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Division Vote (Commons)
4 Feb 2026 - Climate Change - View Vote Context
Steve Darling (LD) voted Aye - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 51 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 0 Liberal Democrat No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 392 Noes - 116
Written Question
Citizenship and Media: Education
Wednesday 4th February 2026

Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on media literacy and citizenship education of the findings of the report by Resilience and Reconstruction entitled Disinformation, UK Democracy, and Attitudes toward Ukraine & Russia in the UK, published in January 2026, on passive exposure to misinformation via social media.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Improved media literacy builds resilience to misinformation and disinformation and fosters critical thinking. The government is improving media literacy through coordinated cross-government work, including funding innovative community-based interventions and launching an awareness campaign to build digital resilience and critical thinking skills online. The Online Safety Act updated Ofcom’s statutory duty to promote media literacy. This includes raising the awareness and understanding of misinformation and harmful content, especially where it affects vulnerable groups.

The government’s independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, published on 5 November 2025, emphasised the value of secure knowledge, the process of questioning and critical enquiry and weighing up evidence across information and sources. The government’s response to the review committed to strengthening media literacy content in the curriculum to ensure vital applied knowledge and skills in media and digital literacy are embedded into the revised curriculum, that subject-specific disciplinary skills including critical thinking and problem solving are clearly articulated in the refreshed programmes of study.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 03 Feb 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

"The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a society that is free, open and fair, and a society in which no one is enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity. That is why it is in our DNA to be against the two-child limit. There are 4.5 million children living …..."
Steve Darling - View Speech

View all Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) contributions to the debate on: Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 03 Feb 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

"I thank the hon. Member for her non-partisan intervention. The Liberal Democrats opposed the two-child limit. We are on the record as doing that and I am delighted we did so. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report published last week highlights how tackling poverty has flatlined since 2005, so the Liberal …..."
Steve Darling - View Speech

View all Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) contributions to the debate on: Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 03 Feb 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

"I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his thoughts on that. I remind my colleague that shortly after the coalition Government, the Conservatives stripped away an awful lot of the safeguards around student loans, and that continues. It is not a happy situation for many students up and down the …..."
Steve Darling - View Speech

View all Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) contributions to the debate on: Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 03 Feb 2026
Oral Answers to Questions

"There is clear evidence up and down the country of Serco failing to serve the Courts Service appropriately, including for my constituents in Torbay. Does the Secretary of State accept that if we can make sure that Serco can get people to the courts more rapidly, it will give them …..."
Steve Darling - View Speech

View all Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 03 Feb 2026
Oral Answers to Questions

"13. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of his proposed reforms to jury trials on the court backlog. ..."
Steve Darling - View Speech

View all Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 03 Feb 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill

"Will the Minister give way?..."
Steve Darling - View Speech

View all Steve Darling (LD - Torbay) contributions to the debate on: Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
Division Vote (Commons)
3 Feb 2026 - Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill - View Vote Context
Steve Darling (LD) voted Aye - in line with the party majority and in line with the House
One of 61 Liberal Democrat Aye votes vs 0 Liberal Democrat No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 458 Noes - 104
Written Question
Water: Standards
Tuesday 3rd February 2026

Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when his Department plans to publish the outcome of its consultation on the Bathing Water Regulations.

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

Defra, jointly with the Welsh Government, ran a consultation on a package of reforms to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013 that was open between November – December 2024.

In March 2025 the Government published its response to this consultation, setting out the intention to implement three Core Reforms and several Technical Amendments to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013.

A Statutory Instrument was then laid before Parliament on 28 October 2025, introducing the three core reforms and technical amendments into law. The majority of the Regulation came into force on the 21 of November 2025. Core Reform 2 will come into force on the 15 of May 2026.