Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (including Topical Questions)

MPs question a government minister

This is a scheduled question time session for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs department. MPs will pose oral questions to the responsible minister on current issues affecting farming, environmental policy, rural communities, and food security. Topical questions allow MPs to raise pressing, timely matters that have emerged since the order paper was published, giving Parliament the chance to scrutinise the government's handling of these areas.

Question time holds ministers to account on live policy challenges. Oral questions to DEFRA touch on issues of broad public concern—food prices, farm incomes, environmental regulation, and rural economic viability—affecting millions of consumers and the rural sector. The topical element means MPs can probe the government's response to breaking developments, from weather events to trade disruptions to regulatory changes.