Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to answer Question 26883.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 9 September to PQ UIN 26883.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many deaths were attributable to ozone, fine particular matter (PM2.5) and PM10 during each of the heatwaves between May and August 2026 inclusive.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) estimates that the mortality burden of air pollution is linked to 29,000-43,000 deaths annually. The ONS does not produce estimates of the number of deaths attributable to ozone, PM2.5 or PM10 during specific heatwave periods.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to answer Question 25949.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A reply is being prepared and will be issued as soon as possible.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what level of rainfall above which a water company such as Southern Water has been permitted by the Environment Agency to discharge storm sewage.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is no fixed rainfall threshold for a storm overflow to discharge. Storm overflows may only operate as permitted, with compliance assessed case-by-case against site-specific rainfall, flow and network conditions.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) press releases on high air pollution episodes and (b) high air pollution alerts her Department sent to news media and weather desks in each of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
To raise awareness of episodes, the Department collaborates with specific organisations like the Met Office and UKHSA. The Department continues to explore opportunities to broaden reach.v
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether consideration was given to sending press releases to news media and weather reporters before each of the following ozone episodes: a) 25 and 27 May, b) 25 June, c) 9 July, and d) 13 and 14 August.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We work closely with the Met Office, UKHSA and the third sector during pollution episodes, and are exploring greater engagement with the media and broadcast meteorologists to incorporate air quality information into weather reporting.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the latest indicative estimate is for the calendar year in which the UK will comply fully with the National Emissions Ceilings Regulations 2019 obligation for each regulated pollutant.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra produces projections of future emissions in five-year increments from 2025 to 2050. These are not predictions, and so only include firm and funded government policies and assume external factors effecting emissions such as the economy, weather and so on remain stable. These projections are available here: https://naei.energysecurity.gov.uk/air-pollutants/air-pollutant-emissions-data.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the table with health advice for each band of the Daily Air Quality Index was removed from the DEFRA UK AIR webpage; and for what reason.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table setting out health advice for each band of the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) was removed from the UK-AIR DAQI webpage in December 2025 as part of the ongoing migration of air quality information from UK-AIR to newer digital services.
The change was made to improve the accessibility, usability and maintenance of air quality information, it occurred in parallel with updates to the DAQI health advice based on advice made by Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) to the Air Quality Information System (AQIS) review, ensuring that the information provided to the public reflects the latest clinical evidence.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people signed up to her Department's email air quality alerts in each calendar month from September 2025 to August 2026 inclusive.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The data for the Check Air Quality Alerts Service is shown below:
Month | Unique area subscriptions - Email |
June 2026 | 89 |
July 2026 | 59 |
Aug 2026 | 525 |
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
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 merits of aligning air quality index bands of Moderate, High, and Very High with those of other public health warnings such as the Yellow, Amber, and Red used by the Health Security Agency in their Heat-health Alert service.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of clear and consistent public health communications. Recent evaluation of the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) concluded the DAQI was well understood by the majority of surveyed users, this has been validated by user testing undertaken as part of the development of the new GOV.UK air quality webservices. The evaluation recommended some improvements to the DAQI, including updates to the associated health advice and clearer contextual information which have been incorporated into the ongoing webservice improvements.
Any future consideration of changes to the DAQI including band names, colours or warning terminology would need to be supported by appropriate scientific and medical evidence and informed by user research, including testing how different approaches affect public understanding and action.