Written questions by Kumaran.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support sustainable farming initiatives.

The Government allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament, investing more than £2.7 billion a year in farming and nature recovery. Overall, farmers and land managers will benefit from an average of £2.3 billion a year through the Farming and Countryside Programme. And up to £400 million from additional nature schemes, including those for tree planting and peatland restoration. This includes increasing spend on nature-friendly farming including Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes to £2 billion by 28/29. Defra will continue to invest in our farmers and land managers to make their businesses, food production and our country more sustainable and resilient through ELM.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to hold a consultation on the Circular Economy Growth Plan.

This Government remains committed to transitioning towards a circular economy and driving economic growth. This is why, in the new year, we will publish our Circular Economy Growth Plan that sets out how Government will deliver a more circular and more prosperous economy. The Growth Plan will reflect the extensive engagement led by the Circular Economy Taskforce with industry leaders, trade associations, and other key stakeholders. We will continue to engage stakeholders, including through consultation where appropriate, on the interventions set out in the Growth Plan after publication.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including shared (a) walking and (b) cycling paths in the National River Walks.

We are committed to making the nine new river walks accessible to a wide range of users where it is feasible to do so, so that where possible they can benefit walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the outcomes of the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16).

The UK Biodiversity Conference (COP16) was the first opportunity for Parties to take stock of the progress made in implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) adopted at COP15. Of the 27 important decisions taken at COP16, many provided guidance and support for Parties to help them implement the GBF. These decisions will not require significant changes to our domestic policies but do provide useful additional guidance, which we will consider in greater detail in due course. We are still considering how to implement the decision adopted on digital sequence information (DSI) on genetic resources, which agreed the modalities for operationalising the multilateral benefit sharing mechanism for the use of DSI, and invites Parties to put in place measures to incentivise companies to contribute.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to implement the recommendations of the Fifth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of 2023-24 on Government’s programme of waste reforms, HC333, published on 1 December 2023.

The Government intends to implement the recommendations set out in the report, of which a number have already been implemented by the programme. Due to the General Election and subsequent change in Government earlier in the year, the strategic landscape that the programme is part of has changed and therefore the Government is reviewing some of the intended target dates for the implementation of the recommendations to ensure that they align with the Governments Missions. The Government is committed to ensuring successful implementation of the Collection and Packaging Reforms as set out in the Autumn budget presented to the House in October. These reforms remain intrinsic to providing the sector much needed certainty to encourage future investment, along with a transition towards a Circular Economy.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2024 to Question 4786 on Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances, what his planned timetable is for considering measures to restrict per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Health and Safety Executive is currently preparing a UK REACH dossier for a restriction on PFAS in fire-fighting foams (FFFs), which is due to be published for consultation in 2025.