Helen Whately MP: written questions
4 Jul 2025–3 Jul 2026
How these years work
Our reporting years run from 4 July to 3 July, starting with the 2024 general election. They are not official parliamentary sessions. Office costs keep IPSA’s April–March financial years. Records may cover only part of a year; a missing record does not mean no work was done.
Read what this MP said, asked and contributed in Parliament.
8 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Environment Protection: Public ConsultationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 23 Feb 2026AnsweredUIN 115043More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the official response to the public consultation on Environmental Permitting Regulations which concluded last year.
Answer: The Government response to the public consultation on modernising environmental permitting for industry will be published in due course. We welcome the input received from respondents to the consultation. The reforms will support innovation and improve th...
Answered 27 Feb 2026
Original Parliament recordBatteries: StorageDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 23 Feb 2026AnsweredUIN 115042More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will hold discussions with the Electrical Storage Health and Safety Governance Group on introducing BESS to the Environmental Permitting Regulations.
Answer: Defra officials have regularly attended Electrical Storage Health and Safety Governance Group meetings, where the proposal of potentially including battery energy storage system (BESS) sites into the Environmental Permitting Regulations has previously bee...
Answered 27 Feb 2026
Original Parliament recordBatteries: StorageDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 23 Feb 2026AnsweredUIN 115041More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on considering the industry feedback on introducing BESS to the Environmental Permitting Regulations.
Answer: The Government is committed to ensuring grid-scale batteries remain as safe as possible and we are exploring options to enhance safeguards to manage the potential environmental and public health risks associated with grid-scale battery energy storage syst...
Answered 27 Feb 2026
Original Parliament recordAnimal Welfare: Offensive WeaponsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66599More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many incidents of the use of catapults causing harm to wild mammals have been recorded in each of the last five years.
Answer: The Government takes wildlife crime seriously. Defra supports the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), which helps prevent and detect wildlife crime by obtaining and disseminating intelligence, undertaking analysis which highlights local or national threa...
Answered 18 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordAnimal Welfare: Offensive WeaponsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66598More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to address the use of catapults in causing suffering to (a) pets and (b) wild mammals.
Answer: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately a...
Answered 18 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordAnimal Welfare: Offensive WeaponsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66597More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has any plans to review the regulation of catapults in relation to animal welfare concerns.
Answer: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately a...
Answered 18 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordAnimal Welfare: Offensive WeaponsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66596More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the legal (a) sale and (b) possession of catapults on animal welfare.
Answer: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately a...
Answered 18 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordAnimal Welfare: ProsecutionsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 9 Jul 2025AnsweredUIN 66237More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of legislation for (a) deterring and (b) prosecuting people who attack (i) wildlife and (ii) livestock with catapults; an
Answer: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects all wild birds and some wild animals in England and Wales. While it does not specifically include catapults in the list of weapons that must not be used to kill wildlife, it is still illegal to deliberately a...
Answered 17 Jul 2025
Original Parliament record
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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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