Ben Obese-Jecty MP: written questions
Written questions by answering department
4 Jul 2025–3 Jul 2026. One record per UIN and tabled date; the named department is not a measure of answer quality.
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53 published records · newest first.
Written questions
EelsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 12 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 104941More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total cost is of the Mildenhall eel pass.
Answer: Turf Lock Fish passage project at Mildenhall was developed and funded in partnership as part of the catchment-based approach to help improve our water environments. The project was delivered over 5 years as part of the Water Environment Improvement Fund (...
Answered 19 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordRiver Great Ouse: Flood ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 12 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 104940More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential benefit to flood alleviation of replacing St Ives sluice gates with a weir.
Answer: The Environment Agency is assessing the potential flood alleviation benefits and impacts of a range of options, including the replacing of the St Ives sluice with a weir, through the current project development. The project’s objective is to maintain the ...
Answered 19 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordRiver Great Ouse: Flood ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 12 Jan 2026AnsweredUIN 104939More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the estimated cost is of fixing all sluice gates at (a) Brownshill and (b) St Ives.
Answer: The gate refurbishment project is currently undergoing phase 1 which includes inspections, surveys and testing to determine all aspects of phase 2 work required.
Answered 19 Jan 2026
Original Parliament recordFloods: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 98907More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by what date she expects the repair work on (a) St Ives and (b) Brownshill staunches to be completed.
Answer: The Environment Agency (EA) remains committed to maintaining and repairing these assets and has secured funding for repairs to St Ives Sluice and Brownshill Staunch Sluice through to 31 March 2027. Subject to successful procurement and weather conditions,...
Answered 16 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordNew Towns: TempsfordDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96356More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the reservoir from which the proposed new town at Tempsford plans to draw its water supply.
Answer: Anglian Water has a statutory obligation to provide water supplies and will plan provision of this supply for the proposed Tempsford New Town, through the Water Resources Management Plan process.
Answered 11 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordUniversal United Kingdom Resort: Water SupplyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 2 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 96355More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the reservoir from which the proposed Universal Studios Bedford theme park plans to draw its water supply.
Answer: Anglian Water has an existing program to upgrade water resources in the region by 65Ml/d which will provide infrastructure to the Universal application. Universal has committed to a program to minimise water usage through collection of on-site water resou...
Answered 11 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordFishing and Coastal Growth FundDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 1 Dec 2025AnsweredUIN 95823More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much of the £360m Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund has been invested since the fund was announced.
Answer: On 19 May 2025, the £360 million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund was announced to support the next generation of fishers. A key principle of the fund is that we will work with the industry to target investment where it matters most. That engagement has st...
Answered 4 Dec 2025
Original Parliament recordWater AbstractionDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 11 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 89785More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of changing water regulation to permit dynamic abstraction from rivers during high river levels which cause flooding.
Answer: Defra recognises the value of flood and high flow water, especially in water stressed catchments. The Environment Agency (EA) has published a Regulatory Position Statement that allows abstractors to pump water outside of normal licence conditions during f...
Answered 18 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordWater: Sodium HydrochloriteDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 11 Nov 2025AnsweredUIN 89783More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of ICL being the UK water industry’s sole domestic supplier of sodium hydrochlorite on the security of the water supply.
Answer: Defra works routinely with the water sector to proactively identify and mitigate risks to safeguard the security of water supplies. The Government is preparing to respond to the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission, including on assessing p...
Answered 18 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordFood: Public SectorDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 29 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 86436More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20th October 2025 to Question 79746 on Food: Public Sector, by when will the Government complete its assessment of what food the public sector buys and where
Answer: Work to assess the food bought by public bodies and where it comes from is underway. When the results of this work become available, they will help inform Government’s approach on public sector food procurement.
Answered 5 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordFood: Public SectorDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 29 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 86435More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 79746 on Food: Public Sector, what her planned timetable is for making this assessment.
Answer: Work to assess the food bought by public bodies and where it comes from is underway. When the results of this work become available, they will help inform Government’s approach on public sector food procurement.
Answered 5 Nov 2025
Original Parliament recordPrimates: ImportsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79747More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2025 to Question 74067 on Primates: Imports, how many import licences have been issued for macaques since 5 July 2024; and for what purposes each
Answer: This information is not available in the public domain.
Answered 22 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordFood: Public SectorDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79746More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2025 to Question 74136 on Catering: Public Sector, how many public sector organisations currently purchase more than half their food from British
Answer: The Government is currently assessing what food the public sector buys and where it comes from. This will enable us to determine the extent to which public sector organisations are buying food from British producers, providing a baseline with which to mea...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordFlood Control: HuntingdonDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79588More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether any flood defence infrastructure projects in Huntingdon constituency would be eligible for upgrades through the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Programme.
Answer: This Government is investing more than £10.5 billion by the end of 2036 to protect the country against the threat of flooding and coastal erosion. Projects from the Huntingdon constituency and all constituencies across the country will be able to benefit ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordForests: HuntingdonDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79587More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) tree-planting and (b) woodland creation projects have been undertaken through the Nature for Climate Fund Programme in Huntingdon constituency since the establishment of that
Answer: The Forestry Commission publishes statistics on new planting of woodland, and trees outside woodland, in England. These can be found in the Forestry Commission Key Performance Indicators. These statistics are reported annually for each financial year in h...
Answered 17 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordNitrogen Dioxide: Pollution ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79586More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will list the local authorities his Department is working with in Cambridgeshire to deliver the NO2 Programme.
Answer: The Government is supporting 64 local authorities through the NO2 programme specifically to develop and implement measures to address their Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) exceedances in the shortest possible time. No local authorities in Cambridgeshire were ident...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordLivestock: InformationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79585More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has he made in delivering the Livestock Information Transformation Programme.
Answer: Defra's Livestock Information Transformation Programme (LITP) is delivering significant progress towards modernising England's livestock traceability systems. LITP will enable faster response to animal disease outbreaks, provide data to help improve anima...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordPackaging: RecyclingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Oct 2025AnsweredUIN 79584More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made in delivering the Collections and Packaging Reforms programme.
Answer: The Government has passed or is on track to pass all the necessary legislation to deliver the Collection and Packaging Reforms Programme, and making strong progress on achieving our target of 65% recycling by 2035 in England, after a decade of stagnating ...
Answered 20 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Sick LeaveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 2 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74156More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.
Answer: Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence. The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.
Answered 8 Oct 2025
Original Parliament recordCatering: Public SectorDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 2 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74136More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which public sector organisations are required to ensure that 50 per cent of their catering consists of British produce.
Answer: The Government’s firm ambition is that, whilst working within our legal constraints, half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards. In support of this ambition, we published a...
Answered 11 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordPrimates: ImportsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 1 Sept 2025AnsweredUIN 74067More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 1 September 2025 to Question 69995 on Primates: Imports, how many macaques have been imported into the UK for scientific research since 5 July 2024.
Answer: There were 19 import consignments since July 2024 and 1,696 macaques in total. These figures are from the number of import licences issued for macaques and where the Animal and Plant Health Agency received confirmation that the consignment had arrived in ...
Answered 19 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordBusiness: ClosuresDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 29 Aug 2025AnsweredUIN 71952More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of the factors causing (a) agriculture, (b) forestry and (c) fishing businesses to close since 5 July 2024.
Answer: Defra is aware of the Office for National Statistics' quarterly business openings and closures data. There are many factors unrelated to government policy that might explain why businesses would be shown as "closing" in the data source, includin...
Answered 19 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordRiver Great OuseDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 22 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 69999More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Environment Agency on the potential impact of storm overflow discharge into the River Great Ouse on levels of water cleanliness, in the context of
Answer: The Government is committed to taking a systematic approach to improving drainage and wastewater systems. This means looking at how these systems affect the environment, local communities, and other key priorities like flood prevention, economic growth, a...
Answered 2 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordPrimates: ImportsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 22 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 69995More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many long-tailed macaques have been imported into the UK for pre-clinical pharmaceutical testing since 5 July 2025.
Answer: Defra records the total number of macaques imported for scientific research but does not record the number of animals imported specifically for pre-clinical pharmaceutical testing.
Answered 1 Sept 2025
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 21 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 69513More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reservoir levels at Grafham Water on available water resources.
Answer: The Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed with Anglian Water that Grafham Water reservoir is 76% full as of the 19th of August, lower than preferred for this time of year. Rainfall in July saw previous high consumer demand return to more normal levels. An...
Answered 1 Sept 2025
Original Parliament record
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