To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of plastic bags used (a) by supermarket shoppers in the last 12 months and (b) in England in the last 10 years. (202718)

The Waste and Resources Action programme (WRAP) estimates that over 13 billion carrier bags are distributed in the UK each year. Of these, the supermarket signatories to the WRAP's voluntary agreement on carrier bags accounted for 12.7 billion bags in 2006 and 11.6 billion in 2007, of which 89 per cent. were plastic in 2006 and 80 per cent. were plastic in 2007.

We do not have figures predating this, or for England only.