Ben Obese-Jecty MP: written questions
Written questions by answering department
4 Jul 2026–12 Oct 2026. One record per UIN and tabled date; the named department is not a measure of answer quality.
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34 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Reservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 14 Sept 2026Awaiting answerUIN 29851More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2026 to Question 22817 on Reservoirs: Cambridgeshire, if she will publish a breakdown of the (a) nitrates and (b) phosphates found in water source
Answer: No published answer in this record yet.
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 11 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 29225More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8 September 2026, to question 22817 on Reservoirs: Cambridgeshire, what assessment has she made of the source of the high nitrate levels found in water source
Answer: A drought permit application is expected from Anglian Water in early October to support refilling Grafham Water if sustained rainfall is received. The Great Ouse Catchment System Plan partnership project has been formed to identify and track sources of ni...
Answered 17 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 11 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 29224More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8 September 2026, to question 22817 on Reservoirs: Cambridgeshire, what steps she has taken to ensure Grafham Water can be refilled to 100% this winter follow
Answer: A drought permit application is expected from Anglian Water in early October to support refilling Grafham Water if sustained rainfall is received. The Great Ouse Catchment System Plan partnership project has been formed to identify and track sources of ni...
Answered 17 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordRiver Great Ouse: Flood ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 28894More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has she made in replacing St Ives sluice with a fixed weir.
Answer: St Ives Sluice is progressing through the Environment Agency full business case approval process. The fixed weir option currently provides the best whole life cost solution.
Answered 17 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordRiver Great Ouse: Flood ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 28893More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps further to those previously anticipated are needed by the Environment Agency to justify and gain approval to deliver the replacement of St Ives sluice.
Answer: St Ives Sluice is progressing through the Environment Agency full business case approval process. The fixed weir option currently provides the best whole life cost solution.
Answered 17 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordEnvironment Agency: WarningsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 9 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 28496More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of requiring regional Environment Agency teams to create Facebook pages on the level of communication regarding local schemes and e
Answer: The Environment Agency’s (EA) free Flood Warning Service sends warnings direct to homes and businesses. This is complemented with social media updates to warn and inform communities of flood risk. This is mainly on X plus Instagram and Facebook. The EA’s ...
Answered 15 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: FinanceDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 8 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 28096More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is the scope of the Future Rural Payments Service.
Answer: As we set out in the Farming Roadmap, the Future Rural Payments Service (FRPS) is working towards a modern and efficient service that simplifies and streamlines the grant application process and reduces the demand on farmer’s time for administration. The ...
Answered 18 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: ReservoirsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 7 Sept 2026AnsweredUIN 27628More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2026 to question 23389 on Agriculture: Reservoirs, by when she plans to open a further round of the Water Management Grant.
Answer: Defra has recently announced that we are reopening the Water Management Grant, with up to £15m available to help farmers build on-farm reservoirs so they can store more water to irrigate crops and be better protected against dry conditions in future. Defr...
Answered 21 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordEnvironment ProtectionDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23418More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Press release “PM: Farmers should not carry the risk of a changing climate alone” published on 14 August 2026, in what way will the measures introduce more flexib
Answer: The Government has made temporary adjustments to Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, giving farmers flexibility and making it easier for farm business cash flow as they deal with growing food in this summer’s extreme conditions. Adjustments will ...
Answered 18 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: ReservoirsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23389More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is she taking to support the process of building on-farm irrigation reservoirs.
Answer: The Government is taking action both to improve farmers’ access to water during drought conditions and to support the development of new on-farm irrigation reservoirs. As part of the drought support package, we reminded farmers that they can apply to the ...
Answered 4 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordDrinking Water: Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl SubstancesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23374More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions has her department held with industry on detecting PFAS in the drinking water supply.
Answer: Defra is engaging with water companies and regulators on management of PFAS in the water environment. In February 2026, the Government unveiled a new plan to better protect the nation and environment from the risks posed by PFAS. The PFAS Plan is a cross...
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23373More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release entitled PM: Farmers should not carry the risk of a changing climate alone, published on 14 August 2026, how the additional £50 million for the Sust
Answer: The additional £50m announced by the Prime Minister last month as part of the dry weather package will be included in Window 2 of SFI26, thereby increasing the Window 2 budget to £230m (in addition to any remaining Window 1 budget). Window 2 is expected t...
Answered 18 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: ReservoirsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23326More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Press release “PM: Farmers should not carry the risk of a changing climate alone” published on 14 August 2026, how will up to £15 million for on-farm reservoirs b
Answer: As part of the drought support package announced on 14 August 2026, the Government committed £15 million to support investment in on-farm reservoirs. We are currently developing the detailed delivery arrangements for a further round of the Water Managemen...
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Water SupplyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23283More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Press release PM: Farmers should not carry the risk of a changing climate alone,published on 14 August 2026, what steps she is taking to improve access to water d
Answer: The Government is taking action both to improve farmers’ access to water during drought conditions and to support the development of new on-farm irrigation reservoirs. As part of the drought support package, we reminded farmers that they can apply to the ...
Answered 4 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Climate ChangeDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23253More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department's press release entitled PM: Farmers should not carry the risk of a changing climate alone, published on 14 August 2026, what existing schemes within D
Answer: At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed to spend an average of £2.3 billion on farming each year. To optimise how we spend the Farming Budget, we plan budgets for all of our schemes over multiple years. As our schemes are all demand-led, forecasts chang...
Answered 4 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordWater: ShortagesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23252More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Section 57 spray irrigation restrictions have been applied to licences in the Huntingdon constituency in August 2026.
Answer: No Section 57 spray irrigation restrictions have been applied to licences in the Huntingdon constituency in August 2026.
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23251More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on delivering the Fens Reservoir.
Answer: The Government is driving delivery programme coordination, through the Water Delivery Taskforce, which was established to ensure water companies follow through on their planned investments and provide the water and wastewater capacity communities need. Th...
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordWater: WasteDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23244More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of water pipe movement in dry soils on the volume of water lost due to broken pipes.
Answer: Dry, hardened soils caused by lack of rainfall can cause ground shifts which can move water pipes and damage infrastructure, leading to increased leakage. The Government is working with water companies to reduce supply pipe leakage and install smart meter...
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordWater Abstraction: LicensingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23239More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to improve the responsiveness of the abstraction licensing system.
Answer: The Government is acting to create a more dynamic abstraction licensing system. We plan to bring abstraction and impoundment regulation into the Environmental Permitting Regulations, providing a more flexible legislative framework. The Environment Agency ...
Answered 4 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAnimal Feed: CattleDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23202More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of the lack of adequate feed for cattle on milk volumes.
Answer: While no data is held on the short-term potential impact of recent drought and heatwave conditions on grazing and silage production for UK dairy farms, Defra continues to work closely with the sector to maintain an over-view of grass growth and availabili...
Answered 4 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23201More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Anglian water have submitted a drought permit in order to refill Grafham Water.
Answer: No.
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Water AbstractionDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23200More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of irrigation restrictions in place to reduce water abstraction by farmers in Huntingdon constituency.
Answer: There are 99 abstraction licences within the Huntingdon constituency. Currently (02/09/2026) of these, 75 licences include Hands-Off Flow (HOF) cessation conditions. As of Tuesday, 1 September, only 4 have these restrictions in force.
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23199More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is the current percentage level of Grafham Water reservoir.
Answer: Grafham Water was 65.43% full on Monday, 31 August 2026.
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordWater Supply: WasteDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23198More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what is the estimated volume of water lost annually to leaks by each water company in the last reporting period.
Answer: The Government is committed to urgent action to improve water efficiency and reduce water company leaks, alongside delivering new supply infrastructure. including new reservoirs and water transfers. Water company Water Resources Management Plans show how ...
Answered 8 Sept 2026
Original Parliament recordFlood Control: HuntingdonDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 28 Aug 2026AnsweredUIN 23141More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the section on Flood and Coastal Risk Management Investment Programme 2026-2029 in the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority's document entitle
Answer: The scope of the 2026-2029 Floods and Coastal Erosion Management Investment programme remains unchanged from previous Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management programmes. It includes the construction of new flood and coastal defences, the refurbishment a...
Answered 4 Sept 2026
Original Parliament record
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