3,112,400 customers were on the Priority Services Register in 2023/24.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the performance of Thames Water’s priority services register during the water supply interruption in (a) Lyneham, (b) Royal Wootton Bassett, (c) Lydiard, (d) Purton, (e) Cricklade and (f) Cirencester on 21 September 2025.

Under the Security and Emergency Measures Direction 2022 (SEMD), water companies are required to identify and prioritise vulnerable customers when responding to water supply interruption incidents. Defra expects companies to follow Ofwat guidance on priority services registers to meet this requirement. The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) regulate water company performance against SEMD requirements.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the (a) Environment Agency and (b) Drinking Water Inspectorate assesses the potential impact of repeated potable-water leaks on (i) soil structure damage, (ii) runoff pathways and (iii) other (A) environmental and (B) soil issues; and if she will issue guidance to farmers on (1) reporting and (2) remediation.

The Environment Agency has ensured that water companies have robust plans in place to halve leakage by 2050. The pathway to achieving this involves a reduction of approximately 30% by 2030 from 2019/20 levels. This equates to a nearly 700 Million litres per day reduction in leakage from the baseline. Water companies are now funded to deliver this through their business plans, and regulators will be assessing company performance in meeting this commitment.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will take steps to require the Environment Agency to resume responsibility for the (a) inspection, (b) cost and (c) maintenance of (i) main rivers, (ii) the Avon, (iii) Brinkworth Brook, (iv) Olivemead Drain, (v) Dauntsey Brook and (vi) the Bourne; and if she will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Environment Act 1995 to ensure that main rivers are maintained as critical infrastructure funded through public spending.

I fully recognise the importance of flood risk maintenance. The Government has committed to redirecting £108 million in 2024/25 and 2025/26 into urgent flood and coastal defence maintenance to halt the decline of flood asset condition following years of under investment. Watercourse management responsibilities fall to different bodies. Riparian landowners are required to maintain watercourses, under common law, while the Environment Agency (EA) uses its permissive powers to undertake maintenance on main rivers to manage flood risk. The EA prioritises maintenance funding rigorously and focusses on those areas and activities which deliver the greatest overall benefits for people and property, including reducing flood risk and securing value for money. The Government has no plans to bring forward legislative changes to amend the Environment Act 1995.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department has issued on compensation for farmers for (a) crop loss, (b) soil compaction and (c) business interruption caused by (i) leaks and (ii) repair works on water undertakers’ apparatus on private farmland; and whether she plans to review those arrangements.

Under the Water Industry Act 1991, Section 181, Ofwat has powers to determine particular customer disputes about how companies go about undertaking work on their assets in private land. Ofwat can determine compensation of up to £5,000 in relation to:failure of the company to consult adequately before or in the course of exercising their work in private land powers, oracting unreasonably in how they exercise those powers, causing the complainant to sustain loss or damage or to be subjected to inconvenience. Furthermore, this Government took decisive action to increase customer protections by updating the Guaranteed Standards Scheme which came into force 2 July 2025, increasing customer compensation by more than double when they have been failed by water companies. The standards, outlined in the Guaranteed Standards Scheme, set out a baseline for customer service in the water sector. They include providing timely restoration of water supply following an interruption, responding to written complaints and managing the risk of sewer flooding.

Food and Rural Affairs, by what means the Weeds Act 1959 is being enforced.

Natural England (NE) is dealing with historic weeds complaints but is not currently taking new complaints. This is a temporary measure whilst NE reviews with Defra the approach to addressing injurious weeds, to improve access to appropriate advice and guidance and ensure enforcement resources are targeted most effectively.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason Natural England is no longer accepting complaints about the spread of injurious weeds.

Natural England (NE) is dealing with historic weeds complaints but is not currently taking new complaints. This is a temporary measure whilst NE reviews with Defra the approach to addressing injurious weeds, to improve access to appropriate advice and guidance and ensure enforcement resources are targeted most effectively.

Food and Rural Affairs, in the context of Natural England no longer accepting complaints about the spread of injurious weeds, by what means the Weeds Act 1959 is now being enforced.

Natural England (NE) is dealing with historic weeds complaints but is not currently taking new complaints. This is a temporary measure whilst NE reviews with Defra the approach to addressing injurious weeds, to improve access to appropriate advice and guidance and ensure enforcement resources are targeted most effectively.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of drought on farmers in the South West; and what steps he is taking to help mitigate that impact.

Drought has led to an early harvest with a reduction in crop quality and yields. Livestock farmers are facing a growing risk with forage, winter feed supplies and consequently buying additional food or selling animals to reduce pressure on supplies. Measures to support farmers include: Allowing short term options to improve access to water outside of abstraction licence conditionsSupporting the establishment of Water Abstractor Groups to enable sharing of water rights and for the development of jointly owned infrastructure. Funding has been made available to the West Country Water and Environment to help create Water Abstractor GroupsLocal Resource Option screening studies are supporting farmers to collaborate on schemes such as multi-farm reservoirs, water trading, with one project in the South West. An updated prospect report will be published this autumn to inform farmers of the water resources situation in order to improve resilience and planning for next year.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will require chewing gum manufacturers to disclose the full composition of gum base on product labels.

Current food labelling rules permit manufacturers to list ‘gum base’ as an ingredient, where ‘gum base’ means gum preparations used in the manufacture of gum base for chewing gum. Manufacturers can provide more descriptive information relating to ingredients contained in the ‘gum base’ if they wish but this is not a requirement. There are currently no plans to amend the legislation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Special Protection Zone regulations on the ability of small towns to establish new burial grounds; and what assessment he has made of the merits of providing (a) guidance and (b) funding support for communities facing (i) environmental and (ii) planning barriers to cemetery provision.

Source Protection Zones are sensitive areas because the underlying groundwater contributes towards public drinking water supplies. To protect those supplies from pollution, unless exempt, new cemeteries must operate under an environmental permit and the Environment Agency has published guidance on this, including information needed to support a planning application. The Environment Agency has recently consulted on a proposal to develop simpler, cheaper, permitting options for cemeteries, which could lead to cost-saving for eligible operators. The Government has asked the Law Commission to review the legal framework governing burial and cremation, including concerns raised about the long-term availability of burial space. They anticipate publishing the report on their findings in late 2025. The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations once these have been published and will respond in due course.” For context, the Government does not have operational day-to-day responsibility for burial grounds, which are managed locally, and there is no statutory duty on local authorities to provide burial facilities. Although Government (DCA/MoJ) does provide Guidance for Burial Ground Managers (which includes issues to consider when planning burial space) and Guidance for Operators of Natural Burial Grounds neither address this specific issue.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline is for mandating food waste reporting.

The Government has announced its plans to publish a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis, one of which is agri-food.As part of this work, evidence for action from right across the economy will be considered and evaluated in terms of what interventions may be needed, including introducing a mandatory food waste reporting requirement for large food businesses.No assessment of the potential impact of mandatory food waste reporting in Austria has been made.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of mandatory food waste reporting in Austria on (a) food waste reduction levels, (b) businesses and (c) food inflation.

The Government has announced its plans to publish a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions the government and others will make on a sector-by-sector basis, one of which is agri-food.As part of this work, evidence for action from right across the economy will be considered and evaluated in terms of what interventions may be needed, including introducing a mandatory food waste reporting requirement for large food businesses.No assessment of the potential impact of mandatory food waste reporting in Austria has been made.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) reduce microplastic pollution in marine ecosystems and (b) support local authorities to (i) monitor and (ii) manage microplastic waste.

At home and abroad, the UK is taking action to develop our understanding of the microplastic problem and to prevent and reduce microplastic pollution. Microplastics are used in a range of applications and are produced from the degradation of plastic products. Plastic pellets are the feedstock for the production of plastic products, and can be lost throughout the supply chain. To tackle this issue, we have supported the development of a Publicly Available Specification by the British Standards Institution (PAS 510:2021), which sets out the steps companies should take to reduce the loss of plastic pellets across their operations. Technical experts from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) have also been leading the Oslo and Paris Convention (OSPAR) Convention to develop a new indicator for microlitter (including microplastics) in seafloor sediments. This will help us to track progress in reducing plastics in the environment at a regional scale. The UK also contributes to the OSPAR Microplastic Expert Group, which is examining ways that we can better detect and quantify microplastics in samples taken for research. Finally, in negotiations to establish a new international treaty on plastic pollution, the UK has called for binding provisions to reduce and prevent microplastic pollution from all sources. In particular, the UK has called for specific provisions to prevent and eliminate emissions and releases of plastic pellets, flakes and powder across the whole supply chain.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had on the development of the Land Use Framework with (a) farmers and (b) landowners in South Cotswolds constituency.

The consultation on land use in England closed on the 25th April. The Government is considering responses to the consultation. These responses will inform a Land Use Framework for England. The consultation process included events with farmers and other land managers held across England over the twelve-week consultation period. This included an event organised by a partner organised on behalf of Defra in Cirencester.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to develop the new Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the new scheme on farmers in South Cotswolds constituency.

The future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer will build on what has made SFI effective so far. Defra will be working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that fairly and responsibly directs funding. Further details about the reformed SFI offer will be announced following the spending review in summer 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help support citizen science projects on (a) flooding and (b) sewage.

Defra has a strong history of working with citizen scientists, particularly volunteer species recorders who have provided over 70% of Government biodiversity data. The growth of citizen science across cities, the countryside, and rivers, driven by technology and social networks, has resulted in fragmented efforts and resource competition. This complex landscape often sees short-lived and difficult-to-support initiatives. The Defra Natural Capital & Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) Programme includes specific research and development to advance Defra and stakeholder engagement with citizen science. Freshwater permeates our landscapes and cities providing a powerful medium through which we can monitor important elements of our natural capital. We have identified 112 existing freshwater citizen science methods. Much of this focuses on rivers, but we are also advancing lake and pond survey capability. Trials have already found 515 new ponds in test cities and online volunteers mapped open water across Northumberland. Freshwater methods will feature within integrated survey designs we are working to trial with stakeholders across various landscapes and cities. A key goal of NCEA research is to explore how best to support environmental citizen science to enhance both national science and public engagement with the environment. The Environment Agency (EA) has recruited citizen science coordinators that are embedded in front-line teams. This is creating strong relationships with citizen science groups and a large collaborative effort is underway to ensure the data derived from citizen science can be added to the EA’s data. Citizen science initiatives focused on sewage and wider catchment pressures include Riverfly, The Big River Watch, Great UK WaterBlitz, and SmartRivers. An example relevant to flooding is the Daily Rainfall Observers Network.

Food and Rural Affairs, what nature-based flooding solutions he plans to implement in South Cotswolds constituency.

Gloucestershire County Council, as Lead Local Flood Authority, coordinates a natural flood management partnership which plans Nature Based Solutions (NBS) projects across the county, including a scheme upstream of Cirencester to re-naturalise The Churn. The Environment Agency (EA) funds and works with partners on NBS projects on the Upper Bristol Avon. Upstream of Malmesbury, the EA works with Bristol Avon Rivers Trust and on the Brinkworth Brook it is working with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust on the Wiltshire Rural Runoff Project. This project includes significant landowner engagement to raise awareness of NBS and opportunities to enhance sustainable land management practices, improve river habitat and water quality. NBS measures upstream of Malmesbury will contribute towards reducing the height of flood peaks and will benefit properties at risk of flooding. The Brinkworth Brook project includes measures that could mitigate some flooding issues in the M4 corridor but will not stop flooding during larger events. The EA is also keeping track of the small beaver population around Malmesbury, which are likely contribute positively to NBS in the future.