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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding and devolved powers to ensure the comprehensive monitoring of air quality in England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is responsible for the national monitoring of air quality (which includes England) through 16 different networks monitoring various pollutants. Departmental budgets, including budgets for air quality monitoring, are determined through departmental spending reviews.
Devolved powers through the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) framework and the London Local Air Quality Management (LLAQM) require local authorities to review and assess air quality in their areas. These assessments include air quality monitoring and the production of annual status reports which are funded through their own budgets.
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 assessment her Department has made of whether examples of best practice exist in England to achieve compliance with legislation and regulation to improve local air quality in each of (a) ambient air and (b) indoor air.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra supports local authorities in implementing their statutory air quality duties by providing both resources and practical tools. A key example is the Air Quality Hub, which enables local authorities to collaborate, share best practice, and access guidance, case studies, and training materials. This platform strengthens alignment between local delivery and national objectives by ensuring that evidence, lessons learned, and emerging policy priorities are shared consistently across the local authority network.
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 assessment she had made of the adequacy of alignment between national government targets and obligations and local government actions to improve ambient air quality in England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
National targets and local actions are aligned through statutory duties that require local authorities to assess air quality, designate Air Quality Management Areas, and produce Air Quality Action Plans tied to national air quality objectives. Local authorities retain flexibility to tailor interventions to local circumstances.
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 assessment she has made of the adequacy of national targets, requirements and performance standards for air quality and national emission ceilings in protecting public health, climate and the environment.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra regularly assesses the adequacy of national air quality targets and emission ceilings through statutory annual reporting and formal reviews of the Environmental Improvement Plan.
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, which Government departments other than his Department are able to have the biggest impact on improving levels of ambient air pollution; and how their policies seek to achieve this.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Air pollution comes from many different sources and has wide-ranging impacts. Issues such as air quality, climate action, public health and nature recovery are closely linked, creating opportunities for policies that deliver benefits across all these areas. Because of this, every part of government has a role in shaping policies that help reduce air pollution and its effects.
I will continue to work collaboratively with colleagues across government to tackle key sources of pollution, such as transport, health and energy policy, which play a vital role in meeting our statutory air quality targets.
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 comparisons and best practices can be learned from other countries to help improve air quality in England in (a) ambient air and (b) indoor air.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that air pollution is a local, regional, and global issue, and that there is considerable expertise, knowledge, and skills that countries, experts, and organisations can share to help reduce pollution across the world. We remain committed to cooperating with our neighbours across Europe to reduce our regional air pollution, including through the ongoing revision of the 2012 amended Gothenburg Protocol, and to playing our part in wider global action to reduce pollution around the world.
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 assessment her Department has made of potential barriers and/or challenges to achieving national targets, requirements and performance standards for ambient air quality, indoor air quality and national emission ceilings in England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra regularly assesses potential barriers and/or challenges to achieving national targets, requirements and performance standards in relation to ambient air quality and emissions. Performance against targets are reported annually in the emissions inventory and air pollution in the UK report.
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 assessment her Department has made of how well examples of local best practice that exist to enforce existing legislation and regulation to improve local air quality are being rolled out elsewhere in England.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
National targets and local actions are aligned through statutory duties that require local authorities to assess air quality, designate Air Quality Management Areas, and produce Air Quality Action Plans tied to national air quality objectives. Local authorities retain flexibility to tailor interventions to local circumstances.
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 plans her Department has to consult (a) regional bird clubs, (b) national exhibition and (c) any other avicultural organisations on licensing changes and their potential impact on (i) breeding, (ii) rehoming and (iii) any other conservation activities.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra officials will continue to engage stakeholders, including regional bird clubs, organisers of the National Exhibition and other avicultural organisations about the changes to the licences for bird gatherings via stakeholder forums and individual discussions as appropriate to understand impacts to their activities.
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 review the prohibition on exhibiting Psittaciformes alongside (a) canaries and (b) finches at licensed bird gatherings; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of permitting mixed‑species events.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.
In England the general licence for gatherings of Psittaciformes, birds of prey and racing pigeons permits a gathering including a mix of these types of birds. Defra can also exercise discretion to permit gatherings by granting specific licences for mixed species from other orders of bird such as Passeriformes (e.g. canaries and finches). For each application for a licence to hold a gathering, an individual risk assessment will be completed, and mitigating conditions will be set out in the licence.
It is therefore possible, subject to licence, to hold mixed-species exhibitions of Psittaciformes alongside canaries and finches.