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, pursuant to the Answer of 2 November 2026 to Question 37591, how her Department’s responsibilities for air pollution from human activity and natural sources interface with the Department for Transport's responsibilities for volcanic disruption, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's wildfire leadership and the UK Health Security Agency’s public health responsibilities; and which Minister is responsible for authorising and proactively distributing public-health warnings to news media about wildfire smoke and volcanic ash or gases affecting ground-level air quality in England separately from forecasts and subscriber notifications.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Each Department has processes in place to manage the incidents mentioned. Departments will also work with relevant Local Resilience Forums to manage public health risks and communications.
If wildfire or volcanic activity is measured through our air quality monitoring network, it can trigger an air pollution alert.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) providing a single accessible, dated and versioned PDF of the complete Air Pollution in the UK 2025 report and future annual reports alongside their HTML pages and (b) publishing with each online component a dated, itemised change log identifying what was amended, the reason for each amendment and a link to the retained previous version.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Air Pollution in the UK 2025 report was published following GOV.UK best practice. The landing page for the publication contains a change log which identifies any amendments made since initial publication.
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 definitions and approval criteria distinguish an air pollution press release, news story, information bulletin and alert; which require proactive distribution to news media; and what sending evidence must be retained before the Department identifies an item to Parliament as a press release.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Air quality alerts are issued to subscribers if concentrations for any one of the five pollutants measured by the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) are forecast and/or measured as 'high' or above. The distribution of air quality information to news and media is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
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, with reference to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 31779, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of opportunities in the commissioned public research and selected stakeholder engagement to challenge the Air Quality Information System Review’s conclusions and recommendations; what opportunities to engage with the process were available to people and organisations not selected to participate; and whether she plans to hold an open public consultation.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Opportunities to engage with the AQIS review were available while it was ongoing, including through steering group networks and an engagement programme inviting interviews via the Environmental Agency inequalities network and social media. The Department does not intend to consult further on the recommendations.
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 her Department plans to publish the dates, attendance, agendas, minutes and decision records of the Air Pollution Awareness Coalition’s plenary and working group meetings; what confidentiality or publication restrictions apply to those records and members’ communications; who authorised each restriction; and whether the relevant instructions will be published.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Air Pollution Awareness Coalition brings together organisations to improve public awareness and understanding of air pollution. The Coalition operates under agreed Terms of Reference, which have been published online. We will continue to keep under review what information relating to the Coalition should be published.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of divergence between UK and (a) Directive (EU) 2024/2881 and (b) other EU air quality protections on (a) trade and investment and (b) rebalancing measures under Article 411 of the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government keeps its air quality framework under review, including targets and standards, and will review the Air Quality Strategy by 2028. The stated focus is on delivering effective policies across the main emission sources to improve air quality and protect public health. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs monitors and assesses any UK-EU divergence on environmental protections.
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, how much money her Department has spent on a) lawyers and b) consultants in drafting the Water Bill.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra follows strict departmental, commercial and legal governance processes when engaging consultants or external legal support. Defra legal costs are covered through arrangements with the Government Legal Department. The department does not hold centrally recorded information on the amount spent on lawyers in drafting the Water Bill.
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, how many instances of serious non-compliance were identified by the Environment Agency at permitted waste sites in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025, and in each of those years, what proportion of those instances had (i) the cause of the non-compliance identified and scored, (ii) the correct categorisation and reasonably foreseeable impact recorded, and (iii) appropriate remedial actions set.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Year | Number of serious non-compliances |
2025 | 819 |
2024 | 878 |
2023 | 682 |
|
|
Serious non-compliance is classified as a category 1 or 2 permit breach. Waste sites are in the Biowaste Treatment, Landfill and Waste Treatment sectors. All recorded non-compliances are scored and a cause identified, with remedial actions applied.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Russian naval, research and civilian-flagged vessels have been detected loitering near UK subsea cables, gas pipelines and interconnectors in each of the last five years; and assessment his Department has made of whether those vessels are mapping critical infrastructure.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
For reasons of national security, I cannot provide detailed information on detections, intelligence assessments or the extent and timing of surveys of the United Kingdom’s critical undersea infrastructure.
The Ministry of Defence, working with partners across Government and our Allies, closely monitors maritime activity in and around UK waters. The Government’s £330 million investment over four years will strengthen the protection of the UK’s critical undersea infrastructure, enhancing our ability to detect, monitor, deter and respond to any potential threat.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of a third runway at Heathrow Airport on the likelihood of annual nitrogen dioxide emissions in the Greater London urban area exceeding the 2025 level.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To inform the draft Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement, the department commissioned indicative analysis, more detail on this analysis can be found here: Air quality support for review of ANPS: review of emissions source data and trends (NO2, NOX, PM10 and ammonia) and here: Air Quality Support for Review of ANPS: Review of Airside Emissions.