Steve Barclay MP: written questions
4 Jul 2024–3 Jul 2025
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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.
45 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Pollution ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 19 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 61156More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environment Agency is taking steps to (a) control and (b) report on the potential risk of toxic contamination from the use of (i) recycled Energy Recovery Facilities incine
Answer: As was the case when he was Secretary of State for Defra, the ash residue from energy recovery facilities is normally processed into incinerator The bottom ash aggregate (IBAA). IBAA can only be used under the terms of a regulatory position statement (RPS...
Answered 7 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordReservoirs: CambridgeshireDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 54754More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline for for the proposed Fens Reservoir is for the (a) submission of a development consent order application to the Planning Inspectorate, (b) final decision on t
Answer: Anglian Water is responsible for the development of the Fens reservoir. Proposals will be consulted on and will follow the requirements of the National Policy Statement for Water Resources Infrastructure. A traffic and transport assessment is currently un...
Answered 16 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordInternal Drainage Boards: FinanceDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 8 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 44967More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Written Ministerial Statement of 5 February 2025, HCWS417 on the Flood Investment Announcement, whether he plans to provide additional support to local authorities impa
Answer: The government supports the important work internal drainage boards (IDBs) do in managing water and flood risk, benefiting communities, businesses and the environment. The government announced as part of the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement, th...
Answered 25 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Food SupplyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 25 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33423More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 July 2024 to Question 1488 on Agriculture: Food Supply, what preparations his Department has made for the 2025 Farm to Fork Summit.
Answer: The department is planning to engage closely with key stakeholders from across the food system over the coming months. We will confirm the details of possible future events in due course.
Answered 10 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFarmers: Advisory ServicesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 24 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33001More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers have received funding through the Farming Resilience Fund since it was established.
Answer: The Farming Resilience Fund provides free business support to farmers and land managers in England to help them through agricultural transition. It was set up to available from October 2022 and will run until March 2025. Across all three phases of the Fa...
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFood SupplyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 24 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33000More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of recent developments in Russia's war in Ukraine on food security in the UK.
Answer: British reliance on food supplies from Ukraine is currently low. Defra actively monitors risks to UK food security on an ongoing basis. The UK Food Security Report, which was published in December, examines past, current, and future trends relevant to foo...
Answered 4 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnvironment Protection: Civil SocietyDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 24 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32999More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times his Department has met representatives of (a) Greenpeace, (b) Just Stop Oil and (c) Extinction Rebellion since 4 July 2024.
Answer: Ministers have met with Greenpeace and discussions continue at an official level. There have not been any meetings with Just Stop Oil or Extinction Rebellion.
Answered 10 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordFirearms: RegulationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 24 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32998More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of aligning the controls on shotguns with that of other firearms on financial costs to farm businesses.
Answer: The consultation on the recommendation made to the Home Office on aligning the controls on shotguns with other firearms, as set out in the Government response to the consultation, “Firearms Licensing: a consultation on recommendations for changes made to ...
Answered 4 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordWaste: ImportsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 24 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 32997More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Environment Agency permits allowing the importation of waste from outside the UK are in effect; and if he will provide a list of sites covered.
Answer: The Environment Agency currently has 208 notifications to import waste, which is recovered at 86 sites. The sites and the number of notifications to each site are listed in the table below: FacilityFacility Postal CodeNumber of notifications (permits)3R T...
Answered 6 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSandeels: FisheriesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 21 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31918More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to reopen Sandeel fisheries in UK waters.
Answer: In March 2024, and following a public consultation, the UK and Scottish Governments closed English waters of the North Sea and all Scottish Waters to sandeel fishing. The closure will shield sandeel as an essential food source for threatened seabird popul...
Answered 3 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming IncentiveDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 13 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31457More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total SFI agreement uptake has been per quarter since the beginning of the launch of the 2021 pilot scheme.
Answer: The table below shows the number of Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements accepted and started per quarter since the scheme’s launch in 2021. To note that farmers can have more than one SFI Agreement. The application window was paused across Spring and...
Answered 10 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: GrantsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 12 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31408More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been paid to farmers in Improving Farming Productivity grants since 4 July 2024.
Answer: The Rual Payment Agency has supported the farming and rural sector through payments under a range of grants. Since 04 July 2024, £2,403,543.46 been paid to farmers for Improving Farming Productivity grants.
Answered 28 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordSandeels: FisheriesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 11 Feb 2025WithdrawnUIN 30626More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to permanently close sandeel fisheries in British waters.
Answer: No published answer in this record yet.
Original Parliament recordSewage: PeterboroughDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 4 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28483More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish all relevant reports submitted to the Environment Agency in 2024 by the operator of the Peterborough Stanground Thistle Drive Pumping Station in compliance with thei
Answer: Relevant reports will be published in due course. The permit (AWCNF428/10348) requires various information and data to be submitted to the Environment Agency as follows: Annual Summary report for Storm Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) data – start & s...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordSewage: PeterboroughDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 3 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28024More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the operator of the Peterborough Stanground Thistle Drive Pumping Station fitted an early duration monitor on the combined sewage overflow.
Answer: Peterborough Stanground Thistle Drive Pumping Station has an EDM (Event Duration Monitor) on site as this is now a legal requirement for sites that discharge storm sewage. Further information on EDM data across the UK can be found at Storm Overflow Spill ...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordCrabs: Non-native SpeciesDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 23 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 25997More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help protect (a) the Cambridgeshire Fens and (b) the UK from Chinese mitten crabs.
Answer: The Government takes invasive species seriously and has legislated to prevent the further introduction and spread of Chinese mitten crab. As a ‘Species of Special Concern’ it is subject to the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019...
Answered 18 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordIncinerators: LicensingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 21 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 25187More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Government to crack down on waste incinerators with stricter standards for new builds, published on 30 December 2024, whether
Answer: The statement and analysis issued by my department sets out that any new waste incineration facilities should demonstrate a clearly defined domestic residual waste treatment capacity need, to facilitate the diversion of residual waste away from landfill o...
Answered 11 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: Inheritance TaxDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 5 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 12709More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to Inheritance Tax announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 on levels of production of the five key crops by tonnage in the
Answer: The level of crop production is always subject to factors such as weather conditions and prevailing prices. Beyond such normal factors, the Government does not expect the inheritance tax changes to have a material impact on crop production. We have robust...
Answered 14 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordFarms: OwnershipDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 5 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 12708More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the proportion of farm holdings that are owned by a single person or entity.
Answer: In 2021, the statistical estimates for the proportion of farmers in England who have financial and legal responsibility for an agricultural holding is shown below: Financial and legal responsibility for a holdingProportion of holdingsOne person46%Two or m...
Answered 11 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordFarms: ValuationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 5 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 12707More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of farm holdings that are estimated to have a net value of (a) between £1,000,000 and £1,499,999, (b) between £1,500,000 and £1,999,
Answer: Defra does not hold financial data for farms at holding level. Some financial information is published at a farm business level (where multiple farm holdings can constitute a single farm business). This information is based on the Farm Business Survey whi...
Answered 25 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: LandDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12074More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data his Department holds on the (a) area and (b) value of (i) farms and (ii) farmland at a (A) hereditament and (B) local authority level.
Answer: The Defra June Survey of Agriculture has statistical estimates of the English farmland areas at local authority level, the latest available is for 2021. Please note this survey only covers commercial holdings (defined as farms with more than five hectares...
Answered 4 Dec 2024
Original Parliament recordAgriculture: LandDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12073More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data the Rural Payments Agency holds on the (a) area and (b) value of (i) farms and (ii) farmland at a (A) hereditament and (B) local authority level.
Answer: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) does not hold data at hereditament level, or any data on values of farms or farmland. It does hold data on areas of land for businesses registered with the RPA and associated agricultural land, i.e. land registered as Arabl...
Answered 28 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordIncineratorsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 16 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9453More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the mix of waste sent for incineration since 2017 on the carbon emissions of each unit of electricity generated by inc
Answer: Defra made no assessment of the effect of changes in the mix of waste sent for incineration on the carbon emissions of each unit of electricity generated by energy recovery facilities when the Rt Hon member for North East Cambridgeshire was Secretary of S...
Answered 6 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordWaste DisposalDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 16 Oct 2024WithdrawnUIN 9452More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list identified abandoned waste sites.
Answer: No published answer in this record yet.
Original Parliament recordRecyclingDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 16 Oct 2024WithdrawnUIN 9451More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the UK’s waste will be recycled in each of the next five years.
Answer: No published answer in this record yet.
Original Parliament record
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4 Jul 2024–3 Jul 2025. One record per UIN and tabled date; the named department is not a measure of answer quality.
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