1. What reforms he has made to funding for flood protection. (901869)

5. What reforms he has made to funding for flood protection. (901876)

Mr Speaker, merry Christmas to you and all your staff. I put on the record my sympathy with everyone affected by water outages in Southampton; I discussed the matter with the chief executive officer yesterday.

We will have a public consultation in the new year on the formula that allocates flood defence funding, to ensure that the challenges facing businesses in rural and coastal communities are adequately taken into account. Protecting communities from flooding is a top priority, and later today I will have a winter flood preparedness meeting. I thank everyone who will be on duty over the Christmas period.

My constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South has many farmers, some of whom are personal friends. On their behalf, I ask the Minister to update the House on the funds that the Government are making available via the farming recovery fund to support farmers impacted by last year’s severe weather.

The Government recognise the awful impact that flooding has had on the farming community. We are releasing £60 million via the farming recovery fund to support farmers impacted by last year’s severe weather—£10 million more than was planned by the previous Government—and £55.7 million has been paid out to over 12,700 farm businesses.

While the far right and shamefully even some MPs in this House are busy denying climate change and trying to turn it into the latest culture war, people in our communities are paying the price. More and more severe floods are devastating people’s lives, as we have seen again in recent weeks, and I am afraid it will only get worse. Does the Minister agree that it is an absolute disgrace that the last Government left our flood defences in the worst state on record, and that fixing that has to be a national priority and a key part of preparing for climate change?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The previous Government left flood defences in a state of disrepair—the worst state on record—leaving 60,000 homes exposed. That is why this Government will invest £2.4 billion into defences over the next two years.

In Fylde, a number of new housing developments over the years have been constructed in flood areas where the developers knew that the construction sites had flooded, yet they still sold properties without disclosing that to buyers, and in some circumstances they had not constructed the flood defence requirements—the mitigations on site—to spec. Both residents and councils have felt powerless to get developers to correct what they should have got right in the first place, and a number of properties have flooded several times since people purchased them. What plans does the Minister have to give residents and councils more power to hold developers to account when they do not properly construct developments or disclose information about flooding?

I share the hon. Gentleman’s upset about the rules on housing and flooding not being implemented by the previous Government. We need more sustainable urban drainage in more developments, and it is important that it is built into planning applications to begin with. If he would like to contact me, I can look into the matter in more detail for him.

Across Huntingdon, flooding continues to be an issue that impacts a huge number of constituents, with flooding almost inevitable every time it rains. Alconbury flood group is a leading flood group in the constituency, and Charles Dalleywater has been a driving force in implementing flood mitigation measures, such as the recently opened alderman’s retention pond at Sallows farm that was planned by the flood group after funding was provided by Anglian Water, Huntingdonshire district council and Cambridgeshire county council. What funding is available from the Government to facilitate the construction of further retention ponds?

I thank all flood action groups around the country for doing incredible work for their communities. That sounds like a brilliant example. As I mentioned, we are investing £2.4 billion over the next couple of years. I hope to be able to give more detail in the new year.

2. What recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the rural England prosperity fund. (901870)

Mr Speaker, I wish you and all your staff a happy Christmas, and thank all those who work in our food system for ensuring that we are fed every day and that, particularly at this time of the year, so many of our constituents can enjoy a traditional, wonderful British celebration.

The autumn Budget on 30 October confirmed the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budgets for 2024-25 and 2025-26, and funding allocations for individual programmes will be determined in the upcoming months through the Department’s business planning exercise. We will update the House on the rural England prosperity fund in due course.

I thank the Minister for that answer. Farmers in my constituency of South West Devon have highlighted the role that the rural England prosperity fund could play in the economic growth of our community. Given the publication of the English devolution White Paper this week, what conversations has the Minister had with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about how funding, such as the rural England prosperity fund, can ensure that devolution is a success for the countryside?

We are in constant dialogue with our MHCLG colleagues. I was delighted that areas with a significant rural population will on average receive about a 5% increase in their core spending power. That is a real-terms increase. I hope we can continue to work well to address the rural productivity gap of some 18%, which is a real challenge for all of us.

3. What assessment he has made of the impact of the autumn Budget 2024 on family farms. (901871)

May I take this opportunity to wish a very merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to the hard-working House staff?

The Government have committed £5 billion to the agricultural budget over the next two years. That is the biggest budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in our history. We are also investing £60 million into the farming recovery fund to support farmers affected by unprecedented extreme wet weather last winter. We understand concerns about changes to agricultural property relief, but the majority of those who inherit farmland after a death and claim relief will not be affected by the changes.

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the latest research, which shows that 75% of commercial farms will exceed the £1 million threshold and therefore will become liable for inheritance tax? Just to give him one example, a family in West Hanningfield in my constituency who have farmed for five generations say that they face a potential inheritance tax bill of £1.5 million. They say that it will put an end to all that has gone before and end the aspirations of their family. I plead with the Government to look at this again.

Of course we hear the concerns, but I say to the right hon. Gentleman that in the last year for which we have actual claims data available, over 75% of claimants would not be affected. Of course, most farms, like every other business, can do succession planning in the usual way so they do not have to pay any more than they need to.

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. Our hard-working farmers across Calder Valley want to earn a living from farming, not use their land to avoid tax. After 14 years of neglect by the last Government, which undercut farmers in trade deals, the sector is, however, becoming increasingly unprofitable. I welcome the Labour Government’s new deal for farmers and the 25-year road map to making farming profitable again. Can the Secretary of State assure me that Calder Valley farmers will get their fair share in this new deal and in the new improved countryside stewardship higher-tier scheme next year?

My hon. Friend will be aware that the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), and the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), keep telling farmers that they are not in it for the money. We know that they are. They are businesses that need to make a profit, and our new deal for farmers, which includes increasing supply chain fairness, is intended to make farms profitable and successful for the future in the way they were not under the previous Government.

I call the shadow Minister.

The autumn Budget put family farms in jeopardy. Those farms also need biosecurity to protect their futures. With avian influenza spreading, bluetongue still with us and African swine fever at our doorstep in Europe, biosecurity is national security. Central to that is the Animal and Plant Health Agency, whose headquarters in Weybridge needs a £2.8 billion redevelopment to protect farming and animal, plant and public health. The Conservative Government rightly started that work with £1.2 billion committed in 2020. I note that Labour has committed £200 million to support that transformation, but that will not touch the sides. Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Government will complete the project in full, as the Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs called for in opposition, and commit the remaining £1.4 billion to protect our nation’s biosecurity and prevent an animal disease outbreak catastrophe?

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who raises an important point. However, I find it a little ironic that Conservative Members are calling for this Government to commit to spending that their Government never committed to. The Weybridge biosecurity facility is so dilapidated that it faces obsolescence by the early 2030s—that is the legacy that the Conservatives left. The £208 million that we have committed will start the process of improving those facilities, and through the spending review phase coming forward, we will consider how we can commit further funding to ensure biosecurity for farmers, which the Conservatives absolutely failed to do.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to all here and beyond.

Farmers in my communities and across the country are genuinely devastated by the Government’s family farm tax, which will affect many in my patch who are on less than the minimum wage, and by the 76% cut in the basic payment next year. Perhaps what dismays farmers across our country and in Westmorland even more is that the overall agricultural policy of this Government and their Conservative predecessors is to actively disincentivise farmers from producing food, despite the fact that this country produces only 55% of the food we need. That is a dereliction of duty by both main parties, and a threat to national security. What plans does the Secretary of State have to change his policy and back our farmers to produce food?

The hon. Gentleman raises a number of important points. I will repeat my earlier comments about agricultural property relief: the last year for which we have data available shows that the vast majority of claimants will not pay anything. Unlike the previous Government, who thought that farmers were not in it for the money, we want them to succeed, so we are embarking on a farming road map and a new deal for farming that will consider supply chain fairness and stop farmers being undercut in trade deals such as the one the Conservatives agreed with Australia and New Zealand. Our intention is to make farming profitable for the future; the Conservatives’ record is the 12,000 farming businesses that went bust.

4. Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of putting the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s guidance on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on a statutory footing. (901872)

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this important issue. The Drinking Water Inspectorate requires water companies to monitor, assess and report on the risks from PFAS. We are aware of concerns relating to that, and officials are working on it.

Happy Christmas, Mr Speaker.

I thank the Minister for her answer and for offering me a meeting on this topic earlier this week—I look forward to pursuing it with her. Given the wealth of authoritative evidence on the harmful impact on human health of PFAS in our drinking water, and that Scotland, the European Union and the United States have all put PFAS guidance on a statutory footing, why do this Government appear to have no plans to do the same for England and Wales? Will the Minister consider amending the Water (Special Measures) Bill to that end?

As I have mentioned, this is an important issue, and I look forward to discussing it in more detail. Work to assess the risks of PFAS, and to inform policy and regulatory approaches—including banning or highly restricting certain chemicals and addressing issues caused by their historical use—is continuing. The nature of PFAS chemicals and their persistence once in the environment means that there are no quick fixes, but this is a global challenge. Innovation in suitable PFAS alternatives is needed, and we are working to harness industry leadership in the transition away from PFAS. I assure the hon. Lady that work on this issue is ongoing.

6. What his planned timetable is for the introduction of legislation to ban imports of hunting trophies. (901878)

May I wish you, Mr Speaker, all the staff of the House, and all those in our public services who will be working over the weekend a very merry Christmas and a safe and successful new year?

The UK has a long history of championing the global conservation of endangered species. We are in the process of extending the Ivory Act 2018 to include four further species—hippopotamus, killer whale, narwhal and sperm whale—in addition to elephants. The Government have also committed to banning the import of hunting trophies. We are considering the most effective way to do so.

It has been 10 years since the senseless killing of Cecil the lion. It is still legal to import hunting trophies into this country. There has for a long time been cross-party support for banning trophy hunting. In 2023, the Labour party asked the then Conservative Government, “What is stopping you bringing in legislation? Stop the dither and delay.” Why are this Government still dithering and delaying?

With the greatest of respect, the hon. Lady’s party was in government for five years, and the Conservative party was in government for 14 years. It is always good after five months in office to be criticised for previous failures.

I agree with the hon. Lady that the Conservatives cannot be trusted on animal welfare. They failed to pass the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, which would have stopped selfish hunters who slaughter and display endangered animals’ body parts for their own perverse self-gratification, and they dropped the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill, which would have ended puppy smuggling, puppy farming and pet theft. As I say, we are looking for a suitable legislative vehicle, and we will do it in Government time.

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. This time of year brings festive cheer, but it also brings the Boxing day hunts. Alongside many of my constituents, I am keen to see an end to the smoke- screen that is trail hunting. Following the last Labour Government’s historic foxhunting ban, will the Minister confirm this Labour Government’s commitment to banning trail hunting once and for all?

We have indeed committed to a ban on trail hunting, which will provide significant protections to wild animals, including foxes and hares. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing, and further announcements will be made in due course.

7. What progress he has made on reducing pollution in waterways. (901879)

The public are sick and tired of the scandal of sewage polluting our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why we are taking immediate action to place water companies under special measures through a new Bill that will give the regulator the power to ban the payment of undeserved bonuses for polluting water companies and bring criminal charges against persistent lawbreakers. We are also carrying out the biggest review of the water sector since privatisation to shape further legislation that will transform how our water system works and clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.

Last year, there were 3,366 hours of sewage dumping into the rivers and streams of Altrincham and Sale West, leaving Sinderland brook, the Bollin and other waterways in a terrible condition. Will the Secretary of State outline further how the Government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill will ensure the end of sewage dumping into the rivers and streams of my constituency for good?

I congratulate my hon. Friend on being such a champion for clean rivers in his constituency. As I said, the Bill will ban the payment of undeserved bonuses to water executives who are responsible for this kind of pollution, and will ensure instead that money is spent where it should always have been spent: on fixing the infrastructure, so that we can stop once and for all the kinds of sewage scandals that are creating the river pollution his constituents are so aghast to see on their doorstep.

Merry Christmas to you and your staff, Mr Speaker.

I declare an interest as co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on water pollution. While I welcome the limited measures that the Government are taking to tackle pollution from the water industry, there is an elephant in the room, because agricultural pollution is just as important a source of pollution in our rivers, lakes and seas. What will the Secretary of State do to tackle the problem of agricultural pollution with the same degree of urgency and focus, and how will he support farmers—who themselves stand ready to take action to tackle this problem—by providing the funding, support and clear regulatory enforcement that is needed for a level playing field?

I thank the hon. Lady for raising such an important issue, and I recognise that over 40% of pollution in our waterways comes from agricultural run-off. Sir Jon Cunliffe and the commission he is leading will look at all sources of pollution into our water. The budgets for more sustainable forms of agriculture that we have committed to will seek to reduce the use of fertiliser, so that there is less run-off into our water. The farming road map that we are working on with the farming community is also intended to reduce the amount of run-off from agriculture into our waterways, and we are looking at moving to a whole catchment-based model. We are looking at all sources of pollution into water so that we can clean up all of our rivers, lakes and seas, from whatever source the pollution comes.

I call the shadow Minister.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I take this opportunity to wish you and all in the House a very merry Christmas.

Many customers are rightly concerned about Thames Water and the situation that company finds itself in. For the third time of asking the Secretary of State in this Chamber, will he confirm that he will not issue any regulatory easement to Thames Water in his discussions with that company, so that its environmental obligations and service commitments to its customers will not be reduced?

The Government continue to monitor very closely what is happening in Thames Water, and indeed in all the other water companies. The only easement I have ever seen given to water companies over pollution was that of the previous Government, who turned a blind eye as sewage was flooding through our rivers, lakes and seas. This Government are putting the water companies under tough regulatory special measures—measures that the previous Government could have enacted, but failed to enact.

8. What progress he has made on reducing electronic waste. (901880)

As my hon. Friend knows, each week 8 million vapes—such as single-use, pod and big puff—are thrown away or recycled incorrectly, which is 13 vapes a second. That is why we have already banned single-use vapes and created 10,000 extra vape recycling points in store. We will ensure that online marketplaces and vape producers pay their share of electronic recycling costs in order to avoid the fires, which we know are so devastating.

Mr Speaker, I wish you and your team a very happy Christmas.

I thank the Minister for her reply. We are all keen to increase recycling, but too often the opportunities for recycling electronic waste are very limited, meaning that it goes into mainstream waste, leading to increased pollution and hazards. We are seeing an increasing number of bin fires starting with vapes, which, as she has highlighted, are a particular problem. Will the Government consider what opportunities there are to work with local authorities to increase recycling opportunities and, in particular, to ensure that the public are aware of the downsides of not disposing of electronic waste properly?

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. My own city council in Coventry has introduced small electrical item take-back points in its libraries, which is an example of an excellent council innovating. I recently visited the Currys recycling plant in Newark, which shows the importance of recycling electricals to ensure that the gifts of Christmas past can be conserved and used for many Christmases to come. More importantly, last-minute Christmas shoppers will get £5 off a new product—I hear that air fryers are very popular.

Mr Speaker, I wish you and all a merry Christmas.

We know that electronic and similar goods in landfill can leach into our waterways and affect water quality. Will Ministers reintroduce water restoration funding, as part of the package of measures they were talking about earlier, so that the River Tone and bathing stations elsewhere across the country can benefit from cleaner water?

Our policy is certainly intended to tackle fly-tipping and stop persistent organic pollutants entering the environment, but I will have to consult the Minister for water, my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy), before answering on that detailed point.

9. What steps his Department is taking to improve the dredging of rivers. (901882)

Dredging can be a useful option for managing flood risk, usually as part of a wider approach, where it is technically effective, cost- effective and does not significantly increase flood risk for others. Of course, we need to adopt the best solution for each place.

I wish a merry Christmas to one and all.

My constituents in Boston and Skegness are very concerned that the Environment Agency is unable to properly maintain riverbanks and properly dredge rivers in order to protect homes and livelihoods because of the very demanding requirements of Natural England regarding the protection of badgers and water voles, which means that the priorities are wrong. Will the Minister meet me and senior people at the Environment Agency to ensure that we get these priorities correct?

Dredging used to be commonplace, but some evidence shows that it can speed up flow and potentially increase the risk of flooding downstream. There are currently no plans for any further dredging in Boston and Skegness, but I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and the EA area manager to discuss this further.

10. What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of safeguarding high-grade agricultural land. (901883)

We all know that food security is national security, and most of us also recognise that the impacts of climate change and nature loss pose a significant risk to domestic production, so it is very important that we use our land carefully. Consequently, the Government will be introducing a land use framework to ensure that we protect our most productive agricultural land.

High-grade agricultural land in Mid Bedfordshire has been farmed for generations, and it is critical for our food security and our freedom, but it is under extreme pressure. We have talked this morning about climate change and flooding, and also about the Government’s family farm tax. What has not been mentioned so much is urban sprawl, which is a major threat to high-grade agricultural land. We live in an uncertain world and we need our country to feed itself. Considering the threat, will the Minister guarantee that high-grade agricultural land will be protected by this Government?

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his points and refer him to my earlier comments: we see more and more pressure, and there are so many things we need to do on our land to house and feed people, so it is important that we have a proper structure in place. It is widely acknowledged that the current planning system does not necessarily do that. The previous Government promised a land use framework; we will actually deliver it.

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. (901887)

I share customers’ anger about the water bill rises announced by Ofwat this morning. Customers have been left to pay the price of Conservative failure after the previous Government let companies spend millions of pounds on bonuses and shareholder payouts instead of investing in our crumbling sewerage infrastructure—if you find cracks in your house and do nothing about it for over a decade, the problem gets worse and the cost of fixing it escalates, and that is exactly what has happened to our sewerage system. We have introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill to curb unjustified bonuses. Money earmarked for investment will be ringfenced so that it can be spent only on infrastructure, rather than bonuses and shareholder payouts, as happened under the Conservatives. I have appointed Sir Jon Cunliffe to lead a commission into the regulation of the water industry so that the failures that led to today’s bill rises can never happen again. This Government will end the Tory sewage scandal once and for all.

Recent investigations have shown that a lack of investment in drainage infrastructure has contributed to significant flooding in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. How will water companies including Thames Water be held to account where their lack of investment blights communities through repeated flooding?

The Government of course recognise the importance of and need for a robust drainage system, but my hon. Friend will be aware that the previous Government failed to ensure adequate investment to maintain and upgrade it. Water companies have a duty to ensure that the area they serve is effectively drained. This includes drainage of surface water from the land around buildings as well as the provision of sewers.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

I wish a merry Christmas to everyone in the House, and also to everyone in our farming, food, hospitality and water sectors. But not everyone will be able to celebrate Christmas. In recent weeks, a farmer took himself off to a remote part of his farm and killed himself. The message he left his family, who wish to remain anonymous, is that he did this because he feared becoming a financial burden to his family because of changes to inheritance tax. This is the human cost of the figures that the Secretary of State provides so casually. What does the Secretary of State say to that grieving family?

I extend my heartfelt sympathies to that family, but I think it is irresponsible in the extreme to seek to weaponise a personal tragedy of that kind in this way. Where there is mental ill health, there needs to be support for that, and this Government are investing in it. The right hon. Lady knows from the last year for which data is available that the vast majority of claimants will pay absolutely nothing following the changes to agricultural property relief.

How heartless and how extraordinary that the Secretary of State is more discomfited by being presented with the facts of the consequences of his policy than the reality of what this policy ensures. I was a Minister for seven and a half years, and I have never seen a policy have the consequences that this one has. [Interruption.] Members of the public will see Labour Members reacting in that way because I have dared to present them with the facts. We know that there is a tragically high suicide rate among the farming community. The National Farmers Union gave evidence about this, and the Secretary of State has been told repeatedly. Will he collect data on a monthly basis of suicides from farmers, farming families, landowners and family businesses, so that we, the House and the outside community can understand the human costs of this tax policy before it comes into force?

Mental health services are the responsibility of the national health service, and the former Health Secretary, who broke the NHS, is in no position to lecture anybody about public services. She was no friend of the health service and mental health services, and she is no friend of farming. Some 12,000 farms went bust on the Conservatives’ watch. They failed to get £300 million out the door and into the pockets and bank accounts of farmers, and they signed a trade deal with Australia that undercut British farmers on environmental and welfare standards. I hear the posturing, but it is this Government who are standing up for farming.

T3. I recently met farmers in the northern parishes of my constituency, and they told me about the urgent need for improved water management to protect farmland. They want to establish an internal drainage board for flood management, but they cannot take action to set it up until the necessary statutory instrument is in place. Given the importance of establishing an IDB in my area, will the Minister commit to working with me and stakeholders to reduce flood risks, and will she outline when the statutory instrument for an IDB in my area might be put before the House? (901891)

I would be delighted to work with my hon. Friend on this important issue. The Association of Drainage Authorities is on the flood resilience taskforce, and the statutory instrument will be laid as soon as parliamentary time allows.

T2. A farmer in my constituency tells me that even in a good year he is lucky to see much beyond £20,000 in profit. With margins as wafer thin as that, regular farming barely qualifies as investable at all. The risk of losing a huge slice of that farm to inheritance tax at random intervals would not only go to putting this generation out of business, but go a long way towards ensuring that they can never be replaced. Does the Minister agree that this measure— (901889)

Order. We need to get our act together. This is the shortest set of topical questions and I will not be able to get many Members in. We have to remember what topicals are always about. I hope you have got the gist of the question, Minister.

The point that farmers need to get a better return from their business is well made, and that is exactly what this Government will be addressing.

Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker, and to your team and to colleagues across the House. My constituents have long felt the impacts of flooding, and many residents have been isolated in rural areas after a storm. I have recently produced a flooding report. Will the Minister meet me to discuss it, so that I can support the work of the Department?

There is a very easy and short answer to that: I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend.

T4. North Cornwall has world-class beaches and rivers, but Santa swims have been cancelled due to the constant dumping of raw sewage. Meanwhile, water companies receive millions from bill payers, but then the very next day, they give it away to their shareholders. Does the Secretary of State agree that the best gift he could give my constituents this Christmas would be a total ban on water bill rises until South West Water bosses finally end this scandal? (901893)

The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the scandalous situation that the previous Government left our waterways in, with record levels of pollution and raw sewage filthying our rivers, lakes and seas. I have appointed Sir Jon Cunliffe to lead a commission to review governance and regulation so that we can stop it ever happening again.

I welcome the landmark £5 billion agriculture budget announced in the Budget, which is the biggest-ever budget for sustainable farming. My farmers in North Northumberland desperately need that money. In that context, what more can the Secretary of State do to push for his Department to get that money out the door in a way that the previous Government did not?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It was extraordinary, was it not, that the last Government managed not to spend £300 million of the farm budget. We are determined to ensure that we do better. I wish him and his farmers a very merry Christmas.

T5. In my constituency we have an incinerator that regularly breaches its air pollution limits, but the Environment Agency does nothing about it. Will the Government tell us what they are doing to give the EA teeth? (901894)

Incineration permit breaches are a matter for the regulator, the Environment Agency, but we are reviewing energy-from-waste capacity across the country and will be making a statement imminently.

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker, and happy Hanukkah to those who are observing.

What action are this Government taking to promote the purchasing of British-grown and seasonal produce through their public procurement framework?

We are absolutely determined to ensure that we see more British produce bought across our public sector. We will come to the House with our plans in due course.

I call the Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

It would be helpful if the Secretary of State encouraged Sir Jon to engage with parliamentarians across the House. The necessary changes that he has outlined will take time, however. The truth of the matter is that if those who currently have responsibility were to change their culture and focus on outcomes for customers, rather than their own internal processes, we might see earlier improvements.

There will be an opportunity for Members to engage with Sir Jon Cunliffe’s commission in January, and I am sure that the right hon. Member’s Committee will want to do precisely that. The Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is going through Parliament right now, is intended to make quick changes to the system. Sir Jon’s review will give us the chance to reform regulation and governance for the long term.

I recently met the Alde and Ore Estuary Trust, which has long been campaigning and fundraising to refurbish and secure flood defences on the Alde and Ore estuary. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the trust’s projects and the barriers to progress?

Each time I come here for questions, I promise that I will not arrange to meet as many Members, and each time I fail. I would of course be happy to meet my hon. Friend.

Last year I visited the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton project in Loddington. May I commend the contribution that it can make to defining sustainable intensification of agricultural food production? Perhaps it would be a suitable place for a DEFRA ministerial away day early in the new year, to help with the use strategy.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his suggestion. I am a great admirer of the Allerton project and have been meaning to visit it for a long time. My officials are working on a visit, and I am really looking forward to engaging with those people, because they do great work.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

Presumably it is related to the questions.

It is related to the questions we just had. Thank you for granting the point of order, Mr Speaker. At 7 o’clock this morning, entirely foreseeably, Ofwat announced bill rises of 36% for water bill payers around the country, which is an increase 14 times larger than current inflation. We know that a large proportion of that rise will be spent on paying off the debt of water companies: a debt incurred simply by paying dividends that were unearned and bonuses that were undeserved. Is it in order for the Government to have known that was coming but not to have come to the House to make a statement, which would have allowed us to hold them to account for their failure to ensure that Ofwat has the teeth it needs to hold the water companies to account?

I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. I have received no notification from the Government of such a statement, but he has certainly put his point on the record and I am sure that it will have been heard by those on the Treasury Bench.

1. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on prosecuting knife offences. (901895)

4. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on prosecuting knife offences. (901899)

7. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on prosecuting knife offences. (901902)

Mr Speaker, I will start by taking this opportunity to wish you, your team and Members across the House a very merry Christmas.

Every single victim of knife crime is one too many, and this Christmas there will be some constituents, including my own, facing the heartbreaking reality of a loved one who is no longer with them due to knife crime. That is why, as part of our plan for change, the Government are 100% committed to tackling knife crime.

I welcome the Solicitor General to the Front Bench.

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker.

I have had reports of people carrying machetes in Livingstone Walk, an area in Grovehill, Hemel Hempstead, with the Dacorum local crime unit investigating one incident of alleged robbery at knifepoint. Knife crime is not our only issue in Hemel; we have the highest rate of antisocial behaviour in the county, and we are the most dangerous town in Hertfordshire. That is a direct result of Conservative Governments taking 20,000 police off our streets nationwide, removing 60p out of every pound from local authority budgets and failing to act on antisocial behaviour. What further steps is the Solicitor General taking to ensure that violent thugs are not allowed to run riot and are brought to justice?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this important matter. Knife-enabled robberies surged under the previous Government, which is why the Home Secretary has made tackling these offences an urgent priority. Enforcement is key, and that is why we are putting police back on the beat with a named officer for every neighbourhood.

I commend the Government for acting swiftly to ban ninja swords, seize zombie-style knives and crack down on the illegal online sale of these weapons. It will reassure communities such as mine in Ilford South, which sadly knows all too well the deadly effect of these weapons, with a number of heinous attacks this year where teenagers lost their lives. What are the Government doing to support the victims of knife crime and their families?

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Many of our constituents will have gone through the same pain as his. That is why we are taking strong action on knife crime, banning lethal weapons and working to ensure that dangerous blades do not end up in the wrong hands. This September, it became illegal to possess zombie-style knives and machetes, and we are bringing forward legislation to ban the ninja swords to which he refers.

Merry Christmas to you and the team, Mr Speaker. A couple of weeks ago, people in West Bromwich were met with the terrifying sight of young people wearing balaclavas and wielding machetes running around the town centre in broad daylight. It was a shocking, dangerous incident that has put people off going into the town centre. What is the Solicitor General doing to work with other Ministers to crack down on these zombie-style knives and ensure our town centres are safe?

I am very sorry to hear about that shocking incident in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and she is right to raise it in this House. These kinds of weapons have absolutely no place on our streets. That is why this Government took quick action to ensure it was illegal to possess machetes. I hope and expect that there will be timely prosecutions in this case.

I congratulate the Solicitor General on taking up her position. As a former trauma surgeon, I have seen at first hand the devastating effect of knife and other serious violent crime, so I welcome the Government’s specific commitment to halving knife crime within a decade. However, on the broader commitment on serious violent crime, no specifics have been provided to date. Will the Solicitor General tell the House which crimes are to be included, and the date by which that will be achieved?

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that knife crime is still too high—more than 50,000 instances in the year to June 2024. He is also right to highlight that this Government are taking strong action to combat knife crime. We know that effective local policing is vital to tackling knife crime, which is why we are putting 13,000 more police and police community support officers on our streets, because we are determined to make our streets safe. The Home Secretary has also commissioned a rapid review to understand how these weapons are sold online and delivered to under-18s and identify gaps in legislation and the most effective ways to stop this.

Last month, Thames Valley police’s Wokingham neighbourhood team attended Bohunt school in Arborfield, where they presented to young people the dangers of carrying knives. Early intervention is key to deterring children from violence, and police officers play a crucial role in that. What conversations has the Solicitor General had with her Home Office colleagues on the link between police officer numbers and effective recording of the prevention of knife crime? Has the Solicitor General expressed concerns to her colleagues about the potential decrease in the number of Thames Valley police officers?

The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight these issues in this House. Key to prevention and early intervention is our programme of young futures hubs and prevention partnerships. Our young futures hubs will bring together services to improve the ways that young people can access the support they need, and our prevention partnerships will proactively identify the young people most at risk and map youth service provision to ensure there is a clear understanding of the support available in each area.

Mr Speaker, I wish you and your team a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I thank you for all your kindness to everyone in this House in the past year. I wish the Solicitor General all the best in her new role.

I share hon. Members’ concerns about knife crime, which is truly horrific. The impact it has on families is great. I have a specific question, so I am happy to receive a written answer. How many under-18s across the United Kingdom in the past 12 months have been: (a) cautioned; (b) charged; and (c) convicted of knife crime offences?

Good luck with that one!

I am grateful to the hon. Member for his question. He will appreciate that I do not have those statistics to hand, but I am more than happy to write to him.

2. What steps she is taking to help ensure increased prosecution rates for rural crime. (901896)

10. What steps she is taking to help ensure increased prosecution rates for rural crime. (901906)

Reliable and effective local policing is the foundation for keeping all our constituents safe, whether they live in a city, a town or a rural area. That is why the Government are putting more police officers and PCSOs on the beat. Our plan for change will ensure every neighbourhood has a named contactable police officer in their community to deal with local issues.

I welcome my hon. Friend to her place. Representing a rural constituency, I am aware of the ongoing problem of agricultural vehicle theft. In Calder Valley, vehicle crime counts for one in every 20 crimes committed. The Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, passed by the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) as a private Member’s Bill, was restricted to the re-sale of specified equipment. However, 18 months since it received Royal Assent, the statutory instrument needed for it to be enacted has yet to be laid. Will my hon. Friend act where the previous Government did not?

We are committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act, which aims to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting, as my hon. Friend describes. He will know that the Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention takes this matter very seriously and is working closely with the automotive industry to ensure the most robust responses possible to these crimes. I am also happy to raise the matter with my hon. Friend’s local chief Crown prosecutor.

Farmers across Luton South and South Bedfordshire have frequently raised with me the issue of fly-tipping on their land. I welcome the Government’s commitment to implement stronger laws to prevent fly-tipping. Will the Solicitor General, working with colleagues across Government, also commit to review and update sentencing guidelines for courts to make prosecuting fly-tippers more consistent and ensure more stringent fines are applied for the worst offenders?

Fly-tipping is a scourge both in urban and rural areas, which is why we are clamping down on it by forcing environmental vandals to clean up the mess they create. We are taking a cross-Government approach, aligned with our safer streets mission. I am sure my hon. Friend will be reassured to know that, working with ministerial colleagues, we are setting out a new strategy that will address antisocial behaviour and fly-tipping, and restore public confidence in policing.

3. What steps she is taking to help ensure the effective prosecution of perpetrators of misdemeanours. (901897)

The Government are committed to tackling criminality of all types. We have set out our plan for change, which includes putting 13,000 more police officers and PCSOs on the beat, and bringing back neighbourhood policing. Next year, the Crown Prosecution Service will receive an additional £49 million of funding to help recruit and train more prosecutors, enabling them to focus on securing justice in all cases, from minor offences right through to the most serious crimes.

I thank the hon. Lady for that reply and I appreciate the additional resources, but what my constituents, and I am sure constituents up and down the country, want to see is robust effective policing and prosecution of what is low-level crime in the great scheme of things, but which can be a real curse, particularly on our housing estates. Can the hon. Lady give an assurance to my constituents that there will be real robust and positive action?

I can give that assurance. The hon. Gentleman calls this kind of crime low level. I know from experiences in my constituency that these issues can affect daily life and really blight communities, so yes he has my assurance.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

I wish you and your team, Mr Speaker, and everyone in the House a very merry Christmas, and I welcome the Solicitor General to her place. However, I am afraid that it will not be a merry Christmas for all my constituents. Rural crime in North Cornwall is on the rise, from rural theft to increased drug trafficking. County lines drug gangs are grooming and recruiting children as young as nine to traffic drugs, while elderly and vulnerable constituents have been cuckooed in their own homes by the gangs. What steps is the Solicitor General taking to work with the police to increase the number of prosecutions of the ringleaders of these ruthless gangs that blight our communities and expose our young people to violence and crime?

The hon. Member is right to raise this important and pressing issue. We know that those who commit such crimes, including crimes in our rural communities, are some of the most manipulative criminals in society. The Crown Prosecution Service supplies early investigative advice to law enforcement agencies to build strong cases and ensure the robust prosecution of those involved in county lines. I am determined that we will continue to do everything we can to prevent young people from being drawn into crime and to stop this exploitation.

5. What steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to improve support for victims of crime. (901900)

One of my priorities as Solicitor General and the priority of the Director for Public Prosecutions, whom I met earlier this week, is tackling the intolerable backlog in our courts and transforming the way in which we support victims of crime. The Prime Minister has set out our plan for change, which will restore confidence in our criminal justice system. We have worked with the CPS to make recent changes to its processes in order to improve communication with victims, strengthen the victims’ right to review scheme, reduce the rates of victim attrition, and reduce delays.

You will know, Mr Speaker, that Edmund Burke said:

“Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society”,

but injustice reigns when victims feel that the cause of their plight is being neglected. Such was the case in Sutton Bridge, where a constituent of mine, a six-year-old girl, suffered the dreadful event of indecent exposure. The man was known in the community and was reported by the father of the child, and CCTV footage was available. When crimes of that kind are not investigated properly, people lose their faith in justice. We must deal with those crimes, in the interests of the very justice that Edmund Burke recommended.

I am very sorry to hear of the incident in the right hon. Member’s constituency; that is indeed appalling. It is vital for this type of conduct to be taken seriously, and policing is key to that. We need more police officers and police community support officers, which is why, as part of our plan for change, we have promised to put 13,000 more police officers and PCSOs back on the beat with a named officer for every neighbourhood. We also need to improve the experiences of victims within our criminal justice system, and that includes better communication between victims and the CPS.

I call the Chair of the Justice Committee.

Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. I welcome my hon. Friend to the Front Bench, and congratulate the former Solicitor General, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Sarah Sackman), on her promotion to Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice. It is sometimes difficult to keep up with this Government’s pace.

Given that the Crown court backlog stands at over 73,000 and trials are being listed for 2027, victims are awaiting justice for an unacceptably long time, with the consequence that many no longer feel able to support the process. How is the Solicitor General working, through the CPS, to ensure that victims facing a wait of between two and three years for trials stay the course?

I am grateful to the hon. Member for his kind words, and I look forward to appearing before his Committee on 15 January. He is right to say that we need to be doing much more to support victims. He alluded to the review of the Crown courts; he will also know that the Lord Chancellor is taking steps to reduce the Crown court case load by increasing funding for sitting days, and further sitting days were announced yesterday—an extra 2,000, I believe.

6. What steps she is taking to help increase prosecution rates in cases of violence against women and girls. (901901)

This Government have pledged to halve violence against women and girls within a decade as part of our plan for change, and securing prosecutions will be key to that. Our commitment to tackling violence against women and girls in this way is unprecedented, and it will require a wholesale change in how we think about and deal with these kinds of offences. Only through a truly cross-Government effort can it be achieved. As Solicitor General, I will work with colleagues in the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office to ensure that we deliver on that commitment.

May I welcome my hon. Friend to her place? I know she will do a fantastic job. Crown Prosecution Service guidance recognises that perpetrators of economic abuse harm their victim-survivors not just during a relationship, but long after it has finished. When will CPS guidance be updated to reflect post-separation controlling and coercive behaviour being made a criminal offence, and what training on recognising such abuse is offered to the CPS?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He has been working on this issue with survivors of economic abuse, and I know that he cares about it very deeply. Domestic abuse can take many insidious forms, and we must do everything we can to ensure that we are equipped to spot it and tackle it. The guidance to which he refers was updated earlier this year and is under regular review. I can also confirm that the CPS will take part in a further knowledge-sharing event on economic abuse, which will be delivered for police and prosecutors as part of the domestic abuse joint justice plan.

My family knows what domestic abuse looks like, but the law does not. That is because there is no specific offence of domestic abuse in the law, which means that many abusers are convicted of things like common assault or actual bodily harm. For victims and survivors, that does not reflect the full gravity of the offence, and it also means that abusers qualify for early release schemes. Women’s Aid is backing my Bill, which would create a dedicated set of domestic abuse aggravated offences in the law. Will the Solicitor General meet me to discuss my Bill, so that we can better respect and protect survivors?

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. We are strengthening the law and the criminal justice system to improve prosecutions for violence against women and girls, and to better support victims.

I call the shadow Minister—welcome.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I wish you and the team a very happy Christmas indeed. I congratulate the Solicitor General on her position and welcome her to her place. I hope to work constructively and effectively with her on this challenging and very important part of Government.

As the Solicitor General knows, rape victims need action now, urgently, given that many rape cases take more than two years to come to trial. There has been much talk from Ministers about opening specialist fast-track rape courts, but disappointingly there has been very little detail to date. How will the Government achieve that fast-tracking if they do not use all potential court sitting days, as requested by the Lady Chief Justice but refused by the Lord Chancellor?

I am grateful to the shadow Solicitor General for her kind words. She brings an awful lot of experience and expertise to her role, and I look forward to working constructively with her. She raises the issue of violence against women and girls, and refers to Crown court sitting days. I said earlier that I am very pleased that an additional 2,000 Crown court sitting days were added by the Lord Chancellor yesterday. That is very important, because it will allow the fast-tracking that she refers to of the backlog in our courts.

I fully support the Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade, but how will the Government’s progress be measured to ensure that they deliver against their target? What assessment has been made of the definition of violence against women and girls?

Timeliness is clearly key, and the hon. Lady is absolutely right to refer to our commitment to halving violence against women and girls within a decade. We will take urgent action, building on the urgent action we have already taken. In November, for example, pilots of the new domestic abuse protection orders began with three police forces, enabling them to provide additional protection to victims.

The hon. Lady will know that the police and the CPS have launched their domestic abuse joint justice plan. Improvements in partnership working under the plan have already led to a modest increase in referrals of domestic abuse cases from the police to the CPS, setting a strong foundation for future improvements.

8. What steps she is taking to increase prosecution rates of freight crime. (901904)

Freight crime poses significant challenges to the logistics and transport sectors, affecting businesses, communities and our economy. This Government recognise the importance of addressing this issue, and the Crown Prosecution Service will always seek to prosecute serious offending when the relevant legal tests are met. Prosecutors can also apply for compensation to be paid to victims and, in appropriate cases, can seek the seizure of assets that represent the proceeds of crime.

Mr Speaker, I wish you and your team a very merry Christmas, and I thank you in particular for all your support over the last six months. I very much welcome my hon. Friend the Solicitor General to her position, and I know she will be a powerful voice for justice in the Government.

As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on freight and logistics, I have been listening to businesses across the country, including many in my North Warwickshire and Bedworth constituency. They have told me that freight crime has reached unacceptable levels and is damaging their businesses and their drivers’ welfare, yet organised gangs stealing goods from freight vehicles is classed as the same as someone breaking into a car and stealing a phone from the passenger seat. What does the Solicitor General plan to do to ensure that freight theft is prosecuted as the serious crime it is?

I know my hon. Friend has formidable knowledge and expertise in these matters, which she raises very effectively on behalf of her constituents. We are clear that freight crime is a serious threat, and the Government are working closely with the police, the automotive industry and the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service to combat this threat. The CPS is, of course, alive to the prevalence of freight crime and brings together expertise to ensure that there is the resilience, skills and flexibility that is needed to best respond to new and changing areas of organised crime, like freight crime.

9. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help increase prosecution rates in cases of people smuggling. (901905)

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, and I know how much work he did in this area prior to his election to this place. Criminal gangs must not be allowed to undermine our border security by illegally bringing people into this country. That is why this Government are committed to smashing the gangs. We have set up the new Border Security Command, which will bring together law enforcement across the system and boost the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to deliver charging decisions swiftly in international organised crime cases.

Merry Christmas to you, Mr Speaker. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Solicitor General on taking up her position.

Having worked with the National Crime Agency in the past, and having worked in a counter-terror role, I have seen at first hand the effectiveness of counter-terror powers and the difference that they can make. Are the Government working to maximise the effectiveness of the Border Security Command by using counter-terror-style powers, or adapting such powers, in order to take on the smuggling gangs and treat them like terrorists?

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. Quite simply, the previous Government lost control of our borders. That is why we need a much tougher approach, learning from the success of our world-leading counter-terror measures. Our border security, asylum and immigration Bill will create new, stronger powers for law enforcement agencies to tackle, investigate and prosecute organised crime and strengthen UK border security.