asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the recent decline in usage of plastic bags is adequate. [HL2962]

The Government believe that further action needs to be taken to curb the wasteful distribution of the 13 billion carrier bags that are given out free each year. Therefore, as part of this year's Budget, it was announced that the Government would be introducing legislation to require retailers to impose a charge on single-use carrier bags from 2009 if we have not seen sufficient progress on a voluntary basis.