Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of deaths related to climate change in each county in England.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Lord Foster of Bath
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
04 February 2026
Dear Lord Foster,
As Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what estimate has been made of the number of deaths related to climate change in each county in England (HL14056).
The ONS published Climate-related mortality, England and Wales: 1988 to 20221 in 2023. This release used climate and mortality data from 1988 to 2022 to analyse temperature-related mortality in England and Wales. The analysis estimates the relative risk, numbers and rates of death per 100,000 population associated with changing temperatures, based on a statistical model. Publication of updated estimates based on an enhanced statistical model and including data up to 2025 is provisionally planned for mid-2026.
Data is available for each English region and for Wales. However, data is not available by individual county in England.
Yours sincerely,
Darren Tierney
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider social media influencers who promote consumer products through paid, sponsored or affiliate content to be economic operators; and whether they plan to use powers under the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 to regulate promotion by influencers of unsafe or non-compliant products.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 contains provisions that ensure the full breadth of supply chain actors can be captured appropriately by regulations. This includes social media influencers where they are carrying out activities in relation to a product. This allows Government to introduce obligations on actors that are proportionate to those actors’ level of control in supply chains.
As announced at Budget, Government will consult in early 2026 on major reforms to the product safety legislative framework to ensure that it reflects the realities of modern products and supply chains.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in youth gambling participation, including the rise in unregulated gambling reported in the Young People and Gambling Survey 2025; and what further protections they will put in place for those aged 11–17.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Young People and Gambling Survey 2025 identified an increase in youth participation in gambling from 27% to 30% compared to the previous year. This appears to have been driven by an increase in unregulated betting, such as between friends and family (from 15% to 18%).
As part of the gambling statutory levy, we have committed 20% to gambling harm research, which may include assessments of youth gambling participation. This is alongside 30% of levy funding for prevention activities, commissioned by the Office for Health Inequalities and Disparities (OHID), which may include education or awareness raising programmes to help protect those aged 11-17 from gambling related harm. We will continue to monitor the best available evidence when considering possible policy interventions under regulations as set out in the Gambling Act 2005.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with Ofcom regarding the regulation of gambling content and advertising online for young people, including the interaction of those regulations with the framework set out in the Online Safety Act 2023.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Gambling is regulated by the Gambling Commission under the Gambling Act 2005. Rules on gambling advertising content are regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority. Gambling advertising is not covered under the Online Safety Act, and as such no discussions with Ofcom have taken place.
The Government recognises that more work needs to be done to ensure that gambling advertising does not exacerbate harm. We engage regularly with stakeholders across government and with industry, to ensure the most vulnerable are protected.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have received specific proposals from (1) the Sustainable Energy Association, and (2) the Green Building Council, about ways to promote and fund domestic energy efficiency; and if so, what consideration they have given to those proposals.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As part of the development of the Warm Homes Plan, the Department has engaged with a broad range of stakeholders through a variety of different fora to ensure a wide range of views were considered.
On 8 December 2025 Minister McCluskey met with the Chief Executive of the Sustainable Energy Association Dave Sowden to listen to their proposals for decarbonising homes. The Department has also corresponded with a number of other industry groups, academics, think-tanks and other representatives, including the UK Green Building Council. These proposals have been considered as part of the policy development process.
The recently published Warm Homes Plan is the biggest investment in home upgrades ever, with £15 billion of investment to cut energy bills, bring households out of fuel poverty, increase our energy security and make our homes warmer and more efficient.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of (1) national nature reserves, (2) marine conservation zones, (3) special protection areas, and (4) Ramsar sites, are in a favourable condition in each county in England.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Data on National Nature Reserves, terrestrial Special Protection Areas (SPAs), and Ramsar sites is included in the spreadsheet attached. Due to terrestrial SPAs being considered at low-tide there is an overlap between these reported figures and the SPAs with marine components.
Data on SPAs with marine components and on Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) is collected at feature level rather than by county, as the majority of sites are at sea and therefore often fall outside county jurisdiction. Within English waters, there are 89 MCZs (excluding HPMAs) covering 625 features, and 49 marine SPAs covering 208 features. The latest data from Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee indicates that 64.8% of English MCZs features and 19.7% of English marine SPA features are considered to be in favourable condition.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to publish an assessment of the trial use of live facial recognition in immigration enforcement in November; and whether it will be used or trialled again for immigration enforcement purposes before the close of the consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Immigration Enforcement carried out two live facial recognition deployments in collaboration with South Wales Police and Greater Manchester Police. The Department are reviewing these operations and considering the next steps. The results of these deployments are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why staff are "strongly advised" in the Immigration Enforcement Live Facial Recognition Policy Document published in November to refer to that document rather than being required to do so.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Immigration Enforcement live facial recognition policy document was based on standard police guidance. However, we can confirm that during operational deployments it was made clear to relevant Home Office members of staff that adherence to the agreed-upon policies and processes was mandatory.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many residential properties have had energy efficiency measures installed under the Government policies then in place for each year from 2015 to 2024; and how many are projected to have such measures installed under current policies for each year from 2025 to 2030.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government publishes monthly delivery data on Gov.UK. The information sought regarding delivery of the ECO4 scheme can be found in the attached pdf and at
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/household-energy-efficiency-national-statistics.
To the end of September 2025 there were around 101,500 meaures installed in 49,400 households under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. A summary of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund statistic can be found in the below table:
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund:
Wave and Period (to end September 2025) | Wave 1 (2021-23) | Wave 2.1 (2023-26) | Wave 2.2 (2024-2026) |
Properties Upgraded | Up to 20,000 properties upgraded | 62,800 measures in 30,000 households | 7,100 measures in 3,300 households |
More information is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-statistics-november-2025/summary-of-the-social-housing-decarbonisation-fund-statistics-november-2025.
Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery (LAD) and Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) was released in November 2025 and can be found in the second attached file. Delivery under the current Warm Homes: Local Grant and Social Housing Fund is currently ongoing and in progress.
Over this parliament the government plans to upgrade up to 5 million homes and cut energy bills for good.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor and regulate the use of personalised algorithms and targeted advertising by online gambling platforms.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All gambling operators in the UK must comply with robust advertising codes, which are enforced by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) independently of Government. These codes apply across all advertising platforms, including online and social media. The codes are regularly reviewed and updated and DCMS regularly engages with the ASA to discuss these changes and the impact of the regulations.
All operators in the UK are also required to comply with the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice, which includes new provisions relating to direct marketing and socially responsible promotions. The impact of these measures will be assessed in due course.
We engage with a range of stakeholders and other regulators, such as the ICO, to understand whether more can be done to further raise standards in this area, particularly on online platforms.