Written questions by Heylings.

Food and Rural Affairs, what percentage of developments BNG would apply to should small sites be excluded as proposed in the Improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minor, medium and brownfield development consultation.

A Government response to the ‘Improving biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield development’ consultation will be published in due course. The Government will also publish a full impact assessment setting out all relevant costs and benefits.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of how many jobs in the ecology and nature sectors could be lost as a result of small sites being excluded from BNG as proposed in the Improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minor, medium and brownfield development consultation.

A Government response to the ‘Improving biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield development’ consultation will be published in due course. The Government will also publish a full impact assessment setting out all relevant costs and benefits.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October to Question 84396, what percentage of the fishing catch quota has been distributed through (a) Fixed Quota Allocation Units, (b) the Quota Application Mechanism and (c) other routes for the most recent year for which data is available.

In 2025, the percentage of quota distributed through fixed quota allocation units was around 90% (‘existing quota’ and ‘additional quota’), 5% of English allocated quota was distributed via the Quota Application Mechanism and 5% via alternative routes. In 2026, the percentage splits will change because the Quota Application Mechanism is increasing from 5 stocks to 14 stocks, for that reason fixed quota allocation will need adjusting accordingly and can only take place once we have concluded negotiations for access to fishing opportunities in December.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that fishing catches are recorded and accounted for.

To ensure fishing catches are accurately recorded and accounted for, all English vessels must record their catches either in a logbook or, for vessels under 10 metres, using the Catch Recording application. These systems provide an accurate picture of how much fish is being taken from English waters. Compliance with this requirement is monitored through analysis of data and vessel inspections. Fisheries control and enforcement are devolved matters, with each Devolved Administration responsible for conducting inspections within its respective waters.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislation to formalise the license variation requiring English fishing vessels under 12m to operate iVMS while at sea.

A Statutory Instrument is scheduled to be laid once the Marine Management Organisation's rollout of IVMS has concluded.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish a list of fishing vessel licences including sanctions for fisheries and labour offences.

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) publish UK wide lists of licensed fishing vessels and details of fishing vessel licences. The MMO does not publish sanctions for fisheries offences, but regularly publishes details of its successful prosecutions for marine and fisheries offences on the UK government website.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 29 October 2025 to question 83898, what incentives there are for volunteer participants in the design and test phase for demersal trawls using mesh sizes up to 120mm, over 10m; and how many vessels in that category have volunteered for 2026.

All vessels taking part in REM early adopter projects have the opportunity to shape Defra’s approach to roll out, participating in programme design and flagging implementation issues. Volunteers can also recommend information and data they would like us to collect and how they would like it reported back. Defra also funds REM equipment and installation for volunteer early adopters. At present there are no volunteers for Fishery C, Demersal trawls using mesh sizes up to 120mm, over 10m, English waters of the North Sea.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether all catches are recorded and accounted for in UK fisheries.

To ensure fishing catches are accurately recorded and accounted for, all English vessels must record their catches either in a logbook or, for vessels under 10 metres, using the Catch Recording application. These systems provide an accurate picture of how much fish is being taken from English waters. Compliance with this requirement is monitored through analysis of data and vessel inspections. Fisheries control and enforcement are devolved matters, with each Devolved Administration responsible for conducting inspections within its respective waters.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 29 October 2025 to question 83891, if she will publish details of grants to the fishing and seafood sector from 2025, including details of vessels receiving funding and the nature of on-board improvements.

Defra is committed to ensuring transparency on the use of public funds. In England, details of grant awards to the fishing and seafood sector are already published on Gov.uk. Publications are updated regularly and made in line with legal obligations, including data protection and commercial confidentiality. As we are in the process of awarding grants for Fisheries and Seafood Scheme for 2025, these awards will be published in due course.

Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 29 October 2025 to question 83898, how many (a) pelagic trawls over 24m and (b) demersal seines over 10m enrolled as volunteers to design and test Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) systems; and how long the design and testing phase of the REM rollout will take.

Defra is currently working with one volunteer vessel from Fishery A, pelagic trawls over 24m. No volunteers have come forwards from Fishery B, demersal seines over 10m. The volunteer early adopter phase of each REM project will continue until the project objectives and monitoring objectives are met.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding delivered through the Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund supports sustainability in fisheries.

The Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund is a £360m investment over the next 12 years in the UK’s fisheries and seafood sector, and coastal communities. The fund aims to support the next generation of fishers and breathe new life into our coastal economies. We are currently engaging with stakeholders to help shape the fund, ensure funding is targeted where it matters most, and to assess the best strategy for delivering impactful and sustainable investment. This includes a series of industry webinars and an online survey, and we welcome input from representatives from environmental NGOs and academia. Options to be funded are still under consideration and will be developed with due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement, to balance immediate impact with long-term sustainability.

Food and Rural Affairs, what analysis her Department has undertaken to review the cost created by Improving the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain for minor, medium and brownfield development consultation for the ecology and nature sectors in the UK.

A Government response to the ‘Improving biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield development’ consultation will be published in due course. The Government will also publish a full impact assessment setting out all relevant costs and benefits.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that small producers are not placed at a cash flow disadvantage compared with larger producers under the payment structures of the extended producer responsibility scheme.

pEPR in the UK has some of the most generous support measures for small businesses across any packaging scheme globally. These are exemptions from disposal fee and recycling obligations for producers with an annual turnover below £2 million and packaging tonnage below 50 tonnes; and an exemption from data collection and reporting obligations for small businesses with turnover below £1 million and packaging tonnage below 25 tonnes. These exemptions apply to approximately 70% of businesses supplying packaging in the UK. To support businesses that are subject to disposal fee obligations we have also provided flexible payment arrangements to help obligated businesses manage cashflow, by paying fees in quarterly instalments. Where producers are a liable and struggle to meet payment plans outlined in the regulations, further options are available on request.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the fixed quota allocation system for distributing the catch quotas.

The Fixed Quota Allocation (FQA) system was introduced in 1999 and is only one of the ways in which quota is allocated. While the UK Government does not routinely conduct formal assessments of the FQA system itself, it continually monitors fish stocks based on the latest scientific advice. In addition to the FQA system, quota is also distributed through the Quota Application Mechanism trial in England supporting our commitment to the Fisheries Act objectives.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure Fisheries Management Plans deliver sustainable fisheries management.

In line with the UK Fisheries Act 2020 Defra is committed to managing our fisheries sustainably. Defra has published the first set of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) and are on course to publish the next five by the end of 2025, with a further four to be published by the end of 2026. The plans are evidence based, collaboratively developed, and set out measures to maintain or restore stocks to sustainable levels. Implementation is underway, with critical actions already taken such as an increase in minimum conservation reference size (MCRS) for crawfish to protect the juveniles of these stocks from being landed before they have matured. Plans will be kept under review to ensure they remain effective.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help meet the National Benefit objective of the Fisheries Act 2020.

The UK requires that vessels fishing against UK quota demonstrate a tangible economic contribution to the UK. This is primarily achieved through the economic link licence condition, embedded in fishing licences. As part of the Quota Application Mechanism trial in England, we score applicants based on environmental commitments but also on delivered social and economic benefits. We have begun independently evaluating new fishing opportunities to ensure they are realising the social and economic benefits intended. For instance, two recent reports show that bluefin tuna fisheries provide multiple social and economic benefits for coastal communities. To ensure social and economic benefits in the national interest can be assessed, we have inaugurated a new Fishing Industry Social Survey to complement the existing economic fleet Survey. Over 400 fishermen responded this year, and results of the survey will be published in the near future.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to tackle known limitations of fisheries stock assessments since 2020; and whether she plans to allocate additional funding to help improve data collection in fisheries.

The Department has invested significantly in research and development with an aim to improve fisheries stock assessments since 2020. Additionally, the Department has run a Fisheries and Science Partnership scheme, which provided grant funding to fishing industry and academia partnerships to undertake fishery science projects. Fisheries Management Plans published by the Department include the identification and delivery of evidence to support known gaps. This financial year alone the Department has invested £2.5 million in filling these evidence gaps. The Department is also reforming the fisheries data collection programme to ensure its fit for purpose and further help to address these evidence gaps.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to provide resources to implementation groups responsible for the delivery of Fisheries Management Plans.

Defra is committed to working collaboratively with stakeholders in delivering Fisheries Management Plans (FMP). Defra resources and manages a number of FMP implementation groups, and funds Seafish to convene and support two further implementation groups. Defra and the Marine Management Organisation also organise ad hoc stakeholder meetings to further delivery as required.

Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with fisheries authorities on the effectiveness of the steps they are taking to tackle (a) illegal, (b) unreported and (c) unregulated fishing in UK waters.

Whilst it is for each of the Devolved Administrations to assess how best to control its waters, Defra, the Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and Northern Ireland Executive work closely together. This cooperation includes discussions and review of appropriate policies and regulations at a UK level as well as regularly sharing and reviewing intelligence to deliver a robust approach to monitoring, compliance and enforcement across our waters to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will take steps to publish full vessel ownership, license, quota, subsidy, and sanctions information for all types of fishing vessels in a publicly accessible format.

Although fisheries control is a devolved matter, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) publish UK wide lists of licensed fishing vessels, details of fishing vessel licences and detailed quota allocations which are set out by the MMO in their annual apportionment and allocation spreadsheets. Funding provided by Defra to the fishing industry is publicly available through the Government Grants Information System.