Topical Questions

Question

The Beddington energy recovery facility has an outstanding request to increase its annual permit tonnage to 382,000 tonnes from the originally approved 300,000 tonnes when planning was approved. I know the Secretary of State is familiar with this, as the facility is a mere 100 metres from his constituency. May I ask him whether the Environment Agency will listen to local residents, including his own, and to councils across Sutton, Merton, Croydon and Kingston and refuse the permit expansion, as sufficient incinerator capacity already exists in London?

Question

My constituents are rightly fed up with waste crime. My local council has had to deal with 1,500 instances of fly-tipping in the past three years, and it is all too often paid for by taxpayers, not criminals. Will the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to get tough on waste crime?

Question

To make matters worse, Ministers have spent the past week trying to sell cuts of more than £100 million a year in real terms as a historic deal for farmers. If the Secretary of State has secured such a historic deal for his Department, where does DEFRA rank compared with others in terms of cuts in the spending review?

Question

Residents of Thornton-Cleveleys in my constituency are being warned not to eat food grown in their own gardens because a local site is being investigated after testing found high concentrations around it of a banned substance called perfluorooctanoic acid, which has proven to be carcinogenic, and there have been discharges into the protected River Wyre. This is affecting hundreds of residents in the area, and there are fears of contamination to water and locally grown food. What steps will the Minister take to address this problem under the current regulations to ensure that constituents like mine are protected?

Question

The National Audit Office report says that the Government really need to step up their border checks. As the Government have admitted in answers to me, 72,872 kg of illegal meat imports were seized between January and April this year, close to the 92,000 kg seized in the whole of 2024. With foot and mouth disease and African swine fever on our doorstep in Europe, I shudder to think how much potentially infected meat is slipping in undetected. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Will the Government act urgently to strengthen our biosecurity and our border checks before it is too late?

Question

I am delighted to hear that United Auctions in my constituency has recently become the UK’s first employee-owned livestock auctioneer. Will the Secretary of State commit to doing more to encourage employee ownership models as a great option for rural businesses that want to thrive, attract new talent and remain rooted in the communities that they serve? Will he also congratulate the new owners?

Question

The Minister previously stated that the extended producer responsibility was not retrospective. However, the industry understands that it is now DEFRA’s position that it is a retrospective tax. Will the Minister confirm what industry engagement was undertaken to advise producers of the change to a retrospective tax?

Question

Following last month’s Supreme Court ruling about wild camping on Dartmoor, will the Secretary of State confirm whether he believes that responsible wild camping should be permitted in the other national parks?

Question

UK flour millers, including ADM in my constituency, are already contributing to our food security. However, there are fears in the industry that trade deals could curtail that progress. Will the Minister outline the steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the welcome trade deals struck by the Government do not undermine our food security?

Question

Compensation has been given to Severn Trent customers in Norton and Packmoor who had suffered discoloured water supplies, and to another resident who had sewage flooding their garden. While I welcome recent investment to upgrade the pipes in Smallthorne, Burslem and Tunstall, will the Secretary of State please outline how he will hold water bosses to account, so that residents finally see real improvements?