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 help tackle waste crime in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government published its new Waste Crime Action Plan on 20 March which is the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste. We will tighten regulation to close the loopholes criminals exploit, enable tougher enforcement to disrupt and punish them, and direct action to clean up the damage they leave behind.

The Government is committed to tackling waste crime in North East Somerset and Hanham. We are strengthening the Environment Agency’s enforcement powers and funding, and supporting joint working with Bath and North East Somerset Council and the local police services. Across the constituency, the Environment Agency is using intelligence led inspections and investigations to identify illegal waste activity, take enforcement action, and disrupt organised waste crime, protecting local communities and the environment, and ensuring waste is managed responsibly locally.

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 help increase accountability in the water sector in the West of England.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

For too long, water companies paid out billions in dividends while pumping sewage into our rivers. This Government is ending that. The Water White Paper creates a single regulator, prevention-focused enforcement, and tougher laws: banning bonuses for failure and ensuring water works for customers, not just shareholders.

To truly turn around the water sector we need the right people in to do the job. We want the sector to be attractive to high quality senior leaders, acting in the public interest, who can lead change from the top.

To achieve this, the Government committed in the White Paper to consider taking forward a new regime for senior accountability. This would be carefully designed to ensure senior leaders are directly accountable for the service customers receive, whilst still allowing water companies to appoint capable leadership

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce waiting times at the RUH (Bath) A&E department.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises the pressures facing emergency departments, including at the Royal United Hospital Bath, and is taking sustained action to reduce accident and emergency waiting times and improve patient flow across urgent and emergency care. Through the NHS Medium‑Term Planning Framework and the Model Emergency Department, NHS England has set out a clear trajectory for improving performance, with a focus on reducing long waits, improving safety, and delivering better patient experience.

At the Royal United Hospital Bath, NHS England is working with the trust and the wider local system to support delivery of these improvements. This includes action to improve patient flow, increase the use of Same Day Emergency Care to avoid unnecessary admissions, strengthen discharge and community capacity, and deliver capital investment to improve emergency department flow. The trust is also receiving support from national improvement programmes, including Getting It Right First Time, alongside action to strengthen overnight staffing and real‑time performance oversight.

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 potential impact of factory farming on ammonia pollution.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra does not have an assessment of “factory farms”. However, a breakdown of UK ammonia emissions by livestock sector can be found in Table 1 of this published document; 2509190841_UK_Agriculture_Ammonia_Emission_Report_1990-2023_26062025_Final.pdf.