Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible families were in receipt of Healthy Start in Brighton Pavilion constituency on 9 June 2025.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start and does not currently hold data on the number of people eligible for Healthy Start. The NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies. The table below shows the number of people on the digital scheme in the relevant local authorities as of 23 May 2025:
Local authority | Number of people on the digital scheme |
Blackpool | 1,434 |
City of Bristol | 2,778 |
County of Herefordshire | 736 |
Southampton | 1,677 |
Worthing | 348 |
Brighton and Hove | 1,041 |
East Suffolk | 1,129 |
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the installation of wood burning stoves in newbuild homes on levels of public health.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognises that the use of solid fuel appliances in domestic settings is a major source of air pollution and is committed to cleaning up our air and protecting public health by developing a series of interventions to reduce emissions so everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced. That is why the government has launched a rapid review of the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) to make sure it is fit for purpose to deliver legally binding targets to improve air quality. We published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025, to be followed by publication of a revised EIP later this year. As part of the EIP, we are developing a series of intervention to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), including from domestic combustion.
Legislation is currently in place to restrict the sale of the most polluting fuels used in domestic burning. This includes restrictions on the sale of small volumes of wet wood for domestic burning; limits on the emission of sulphur and smoke from manufactured solid fuels; and phasing out the sale of bituminous coal (traditional house coal). These regulations aim to move people to cleaner fuels: from wet wood to dry wood, and from traditional house coal to smokeless coal and low sulphur manufactured solid fuels, resulting in lower particulate matter emissions.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
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 in the UK have signed up to receive air pollution alerts from UK-AIR; and what mechanisms he is using to monitor the effectiveness of the air quality alert system at (a) reaching the intended audience and (b) meeting its other goals.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
450 people are currently signed up to receive air pollution alerts from UK Air. Metrics to monitor the effectiveness of the new system are being considered as part of the design process.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will include PM2.5 in the UK Air quality alerts.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
PM2.5 is one of the pollutants already included in the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI). The department is currently in the process of making improvements to our air quality alert system to more closely align to the DAQI
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) powers and (b) funding available to local authorities to enforce smoke control areas.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra continues to support local authorities who have declared or are exploring declaring smoke control areas.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
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 26 March 2025 to Question 39813 on Air Pollution, whether the discussions his Department is having with the Met Office on areas for improvement includes the Air Quality Information Systems Review recommendation to review, update and expand the existing alert systems.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department is engaging with the Met Office to deliver improvements to the pollution forecasts and alerts service.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people who do not (a) sign up to receive alerts and (b) actively check the UK-AIR website are alerted to high air pollution events.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department has begun work to develop, test and launch a new air quality alert system which will make it easier for the public to sign up to receive alerts when high levels of pollution are expected.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on the cost to the public purse of gifts given by (a) the King and (b) other members of the Royal Family in their official roles since 2020.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The public cost of gifts made by His Majesty The King and other members of the Royal Family in their official roles is covered by the Sovereign Grant, with the cost of any gifts made in relation to official international engagements recharged to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and appropriate assurance arrangements are in place.
The Royal Household is responsible for the day-to-day operations and management of The Sovereign Grant, and therefore the Treasury does not hold information requested. The Sovereign Grant is audited by the Independent National Audit Office as part of its audit of the Sovereign Grant annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the Air Quality Information Systems Review recommendation 4 on raising public awareness of (a) air pollution, (b) the associated health impacts and (c) how people can protect themselves.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following publication of the Air Quality Information Systems (AQIS) Review final report and recommendations on 6 March 2025, we are working closely with the UK Health Security Agency and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to improve public awareness of air pollution and the associated health impacts.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs is currently developing a new air quality web service which embeds the communication principles recommended in the AQIS review. The new service will provide clearer and more relevant information to the public about air pollution, its associated health impacts and actions people can take to protect themselves.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many air pollution alerts were issued between March 2024 and March 2025 by his Department's UK-AIR alerts when thresholds within Air Quality Standards Regulations (2010) were exceeded; on which dates; and how many unique visitors accessed the Daily Air Quality Index forecast webpage during that period.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Air pollution alerts are issued when thresholds within the Air Quality Standards Regulations (2010) for Ozone, Sulphur Dioxide or Nitrogen Dioxide are exceeded. The last time one of these alerts was issued was September 2023. ~ 2000 unique visitors accessed the DAQI during that alert.
Visitors to UK Air can also sign up to receive email bulletins providing a summary of the last hour or 24 hour’s air quality measurement data; daily updated forecasts of UK air pollution concentrations and notifications if the Alert Threshold in an Air Quality Daughter Directive is exceeded.