Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2026 to Question 35228, what changes to the Met Office’s remit, commissioning and funding would be necessary for it to issue air-pollution warnings based on expected health impacts, separately from forecasts and threshold alerts, and proactively distribute those warnings in press releases to news media.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Met Office is commissioned by Defra to provide air-quality forecasts.
Introducing a separate air-pollution warning service based on expected health impacts, with warnings proactively distributed to news media through press releases, would require agreement between relevant government departments on responsibilities, commissioning and funding. As the department responsible for air-quality policy in England, Defra would need to lead consideration of such a service, working with the Met Office, the independent Public Weather Service Customer Group and relevant public-health bodies. Any changes to the Met Office’s remit, commissioning or funding would depend on the agreed scope and delivery arrangements.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether the Met Office has a policy or is commissioned by his Department to issue and proactively send episode-specific air-quality warnings to news media, separately from supplying forecast data.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Met Office produces the public air-quality forecast on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which is available through GOV.UK and Met Office web and app products.
While air-quality warnings are not issued in the UK, the Met Office does provide an ad hoc Air Quality Notification/Alert service on behalf of Defra when pollution levels are expected to reach specified thresholds. Further information on how these alerts and notifications are used can be provided by Defra.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish the records of all the sites where waste was deposited following the site reclamation of the Corby Steelworks in the 1980s.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Records of all the sites where waste was deposited following the reclamation of the Corby Steelworks site should be held by the local authority that managed the reclamation, in this case North Northamptonshire Council.
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold this information.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to assess the suitability of Glomar Minerals Ltd as a licence holder for deep sea exploration.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
UK Seabed Resources Limited remains the holder of the UK’s two deep sea mining licences following its sale to Glomar Minerals Ltd. The UK government is carrying out a thorough review of Glomar Minerals Ltd and the UK’s sponsorship of UK Seabed Resources Limited under UNCLOS and the Exploration Regulations.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the independent evidence review commissioned by the previous government and undertaken by scientists from the British Geological Survey, National Oceanography Centre, and Heriot-Watt University will be taken into account in his determination of the sponsored exploration licences for Deep Sea Mining.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2021 independent evidence review, commissioned by the previous government, remains a valuable contribution to our understanding of the environmental impacts of deep sea mining. The government will take all relevant information into consideration when reviewing its sponsorship of exploration licences.