No such assessment has been made.

A new national procurement policy statement has been published which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.

The NHS Eatwell Guide recognises the valuable contribution of plant-based foods and drinks, illustrating that both plant-based products and animal-based products can be part of a healthy balanced diet.

The expansion of AI infrastructure is critical to the UK's long-term economic growth, resilience, and global competitiveness. This Government is working with industry to improve understanding of the demand for agricultural land.

National planning policy gives clear preference for development sited on brownfield, industrial, contaminated, or previously developed land. Where development of agricultural land is necessary, lower-quality land should be preferred to higher-quality land.

The Land Use Framework included a clear, long-term commitment to maintain overall food production in England while increasing resilience to climate change and safeguarding our best and most versatile agricultural land.

This Government is open to considering all lawful means of achieving its ambition that half of all food purchased across the public sector should be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.

A new national procurement policy statement has been published which sets expectations for government contracts to favour products certified to high environmental standards that British producers are well-placed to meet.

Data collection on the extent to which public sector settings are serving food from local sustainable sources is currently underway. The department expect the work to be completed by Summer 2027.

Defra is considering the policy options available to deliver further on its ambitions for public sector food, including potentially updating the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services.

Ministers from all four nations discuss food system issues through the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In addition, officials have regular engagement on a wide range of food security and resilience issues.

Defra liaised with the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition regarding nutrition and emergency planning in 2024, resulting in an item at the committee’s 20 June 2024 meeting. Defra has continued to be in contact with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition in following years to enable consideration of infant feeding and nutrition to support planning for food supply disruptions.

There is a growing concern about the health and environmental impacts of some chemical flame retardants, including tris(chloropropyl) phosphate. In June 2025, the Environment Agency published a scoping review of flame retardants relevant to the GB market. This year the Health and Safety Executive added several flame retardants to the UK REACH Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern, signalling their potential for further regulatory control.

There is a growing body of evidence to support action to reduce the volume of chemical flame retardants used to enable upholstered furniture to pass flammability tests set out in the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade recently ran a consultation on a set of policy proposals that aim to maintain a high level of fire safety, while meaningfully reducing the reliance on chemical flame retardants.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are long-lasting chemicals that can harm human health and the environment. Waste containing POPs above legal limits must be managed so that the POPs are destroyed or irreversibly transformed. Some chemical flame retardants previously used on sofas and similar upholstered seating are classified as POPs and therefore must be disposed of in this way.

There is a growing concern about the health and environmental impacts of some chemical flame retardants, including tris(chloropropyl) phosphate. In June 2025, the Environment Agency published a scoping review of flame retardants relevant to the GB market. This year the Health and Safety Executive added several flame retardants to the UK REACH Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern, signalling their potential for further regulatory control.

Through a multi-agency effort, this Government is working closely with a range of partners to monitor and respond to the nurdle spill in the River Tyne. Clean-up operations are underway, with particular attention being given to environmentally sensitive locations, including Marsden Bay.

There is a growing concern about the health and environmental impacts of some chemical flame retardants, including tris(chloropropyl) phosphate. In June 2025, the Environment Agency published a scoping review of flame retardants relevant to the GB market. This year the Health and Safety Executive added several flame retardants to the UK REACH Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern, signalling their potential for further regulatory control.

There is a growing body of evidence to support action to reduce the volume of chemical flame retardants used to enable upholstered furniture to pass flammability tests set out in the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade recently ran a consultation on a set of policy proposals that aim to maintain a high level of fire safety, while meaningfully reducing the reliance on chemical flame retardants.

The UK has contributed £55 million to establish and operationalise the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund since its launch in 2023. All contributions have been made in the form of grants.

The Fund, administered by the Global Environment Facility, is designed to maximise additional finance leveraged from the public and private sectors to further boost investment towards biodiversity and create sustainable financial flows.

This Government has no plans to introduce targets to reduce livestock herd sizes as part of its approach to achieving net zero. The department’s focus is on supporting farmers to reduce emissions while maintaining a thriving and productive agricultural sector.

This Government considers matters relating to legal risk and potential legal risk across the range of government work, and has the benefit of expert in-house legal teams who advise across the whole range of government work.

This Government is currently negotiating a UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement to reduce barriers to trade, improve the flow of agrifood goods and maintain high standards of biosecurity. The department expect the agreement with the EU to be consistent with Defra’s international obligations and have entered negotiations with the EU in full awareness of the department’s international commitments, including under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Environment Agency assesses the environmental risk through the assessment of environmental permits to protect habitats from air pollution, and compliance with regulations to protect land and water. Measures are checked through regular compliance inspections.

There are a number of different farming systems in use in England and farms of all sizes have a role to play in promoting sustainable agriculture. All farms, regardless of size and type of production system, must comply with comprehensive legislation aimed at protecting animal health and welfare. The Government remains firmly committed to improving animal welfare and wants to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. Ministers recently met with several representatives of various farming sectors to discuss the Animal Welfare Strategy. This outlines the Government’s plans to improve farm animal welfare including through transitioning away from intensive confinement systems such as cages or crates.

Ammonia from poultry farms contributes to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution concentrations across the country. The precise contribution is difficult to assess and will vary according to the prevailing weather conditions and other sources of PM2.5. Long term exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with a number of serious health conditions. Intensive poultry farms with a capacity of 40,000 poultry places or more require a permit under the Environmental Permitting Regulations, to control their emissions into the environment.

Where animal welfare is impacted by farming practices, this can lead to increased health risks to humans through either the food chain, direct animal contact or through environmental contamination. For gastrointestinal disease this can occur through increased shedding of human pathogens where animals are at heightened stress, such as Salmonella spp and Campylobacter spp. Increased shedding of bacteria can also increase the risk antimicrobial resistance can spread.

Any individual exposed to positive detections of HPAI in poultry will be managed according to UKHSA’s public health guidance. Guidance for the management of people exposed to birds or other animals infected with influenza A(H5) - GOV.UK (copy attached).

This Government is committed to peatland restoration, and we have recently extended the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme for a further year, until March 2027.

This scheme has already restored around 28,000 hectares of peatland and this extension will support the restoration of thousands more hectares, including in the uplands.

As a condition of funding, delivery partners provide regular reports on restoration progress.

Upland peatland restoration is also being delivered through Environmental Land Management schemes, including Landscape Recovery, which supports restoration through 20-year agreements.

We have also launched the £1.15 million Peatland Restoration Sector Capacity Grant Scheme to boost peatland skills, training, apprenticeships and equipment across the sector.

The Secretary of State for Defra will publish guidance on the Nature Restoration Fund so that it is in place for when the first Environmental Delivery Plan becomes available for developers. Defra will keep the need for further areas of guidance under review.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for the enabling powers under which the Environmental Delivery Plans (Appropriate Prioritisation) Regulations 2026 were made and therefore took the lead in bringing forward the regulations. The regulations were developed in close collaboration with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Natural England, reflecting the shared responsibility for implementation of the Nature Restoration Fund and Environmental Delivery Plans.

Lord Krebs and Baroness Willis of Summertown were invited to discuss the draft Nature Restoration Levy Regulations 2026 and the Environmental Delivery Plans (Appropriate Prioritisation) Regulations 2026. The invitation reflected their previous engagement on the Nature Restoration Fund during passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and their expressed interest in the development of the related secondary legislation.

This Government has recently laid legislation that will replace the light-touch waste carriers, brokers and dealers registration system with a new waste controllers and transporters system under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. This new regime will mean that operators will need to undergo stricter background checks and demonstrate technical competence to be granted a permit.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime brings together law enforcement partners to tackle serious and organised waste crime and has already developed an enhanced intelligence sharing approach to enable this. Under the Waste Crime Action Plan, Defra is working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Home Office to undertake a review of the end-to-end multi-agency response to waste crime, including areas such as information sharing. The review will identify opportunities to strengthen how agencies work together and will aim to strengthen existing intelligence sharing structures.