Written questions by Dyke.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to expand the use of new (a) tracking and (b) monitoring technologies to improve the effectiveness of the National Bee Unit’s work to (i) locate and (ii) eradicate yellow-legged Asian hornet nests.

Since 2016 the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) have responded to incursions of Yellow Legged Hornet (YLH) into Great Britain. The NBU has developed a fine-tuned and effective response which allows them to find and destroy nests to prevent YLH establishing. During 2025 the NBU has drawn on support from other members of staff within APHA and used new technology to deliver the response. For tracking, the inspectors have been trialling Robor Nature Units which use a handheld device to add tiny trackers to hornets. The tracker is then used to follow the hornet and find the nest so it can be destroyed and removed. For monitoring, field tests have been carried out using VespAI, a visual monitoring system developed by the University of Exeter which uses artificial intelligence to carry out surveillance for YLH. As of 23 October 2025, the NBU have found and destroyed a total of 155 Yellow Legged Hornet nests.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has for the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Defra is working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer that will better target the SFI in an orderly way towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. Information and plans for the next iteration of the scheme will be published in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department has issued on the treatment of historic (a) glass and (b) plastic bottles distributed prior to the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme.

The Deposit Return Scheme in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland will include single-use drinks containers from 150ml to 3 litres. Materials included are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, steel, and aluminium drink containers. Glass drinks containers across the UK are included in the scope of the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging scheme, to make sure it is appropriately and efficiently recycled. Only DRS containers placed on the market after 1 October 2027 will carry a deposit on them. Containers placed on the market before 1 October 2027 can still be recycled via kerbside collections.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the availability of seasonal labour for the apple and pear industry.

The Seasonal Worker visa route is hugely important for the horticulture sector, including the apple and pear industry. Government made a total of 43,000 seasonal worker visas available for horticulture in 2025.  The Government has also announced a 5-year extension to the Seasonal Worker visa route to provide stability and certainty to the horticulture sector, and we can confirm that 41,000 visas will be available for 2026 for the horticulture sector.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to provide additional support to (a) the Somerset Eel Recovery Project and (b) other local recovery projects to enable the (i) delivery of eel passes, (ii) habitat improvements, (iii) increased Assisted migration and (iv) local community engagement work.

In England, the Environment Agency is responsible for eel management and working with local delivery partners.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the (a) Environment Agency and (b) other relevant bodies to (i) monitor and regulate pollution, (ii) assess habitat degradation, (iii) measure silver eel escapement, (iv) ensure that pumps friendly and (v) ensure that barriers are eel friendly.

This is a devolved matter and therefore the information provided relates to England only. The Environment Agency (EA) are responsible for eel management in England. As a non-departmental public body, the EA determine how to allocate their funding from Defra across their activities. Defra has recently committed £350,000 for research and development projects to drive improvements in eel management and conservation.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to review England and Wales’ Eel Management Plans (EMPs), in order to accelerate progress towards meeting silver eel escapement targets.

This is a devolved matter and therefore the information provided relates to England only. The Environment Agency (EA) are responsible for delivering EMPs in England to meet silver eel escapement targets. Defra is not planning to review EMPs at this time as the EA is progressing the delivery of EMPs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that all police forces have access to adequate (a) training and (b) resources to (i) identity, (ii) record and (iii) investigate wildlife crime.

Defra is a principal funder of the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU). In 2025/26, it is providing £424,000 to the Unit. The NWCU helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threats and directly assisting law enforcers in their investigations. Last year, the NWCU assisted every single police force in the UK. The NWCU also provides training to police officers across the UK which reflects the National Police Chiefs' Council wildlife crime strategy and provides comprehensive training in wildlife crime policing. This is open to UK police forces and, as an example, all English police forces had at least one officer trained on an NWCU module in 2023/24.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of levels of digital connectivity on farmer's ability to use animal health monitoring systems.

Defra continues to work closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on connectivity issues facing the rural and farming communities. DSIT’s Shared Rural Network has already delivered 4G coverage to over 95% of UK landmass, enabling rural businesses and communities to thrive. However, there are still rural parts of the UK where there is either limited or no mobile coverage, and DSIT will continue to work with the industry to deliver new coverage to these communities. This Government wants to ensure there is high quality mobile connectivity across the UK, including in rural areas. This is why our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. Furthermore, to improve connectivity in rural areas, Project Gigabit is the Government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. This includes farms and other rural businesses. The improved broadband connectivity delivered through Project Gigabit will benefit the farming community through boosting productivity, optimising farming processes, monitoring livestock and improving communications with consumers and suppliers.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of farmers being unable to reliably report accidents due to poor broadband or mobile signal on safety in rural areas.

Defra continues to work closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) on connectivity issues facing the rural and farming communities. DSIT’s Shared Rural Network has already delivered 4G coverage to over 95% of UK landmass, enabling rural businesses and communities to thrive.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the trends in the number of business closures in rural areas.

Defra publishes the Statistical Digest for Rural England to provide up-to-date analysis across a wide range of subjects including information on business survival and growth. Business deaths per head of population are lower in rural Areas. In 2023, there were 39 registered business deaths per 10,000 population in Predominantly Rural areas compared with 44 per 10,000 population in Predominantly Urban areas (excluding London). Between 2018 to 2023 in Predominantly Rural areas, the number of business deaths remained between 35 and 45 per 10,000 population; in Urban areas it remained between 40 and 50.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of no rollover option being in place for the Countryside Stewardship scheme on (a) farmers and (b) 2030 nature recovery targets.

The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. This includes increasing spend on Environmental Land Management schemes to £2bn by 28/29. Customers with Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier agri-environment agreements expiring in 2024 were offered an extension to provide them with continuity of funding. Additionally, Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier agri-environment customers whose agreements expire at the end of 2025 are now being prioritised for pre-application advice to develop a new Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier agreement. Existing CS HT woodland customers may also be able to develop a new Woodland Management Plan ahead of accessing pre-application support for a new Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier agreement, but this will depend upon individual circumstances. We are aware of the concerns raised by farmers and stakeholders regarding farmers whose current Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier agreements expire at the end of the year, and we are considering how we can support continued delivery of environmental outcomes.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to add (a) bale breakers, (b) handheld (i) pH and (ii) EC meters, (c) in situ soil sensors, (d) wireless data loggers and (e) fogging units for in-house propagation with (A) irrigation and (B) nutrition feeding capabilities to the future of farming equipment list.

The latest round of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund closed for applications on 10/07/25. We are continuing to work to simplify and rationalise our grant funding from 2026 onwards following the Spending Review and ensuing business planning to ensure our grants are targeted towards those who need them most and where they can deliver the most benefit for food security and nature.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will establish a long-term resource use target through the circular economy strategy.

This Government is committed to moving to a circular economy – a future where we keep our resources in use for longer, waste is reduced, we accelerate the path to net zero. Moving away from the linear make, use and throw model is vital to meeting our Net Zero and Environment Targets. The Government recognises the importance of assessing the impacts of our interventions and will consult on options for this when we publish the proposals for our Circular Economy Strategy for England in the coming autumn.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential economic merits of implementing circular economy models.

This Government is committed to moving to a circular economy – a future where we keep our resources are in use for longer, waste is reduced, we accelerate the path to net zero, we stimulate innovation, create thousands of green jobs, and unlock economic opportunities across every region of the country. As part of that, the Government is currently considering the actions that can be taken to move us towards a circular economy, which we plan to publish for consultation in the coming autumn.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to support a consumer right to repair through the Circular Economy Strategy.

Defra recognises that repair and reuse are fundamental tenets of any circular economy, and a successful transition aims to eliminate waste and promote sustainability through reuse and resource efficiency. We will consider the evidence for appropriate action right across the economy as we develop the Circular Economy Strategy for England.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether farmers in Higher Level Stewardship schemes will be able to apply for the new Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes.

Our approach to transitioning farmers from existing agreements into the new schemes is under review and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is currently closed for new applications. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI in summer 2025. We encourage those with existing Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements to continue with this scheme. We’re investing £30 million to increase HLS payment rates so farmers in HLS agreements can continue to restore habitats, support rare species, preserve historic features and maintain traditional landscape features in our iconic countryside.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to help tackle the mis-labelling of honey products.

The Government takes any type of food fraud very seriously, including honey mislabelling. It recognises the importance of protecting food standards and has set minimum quality standards for many foods, including honey. All honey on sale must comply with the Honey (England) Regulations 2015 which set out detailed specifications of its composition, labelling, and quality criteria. Defra works closely with enforcement authorities and with the National Food Crime Unit to ensure honey sold in the UK is not subject to adulteration or mislabelling, meets our high standards and maintains a level playing field between honey producers. Defra has an active programme of research dedicated to honey authenticity testing best practice to ensure fitness for purpose and use of standardised approaches to support enforcement of honey labelling rules.

Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Directive (EU) 2024/1438 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 amending Council Directives 2001/110/EC relating to honey, what discussions he has had with relevant regulatory bodies on the potential merits of transposing this Directive as it relates to honey into domestic law.

Directive 2001/110/EC relating to honey was transposed in each of the four UK nations through the relevant domestic Honey Regulations. Directive (EU) 2024/1438 creates additional requirements relating to country of origin labelling for blended honey and ensuring honey authenticity. The UK has a thriving and diverse honey market which gives consumers access to a wide range of products, from mono-floral varieties to single country origins as well as blended honeys, at a wide range of price points. Directive (EU) 2024/1438 applies in Northern Ireland under Annex 2 of the Windsor Framework. The Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland recently issued a public consultation on the transposition and enforcement of Directive 2024/1438 with respect to honey which closed on 14 May 2025. The responses are currently being assessed. At the UK-EU Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU agreed work towards an UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (‘SPS Agreement’) to make agrifood trade with our biggest market cheaper and easier, cutting costs and red tape for British producers and retailers. The scope of the agreement remains subject to negotiation but is expected to include key marketing and compositional standards, including rules on honey. Common rules on honey would pave the way for easier and smoother trading both across the UK and with the EU.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund will support farm businesses implementing fire suppression measures on agricultural machinery.

Fire suppression equipment for agricultural machinery is not currently in scope of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund. The Fund provides grants towards the costs of equipment to improve productivity, manage slurry and improve animal health and welfare. There were 66 items of eligible productivity equipment in the latest round of Farming Equipment and Technology Fund which closed for applications on 10 July 2025. Eligible items are assessed on their productivity and environmental benefits, and the highest scoring equipment is included – a selection process carried out with industry stakeholders.