Written questions by Farron.

Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the Environment Agency is not measuring pollution, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, from motorway outfalls into the River Lune at Tebay.

If the Environment Agency is notified of pollution in watercourses such as the river Lune, then this is dealt with as a pollution incident and investigated and /or attended on a risk basis. Regarding the Lune at Tebay, the Environment Agency is already actively considering how additional monitoring could support their investigations.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency allows National Highways to discharge untreated toxic run-off into the River Lune.

The EA works closely with the National Highways Agency to minimise the environmental risk from surface water outfalls from public highways.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the Environment Agency requiring National Highways to apply for permits to operate outfalls into the River Lune.

The Environment Agency (EA) is able to use its enforcement policy and sanctions on those that pollute the environment. As the EA needs to prioritise its resource on tackling sources with the greatest environmental risk it is taking a collaborative approach in working with National Highways to mitigate the impact from their highest risk outfalls.

Food and Rural Affairs, what was the cost to the public purse of landfill site regulation, monitoring, and remediation over the last five years.

The Environment Agency (EA) regulates permitted landfill sites on a full cost‑recovery basis. The costs of regulation are met by the landfill operators, primarily through annual subsistence charges which are paid by permit holders. These charges cover routine inspections and audits, assessment of monitoring and reporting requirements and ensuring that sites are properly closed and remediated at the end of their operational life. Where the EA is required to undertake additional or non‑standard regulatory activity, landfill operators are required to pay supplementary charges to cover the full cost of that work. As a result, the regulation of permitted landfill sites should not impose an ongoing cost on the public purse. Any additional costs would arise only in exceptional circumstances, such as enforcement action where cost recovery is not possible and intervening in cases where a site has been abandoned and the permit disclaimed. The EA does not currently hold figures for these additional costs.

Food and Rural Affairs, what penalties she plans to bring in for waste companies that persistently breach their operating licence.

The Government’s new Waste Crime Action Plan commits to making fuller use of existing Environment Agency (EA) powers so that high-risk waste sites can be stopped early before they escalate. Earlier EA interventions using Fixed Penalty Notices will deter those enabling waste crime. Permit suspensions and wider use of restriction notices will require operators to halt activity immediately where risks arise. The Waste Crime Action Plan also includes action to reform the Carrier, Broker, Dealer regime. These reforms will move the regulation of waste management and transport from a light-touch registration system into environmental permitting. This will introduce tougher background checks for operators and up to 5 years imprisonment for those who break the law.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of surplus water availability during periods of expected drought.

Water companies must plan for secure supplies during severe droughts, without the need for emergency restrictions. The 2024/2025 annual review of water company data showed that England has an overall surplus. However, this is less than expected in half of areas. Regulators are working closely with water companies to improve progress on delivering new water supplies and managing water demand reductions in response to this.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to develop food storage and distribution capacity for use in national emergencies.

The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes. Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027. The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the level of national water storage capacity.

The Environment Agency’s National System Simulation Model, which includes 90% of England’s supply system, shows the current national total storage capacity of 2.03 billion cubic metres for public water use.Havant Thicket reservoir is currently under construction and a further 9 new reservoirs are planned by water companies. These are expected to provide an additional water supply of over 700million litres per day by 2050.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of days of food stocks nationally in the event of a significant disruption to supply.

The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes. Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027. The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the resilience of food supply chains.

The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes. Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027. The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the total calorific value of food available within the UK in the event of a disruption to supply chains.

The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes. Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027. The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many illegal waste sites are known to the Environment Agency in each English district in the most recent year for which data is available; and what estimate she has made of the total number of large-scale illegal waste sites, including those not officially recorded.

The Environment Agency (EA) has provided the attached dataset which shows the number of illegal wastes sites by Local Authority Area as of 7 October 2025, from the total of 517 sites active at that time. The EA does not hold a view on what would make a site large scale because it assesses risk posed by sites. There are 151 sites that it considers to be higher risk sites. The number of illegal waste sites will change as sites are stopped and new sites are found. The EA is unable to report on anything in relation to sites not officially recorded.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many waste crime officers are currently employed by the Environment Agency; and how many large-scale illegal waste sites have a designated waste crime officer assigned to them.

There are 331 full-time employees directly involved in waste crime. This number includes officers in the Area and National operational teams who respond to illegal waste sites, prevent and disrupt waste crime at sites in England, prevent illegal exports of waste to other countries, conduct criminal investigations and combat fraud and money laundering related to waste regimes. The Environment Agency does not designate a waste crime officer to individual sites. Instead, teams work together to respond to reports of illegal waste sites.

Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the adequacy of the volume of food held in storage for use in a national emergency.

The UK does not have national food stockpiles or current plans to create these. The UK has a resilient food supply chain that is well equipped to deal with potential disruption. This high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources including strong domestic production and imports through stable trade routes. Defra published the second edition of the UK Food Security Report (UKFSR) in December 2024. The UKFSR sets out an analysis of statistics relating to food security, serving as an evidence base to inform Government policy and public understanding. It tracks trends in domestic production, import reliance, inflation, and supply chain. The next UKFSR will be published in 2027. The annual UK Food Security Digest is published in the years between the UK Food Security Report, with the first one released in December 2025. It covers a selected range of priority indicators that are of high interest and/or highly variable.

How much revenue has been raised from Landfill Tax in each of the last five years.

Landfill Tax receipts for the latest five financial years (2020-21 to 2024-25) are published here: HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK

What plans his Department has for the NHS to do cardiac testing on young people.

The Government recognises how worrying heart health can be for the families of young people. The National Health Service already offers cardiac tests for young people who present with symptoms that could indicate a cardiac issue. Testing young people who have no symptoms in order to look for potential cardiac problems would, however, be classed as a screening programme.In considering whether any screening programme should be introduced, the Government is guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. Where the committee is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.The UK NSC last reviewed screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019. The conclusion of that review was that population screening should not be offered, as research showed that current tests are not accurate enough to use on young people with no symptoms.The UK NSC is due to open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring, and we would encourage those with an interest to contribute.

What role the National Crime Agency currently plays in tackling organised waste crime.

National leadership for tackling waste crime sits with the Environment Agency. Its Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC) brings together operational partners (including the NCA) to coordinate the response. The NCA can investigate waste crime where cases meet the thresholds of complexity and severity outlined in the National Tasking Model. In practice, this is most likely where waste crime overlaps with an existing NCA priority threat.The NCA also hosts the National Assessments Centre, which draws on law enforcement intelligence to produce threat assessments for policing, Government and operational partners. These assessments are shared with bodies such as the Environment Agency and the JUWC and can help inform their understanding of serious and organised crime risks including those associated with waste crime.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of designating waste crime as a national strategic policing priority.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recently published the Waste Crime Action Plan, which sets out how we will tackle waste crime through prevention, enforcement, and accelerating the clean-up effort. National leadership for tackling waste crime sits with the Environment Agency. Its Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC), which focusses on waste crime linked to Serious and Organised crime, brings together operational partners, such as the police and NCA, with appropriate agencies to ensure a joined up and effective response.Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) is identified in the Strategic Policing Requirement as a national threat requiring a coordinated, cross‑boundary policing response. As set out in the White Paper, we will introduce new National Strategic Policing Priorities (NSPP) which will bring together strategic priorities for policing, and the national threats and capabilities forces need to respond to these threats, in one place. We will legislate for the NSPP, and set out the specific priorities, when parliamentary time allows.

What assessment he has made of whether the newborn screening programme is fit for purpose and screens for all conditions.

The NHS Newborn Blood Spot Programme screens for ten rare but serious conditions and consistently achieves very high coverage, with the most recent figure at 98% in quarter two of 2025/26.Coverage of babies who move into the area after birth is lower, at 83%, so the programme is less effective for this subgroup, although numbers are much smaller.A total of 570,865 babies were screened in 2024/25, demonstrating the programme is operating effectively at scale, and the system is robust enough to deliver screening across a large cohort.Over one million babies have been screened for severe combined immunodeficiency since the launch of the in-service evaluation (ISE) in 2017. NHS England’s report on the 30-month ISE evaluation period found that screening detected ten babies with the condition who would otherwise have gone undetected until infections developed, thus preventing serious illness.NHS England is currently planning a large-scale ISE of screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in newborn screening services, which will help inform a future UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommendation on whether screening for SMA should be added to the NHS Newborn Blood Spot Screening Programme. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, asked officials to explore whether the ISE, which was due to start in January 2027, could be expanded to cover the whole of England and start earlier. It has now been confirmed that the ISE will start three months earlier, in October 2026. We will announce further updates regarding its expansion in due course.

How many Outdoor Learning Specialist apprenticeships are projected to start in the current funding year; how long the standard has been operational; and what he estimates to be the cost saving associated with defunding the Level 5 standard.

The Outdoor Learning Specialist standard was approved for delivery from February 2022.The department publishes a range of apprenticeships data, including on apprenticeship starts, and those for the current academic year are published here: Apprenticeships, Academic year 2025/26 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK. The department does not publish projected starts or estimated cost savings.