Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether any hotspots in zones other than the five zones identified in the Compliance Assessment Summary 2024 exceeded the nitrogen dioxide annual limit value in calendar 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The localised hotspots identified through Defra’s national modelling and monitoring networks are published annually on UK Air (https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/) as part of the national compliance assessment under the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010. Localised hotspots that have been identified by local authority-owned monitoring are published in their respective annual status reports.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which areas in the following zones her Department assesses may delay compliance with the nitrogen dioxide annual limit value beyond 2024 and until when in (i) West Midlands Urban Area; (ii) Greater Manchester Urban Area; (iii) Liverpool Urban Area; (iv) Bristol Urban Area; and (v) Coventry/Bedworth.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The results of the UK’s air quality assessment for 2024 are published online on the UK-Air website (https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/). Projections of future compliance for locations in exceedance of the nitrogen dioxide annual mean limit value in 2024 are being developed as part of updates to the national model.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group last met; and if she will set out the matters that were discussed.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group last met in October 2025. The matters discussed included a policy update from Defra officials, which included an update on the review of local authority vehicle seizure powers, statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance, digital waste tracking and reform of the waste carriers, brokers, dealers and permit exemptions regime. In addition to a broader discussion among members, there were presentations by Fortix AI and Certified Rubbish.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance her Department issues dog walkers in periods of extreme cold.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Anyone who walks dogs is required to comply with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which requires individuals in control of animals to protect them from unnecessary suffering, and to provide for their welfare needs.
Welfare groups such as the RSCPA and Dogs Trust publish advice on their websites for dog walkers on how to keep dogs healthy and active during periods of cold weather.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times did the National Fly- Tipping Prevention Group meet during the Calendar Year of 2025.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The National Fly-tipping Prevention Group met twice in the 2025 calendar year.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is she taking to encourage planting to manage water in the upper catchments.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra promotes tree planting in upper catchments to enhance the water environment, supported by a suite of targeted grants including the England Woodland Creation Offer, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Natural Flood Management Programme, and wider Environmental Land Management schemes such as Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship. Defra is also supporting delivery of the Water Environment Improvement Fund, Water Restoration Fund and Local Nature Recovery Strategies to ensure action is directed where it delivers the greatest water quality, flood resilience, and biodiversity benefits.
Looking ahead, the EA will be scaling up investment in natural flood management interventions, including tree planting, through the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management investment programme that starts in April. This has been enabled by the Government’s updated flood funding rules with a commitment to direct at least 3% of the FCERM programme spend to standalone NFM in the first four years and 4% over a ten-year period.
Together, these initiatives contribute directly to the Environmental Improvement Plan’s commitments on increasing tree cover, improving water quality, and strengthening flood mitigation.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Domestic Solid Fuel Regulations 2020.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In November 2025, we published the Post Implementation Review of the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020, which assesses the effectiveness of the Regulations.
Data suggest that the Regulations have led to consumers moving from more polluting fuels to less polluting fuels. The review concluded that this has led to a reduction in emissions of PM2.5 and SO2 with environmental and public health benefits.
Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure that (a) parents and (b) local authorities are adequately informed of the risks of Shigella-causing bacterial infections from paddling at beaches in the North West.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) analyses samples at least monthly, from every bathing water throughout the bathing water season. However, in practice, the EA samples more frequently than this to reduce the risk of misclassification.
The EA publishes sampling information during the bathing season on Swimfo to inform the general public of water quality and provide daily pollution risk warnings. This includes details on all bathing waters, including classifications, pollution sources, and seasonal water quality results.
Local Authorities use this information to provide bathing water quality information on physical signs at each designated bathing water, including their formal classification and a link to online details. The EA samples are tested for different bacteria including E.Coli and intestinal enterococci as the most reliable indictors of faecal contamination, but this does not include Shigella.
Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of failures in sewage treatment, storm overflow management, or water quality monitoring on the level cases of Shigella-causing infections among children at beaches in the North West.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department is taking action to rebuild the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. For example, in one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country. Water companies are investing over £11 billion in PR24, a record amount, to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows across England and Wales over the next five years. For England, this equates to over £10 billion to improve over 2,500 storm overflows.
Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes routine monitoring of notifiable diseases and causative agents which includes Shigella species. There is no evidence of Shigella linked to exposure to recreational waters at beaches in the North West.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release entitled Deprived communities to get new flood defences faster, published on 14 October 2025, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of deprivation on flood risk.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we are investing £4.2 billion over three years (2026/27 to 2028/29) to construct new flood schemes and maintain and repair existing defences across the country.
On 14 October 2025, following consultation, the government announced major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy. The reforms will make it quicker and easier to deliver the right flood defences in the right places, optimise funding between new floods projects and maintaining existing defences, and will ensure that deprived communities continue to receive vital investment.
Areas of deprivation face particular challenges in preparing for and recovering from the impacts of flooding. This is why a minimum of 20% of FCERM investment will go to the 20% most deprived communities and a minimum of 40% to the 40% most deprived communities combined over both the next three and ten years.