Written questions by Dyke.

How many schools have a place on the breakfast clubs pilot programme.

From summer term 2025, 750 state funded primary schools will be funded as early adopter schools to provide access to a free, universal breakfast club lasting at least 30 minutes that includes food.The department aims to test and learn with as many different types of schools as possible.On 24 February 2025, the department published the list of early adopter schools here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breakfast-clubs-early-adopters-schools-in-the-scheme.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle LGBT discrimination in care homes.

It is essential that everyone living in a care home is kept safe, including those who may be more likely to experience discrimination, such as LGBT+ people. They must be treated with dignity, listened to and have their needs understood and met by their local authority. The Government recently launched a new Adult Social Care Qualification to provide those working in care with the skills and knowledge they need to support people well. This includes guidance on how to provide appropriate care which covers being sensitive to an individual's sexuality or gender identity.

Food and Rural Affairs, what support his Department is providing those impacted by flooding following Storm Herminia.

The Environment Agency surged support at strategic, tactical and operational levels and worked with Local Resilience Forums to manage flood impacts in areas affected by Storm Hermina. There were approximately 160 properties flooded and 6000 protected. The Environment Agency routinely provides flood warning and information and maintains 250 mobile pumps, including 17 ultra-high-volume pumps which can assist with flood recovery across England. There was no activation of the flood recovery framework or Defra led support schemes as a result of flooding caused by Storm Hermina. We recognise the devastation the storms this winter have caused to those affected. The role of any Government is to protect its citizens which is why, under our Plan for Change, a record £2.65 billion will be invested over two years in better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026. Around 1,000 projects will receive funding in 24/25 and 25/26. This Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record, so we are also prioritising maintenance of existing flood defences, ensuring an additional 14,500 properties will have their expected level of protection maintained or restored.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle digital exclusion.

It is shocking that the last government published no digital inclusion strategy for 10 years. This Government is determined to remedy that and I hope to be able to say more soon.

What steps she is taking to improve access to electric vehicle charging for disabled people.

To address the specific barriers disabled EV drivers face when using public chargepoints, the Government co-sponsored the publication of the Publically Available Specification (PAS) 1899:2022 standard, which provides specifications on designing and installing accessible public EV chargepoints and considers chargepoints in the context of their wider built environment.  The Government continues to work with industry and other parties to ensure effective implementation of PAS1899 and to support the 24-month review of the PAS, which is being led by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and concludes early in 2025. The Government will continue to monitor progress to assess whether further intervention is needed on accessibility over time.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers and land managers successfully applied for capital grants for environmental land management in (a) Glastonbury and Somerton constituency and (b) England in 2024.

Between 1 January 2024 and 28 November 2024, there have been 6573 successful applications for Capital Grants under the Environmental Land Management Schemes in England in 2024. The Rural Payment Agency cannot provide constituency data at this time due to the boundary changes earlier this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning single-use food service materials for dine-in settings that have more than 20 covers.

This Government is committed to moving to a circular economy for plastics - a future where we keep our resources in use for longer; waste is reduced; we accelerate the path to net zero; we see investment in critical infrastructure and green jobs; our economy prospers; and nature thrives. As a part of this transition, managing and reducing plastic waste will be crucial. The Government has not fully assessed the option to ban single-use food service materials for dine-in settings that have more than 20 covers. We continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reducing the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encouraging reuse solutions.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using (a) refillable and (b) returnable packaging to help support the transition to become a circular economy.

Refillable and returnable packaging is a key part of supporting the transition to a circular economy. Defra is working with WRAP to identify and analyse measures that could be used to encourage greater use of refillable and returnable packaging.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the Rural England Prosperity Fund has been spent.

Delivery of the Rural England Prosperity Fund (REPF) has been devolved to eligible local authorities. This includes assessing and approving project applications, processing payments and day-to-day monitoring. REPF funding is available from April 2023 to March 2025 and all eligible local authorities have confirmed allocations of funding for the two-year period as published. The latest data we have available for spend is for end of year 1 (March 2024) which showed that £17 million had been paid to projects and in total £71 million had been committed to completed, live or planned projects. Allocations were weighted 25% year 1 and 75% year 2 for most eligible local authorities to allow development of project pipelines and give time for eligible local authorities to use the full allocations available.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to extend the Rural England Prosperity Fund.

The Autumn Statement on 30 October confirmed Defra’s budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Funding allocations for individual programmes for the next financial year will be determined in upcoming months through the department’s business planning exercise. The department is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and will update on the Rural England Prosperity Fund in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty in South Korea.

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of levels of international funding needed to support new financial mechanisms that would be required under the Global Plastics Treaty.

The Government is committed to playing a leading role at the forthcoming fifth intergovernmental negotiating committee to ensure an effective plastic pollution treaty is agreed which addresses the full lifecycle of plastics. Funding will be needed from all sources, public and private, to support an effective treaty and should leverage synergies with funding to support other global environmental challenges. The level of funding will depend on the outcomes of negotiations on control measures and the associated assessments of the support required for their implementation.

Food and Rural Affairs, what position the UK will take on (a) chemical recycling and (b) a mass balance approach in negotiations on the Global Plastics Treaty.

At the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop a new UN Plastics Treaty, the UK will align with our domestic policy on any provisions related to chemical recycling, including mass balance. Therefore, where relevant we will recognise that chemical recycling technologies can offer a complementary route to support the transition towards a circular economy, where mechanical recycling is unfeasible or uneconomic and where this waste may otherwise be incinerated. There are no proposals in the Treaty on the mass balance approach. Through their recent consultation response following Autumn Budget, His Majesty’s Treasury confirmed acceptance of using a mass balance approach to calculate chemically recycled content in plastic packaging for the purposes of the Plastic Packaging Tax in the UK.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2024 to Question 9584 on Plastics: Treaties, what level of (a) production and (b) consumption of primary plastic polymers is sustainable.

The UK supports measures under the proposed Global Plastics Treaty to reduce the production and consumption of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels, and the Government recognises that further work will be needed to establish what those sustainable levels are. The UK will continue to advocate for the importance of following the science, as well as supporting measures to ensure greater transparency across the plastics lifecycle, to allow the future Conferences of the Parties to make evidence-based decisions.

Whether her Department has carried out an impact assessment of ending the £2 bus fare cap.

Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services for passengers is one of the government’s top priorities as we know how important this is for passengers and for local growth. The government is looking at the future of the £2 fare cap as a matter of urgency and is considering the most appropriate and affordable approach for the future of the scheme. The Department also published an interim report in September 2023 setting out emerging trends in key outcomes from the first two months of the scheme. The report is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-2-bus-fare-cap/2-bus-fare-cap-evaluation-interim-report-february-2023.

Innovation and Technology, how much and what proportion of the Project Gigabit fund has been allocated to rural areas.

The latest published data shows that between April 2022 and March 2023, 90% of premises benefiting from publicly-subsidised broadband rollout, including Project Gigabit, were rural.Almost £2 billion of contracts have been signed to connect over a million more premises with gigabit-capable broadband. These are premises that would otherwise not be reached by suppliers’ commercial rollout, and fall predominantly in rural areas.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an estimate of the number of (a) polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottles, (b) glass bottles and (c) metal beverage containers littered annually in the UK.

Across the UK, it is estimated that approximately 4 billion plastic and 2.5 billion metal drinks containers are not recycled every year – a significant amount being littered. Once the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers is introduced, the Deposit Management Organisation will be required to reach a collection rate of 90% of DRS containers in year 3 of the scheme.

Whether he expects people affected by failures in the Post Office Horizon IT system to receive compensation by March 2025.

Government is committed to providing redress to individuals affected by the Horizon scandal as quickly as possible. We continue to seek options to speed up redress, in discussion with the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board. For example, on the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme we have recently committed to providing offers on fully completed claims within 40 working days in 90% of cases, in line with our commitment on the GLO scheme. As of 30 September 2024, approximately £363 million has been paid to over 2,900 claimants across the available schemes. Setting a target of March 2025 for every sub-postmaster affected by failures in the Horizon Scandal to receive compensation in full could put pressure on vulnerable postmasters who may need more time to finalise their claim with their legal representatives, or to respond to offers. It could also rule out new potential claimants, who are still coming forward.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential environmental benefits of including (a) PET plastic bottles, (b) glass bottles and (c) metal beverage containers within the proposed deposit return scheme.

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers across all four nations will include single-use drinks containers from 150ml to 3 litres. In England and Northern Ireland, materials included in DRS are polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, steel, and aluminium drink containers. Glass will not be in scope of the scheme. Across the UK, it is estimated that approximately 4 billion plastic and 2.5 billion metal drinks containers are not recycled every year – a significant amount being landfilled, littered or incinerated.Once the DRS for drinks containers is introduced, the Deposit Management Organisation will be required to reach a collection rate of 90% of DRS containers in year 3 of the scheme.Further details, including monetary analysis on the reduction of disamenity of litter, will be provided in the DRS Final Impact Assessment. This will be published when the Statutory Instrument is laid in Parliament.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses in rural areas.

Rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. Over half a million business are registered in rural areas, with the rural economy contributing over £315 billion a year to England alone. The Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities. To achieve this, we are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of policymaking. That starts with delivering a new deal for farmers including cutting energy prices by setting up GB energy, ensuring future trade deals are fairer for British farmers, and procuring more British produce in Government.