Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what mechanisms exist for his Department to engage directly with SMEs providing patented technology to address (a) illegal sewage discharges and (b) freshwater shortages.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is supporting innovation through Ofwat’s Innovation Fund, which has doubled in size to £400 million for 2025-2030. Since 2020, it has awarded funding to 109 projects - ranging from trialling artificial intelligence to detect algae in reservoirs, to robots that patrol wastewater pipes to pinpoint cracks.
Ministers and officials have regular discussions with a range of stakeholders, including charities and NGOs, on many issues related to the water sector including on sewage pollution and water resources.
We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. In one of the largest infrastructure programmes in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes, sewage treatment works and water resources infrastructure across the country.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of availability of independent (a) advice and (b) support to consumers who have problems with their water company.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has already committed to a number of Sir Jon Cunliffe’s recommendations as set out in the Independent Water Commission’s final report.
As announced by the Environment Secretary on 21 July 2025, water customers will have more support than ever before. The Government will create a new statutory water ombudsman with the power to protect customers in disputes with their water company - a single, free service to help customers resolve complaints.
It will build on the Consumer Council for Water’s current role and bring dispute resolution processes for water in line with other sectors. These new measures will build on our reforms to more than double automatic payments to customers when water companies fail to deliver adequate standards of service, and to ensure customers are at the heart of water company purpose and regulation.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that water customers have access to (a) impartial and (b) independent avenues of redress.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has already committed to a number of Sir Jon Cunliffe’s recommendations as set out in the Independent Water Commission’s final report.
As announced by the Environment Secretary on 21 July 2025, water customers will have more support than ever before. The Government will create a new statutory water ombudsman with the power to protect customers in disputes with their water company - a single, free service to help customers resolve complaints.
It will build on the Consumer Council for Water’s current role and bring dispute resolution processes for water in line with other sectors. These new measures will build on our reforms to more than double automatic payments to customers when water companies fail to deliver adequate standards of service, and to ensure customers are at the heart of water company purpose and regulation.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has considered using external bodies with (a) forensic accounting and (b) corporate fraud expertise to support investigations into alleged (i) deliberate misreporting and (ii) illegal pollution by water companies.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is the enforcement body responsible for investigating illegal pollution and misreporting by water companies.
The EA has concluded 83 prosecutions since 2015, securing record fines of over £150 million against water companies. Furthermore, the EA have increased water company inspections to 10,000 per year from April 2025 as part of the government’s wider focus to hold companies to account and improve our water environment.
The Water (Special Measures) Act provides the most significant increase in enforcement powers to the regulators in a decade. This includes powers for the Environment Agency to recover costs for a much greater range of enforcement activities.
Additionally, all water companies in England and Wales are now under a statutory duty to publish annual Pollution Incident Reduction Plans. Chief Executives will be required to approve both the plan and the report and will be personally liable for their publication.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the impact of domestic bonfire smoke on (a) rural air quality and (b) wider environmental health.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Smoke from domestic bonfires can negatively affect both rural air quality and broader environmental health. Current legislation prohibits the burning of household waste where it may lead to pollution or pose a risk to public health. In addition, local authorities have the power to issue abatement notices should bonfire smoke constitute a statutory nuisance. Further guidance for the public is available at Reducing air pollution from outdoor burning.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the proposed transfer of Bodmin Keep from his Department to its Trustees is accompanied by sufficient funding to (a) enable the museum to remain financially sustainable, (b) continue to deliver youth engagement and (c) support the Keeping the Army in the Public Eye policy.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Department is in regular communication with the Military Museum at Bodmin Keep about how they will transition from their current supported status in 2030, and what this will mean. The Department is also exploring a number of long-term options with the Museum regarding their lease agreement for the Keep. Until then, the Museum will continue to receive a Grant-in-Aid from the Department. I am happy to meet with the hon. Gentleman to discuss further if that would be useful.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the NHS of treating health conditions linked to exposure to domestic bonfire smoke in areas with high rates of respiratory illness.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities have a duty to monitor and review air quality in their areas. The Environment Agency manages the United Kingdom's national monitoring sites on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
No specific assessment of the cost has been made. It is not possible to determine the specific impact of domestic bonfire smoke from other similar pollutant sources.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to maintain the Financial Ombudsman Service’s remit when considering complaints.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) plays an important role in providing consumers with a cost-free and quick route to resolve disputes with financial services firms.
My recent review of the FOS concluded that the framework in which it operates has resulted in it acting as a quasi-regulator in a small but significant minority of cases. That is why, as part of the Leeds Reforms, the Chancellor announced the most significant package of reforms to the FOS since its inception.
The review concluded that the ‘fair and reasonable’ test should be retained and adapted, to align it with the overall regulatory approach for financial services and provide greater predictability and consistency to consumers and firms. The government is currently consulting on proposed legislation to adapt the ‘fair and reasonable’ test to make clear that, where conduct complained of is in scope of FCA rules, compliance with those rules will mean that a firm has acted fairly and reasonably. It also proposes a mechanism for the FOS to refer a case to the FCA where there is ambiguity about FCA rules, to request a view on how its rules are intended to be applied, to ensure consistent application of regulatory standards by the FOS.
Regarding fraud, victims of fraud who wish to make a complaint about their financial services provider will continue to be able to bring complaints to the FOS, and the proposed changes to the legislative framework under which the FOS operates will not affect the FOS’s role in handling these complaints.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with President Trump on global security.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are deepening defence and security ties with the US to uphold peace and security, working together to respond to a more contested and volatile world. Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary regularly engage with our US counterparts on wide ranging security issues. When the Foreign Secretary last spoke with Marco Rubio, they discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, and our commitment to Iran never developing or acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of healthcare services in Launceston, in the context of the upcoming closure of the Launceston Minor Injuries Unit.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is aware of the temporary closure of the Launceston Minor Injuries Unit (MIU), which is a decision that was made due to staffing challenges. The responsibility for the delivery, implementation, and funding decisions for services ultimately rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioning body, which in this case is the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB), rather than the Government. This includes the responsibility to conduct an impact assessment on traveling, provision of services, and an equality impact assessment. The Government has been informed that the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust completed an Equality Impact Assessment for the closure, which identified the impact to be increased travel time or distance to an alternative MIU.
In some scenarios, such as this one, the NHS provider may need to make a temporary service change due to a risk to safety or the welfare of patients or staff. These temporary changes do not represent a permanent or irreversible decision about an NHS service. Permanent changes would only be possible by following the due process, including appropriate engagement with people and communities.
The Government expects the local NHS to develop clear plans for reverting temporary service changes. If this cannot be done safely, the ICB will need to develop plans for a permanent solution by following the due process, including appropriate engagement with people and communities.