Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made with her international counterparts on updating (a) the Gothenburg Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone and (b) other United Nations Economic Commission for Europe requirements on transboundary air pollution.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is working with our partners and other Parties within the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution to update and future-proof the 2012 amended Gothenburg Protocol to further reduce the effects of transboundary air pollution.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with international counterparts on the protection of Christian women in Chibok, Nigeria.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK condemns violence against civilians of all religions in Nigeria and regularly raises freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) with the Nigerian government. For example, on 11 November, the Minister for International Development and Africa discussed the importance of FoRB and the causes of intercommunal violence during a meeting with Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar. The UK remains committed to defending FoRB globally, with Nigeria a focus country under the new FoRB strategy.

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 17 April 2025 to Question 45555 on Nitrogen Dioxide: Pollution Control, which local (a) monitoring and (b) modelling as part of the Local Air Quality Management process showed measurements in 2024 above 40ug/m3 within a 10-mile radius of Heathrow.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local authorities are expected to publish their Annual Status Reports on their own websites, detailing their assessments of the air quality objectives.

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 UIN 39815, which (a) cities, (b) towns, (c) agglomeration zones and (d) non-agglomeration zones in which reporting zones in (i) England, (ii) Northern Ireland, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Wales exceeded the nitrogen dioxide annual mean limit value in 2024; and by which year they are expected to become compliant.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The results of the UK’s air quality assessment for 2024 are published online on the UK-Air website (https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/).

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 8 July 2025 to UIN 63555, which localised hotspots in which reporting zone in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales are delaying compliance with the nitrogen dioxide annual limit value beyond 2024.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local authorities are expected to publish the data from their locally managed nitrogen dioxide measurement networks on their websites. Data from Defra-managed networks is published annually online at UK-Air as part of the national compliance assessment.

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 16 July 2025 to UIN 66132, what progress she has made on further policies to tackle ammonia emissions to help reduce the risk to the 2030 target.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK is compliant with the UK’s statutory reduction target for ammonia emissions, which has applied since 2020. The latest projections show that further action is needed to meet the UK’s ammonia reduction for 2030.

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 a new Clean Air Strategy.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government will continue to take the action needed to ensure everyone has cleaner air to breathe. The next review of our statutory Air Quality Strategy is due to be completed by mid-2028.

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 16 July 2025 to UIN 66131, which (a) local authorities and (b) Metro Mayors have not published local plans to achieve compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I refer the Rt Hon. Member to the reply previously given on 16 July 2025, PQ UIN 66131.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to publish the revised Environmental Improvement Plan.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Tamworth on 17 March 2025, UIN 37341.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to (a) revoke Environment Act 1995 Air Quality Directions and (b) introduce further directions to (i) achieve compliance with nitrogen dioxide limit values and (ii) avoid future exceedances.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Existing Directions under the Environment Act 1995 relating to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceedances are revoked once the local authority area concerned has successfully demonstrated that compliance with legal limit levels for NO2 has been achieved, and that compliance will be maintained.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what localised hotspots for exceedances of the nitrogen dioxide annual limit value have been identified by which Air Quality Annual Status Report in each reporting zone in 2024.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local authorities are expected to publish their Annual Status Reports detailing exceedances of the air quality objectives on their own websites. Annual limit values under the Air Quality Standards Regulation 2010 are assessed separately to the Annual Status Report process.

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 (a) the eligibility of virtual fencing technology under existing agricultural support schemes in England, such as Farming in Protected Landscapes and (b) its potential merits in promoting environmental improvements, biodiversity gains, and animal welfare benefits.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has funded virtual fencing technology projects through the Farming in Protected Landscape Programme which are helping to deliver our environmental targets in Protected Landscapes.

Defra does not currently offer funding for virtual fencing technology under other schemes. We will keep the matter under review when considering future grants offers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support farmer uptake of innovative tools such as virtual fencing.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has funded virtual fencing technology projects through the Farming in Protected Landscape Programme which are helping to deliver our environmental targets in Protected Landscapes.

Defra does not currently offer funding for virtual fencing technology under other schemes. We will keep the matter under review when considering future grants offers.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has considered aligning agricultural support in England with the approach taken in Scotland, where virtual fencing systems are eligible under the Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS), in order to ensure consistency for farmers and crofters across the UK.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has funded virtual fencing technology projects through the Farming in Protected Landscape Programme which are helping to deliver our environmental targets in Protected Landscapes.

Defra does not currently offer funding for virtual fencing technology under other schemes. We will keep the matter under review when considering future grants offers.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many deaths in (a) England, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) Scotland and (d) Wales were attributable to (i) alcoholism, (ii) obesity, (iii) air pollution and (iv) smoking in the latest year for which data is available.

Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 18th November is attached.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to review (a) restrictions on the use of virtual fencing technology under the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme and (b) the eligibility criteria for the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme is due to end March 2026 and decisions on the future of the programme have not yet been made. The FiPL eligibility criteria for virtual fencing technology protects the highest standards of animal welfare and targets limited programme funding to priority environmental outcomes in Protected Landscapes. There are no plans to review the current approach.

Following the outcome of the Spending Review, we are continuing work to simplify and rationalise our grant funding from 2026 onwards, ensuring that grants are targeted towards those who need them most and where they can deliver the most benefit.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of spirits duty rates on the competitiveness of UK pubs comparted to pubs in Europe.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.

At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to maintain its current real-terms value.

An assessment of the impacts of decisions taken by the Chancellor at each Budget is published within the relevant Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN). The TIIN for the inflation-linked uprating announced at the most recent Budget is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts

There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940.

HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of inflation-linked duty increases on the on-trade in each of the last three years.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.

At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to maintain its current real-terms value.

An assessment of the impacts of decisions taken by the Chancellor at each Budget is published within the relevant Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN). The TIIN for the inflation-linked uprating announced at the most recent Budget is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts

There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940.

HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data she holds on spirits duty revenue generated from pubs in (a) rural areas and (b) urban areas.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.

At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to maintain its current real-terms value.

An assessment of the impacts of decisions taken by the Chancellor at each Budget is published within the relevant Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN). The TIIN for the inflation-linked uprating announced at the most recent Budget is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts

There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940.

HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs.

Tenth anniversary of Storm Desmond

Postal workers and Royal Mail staff

Winter NHS corridor care

National inquiry into child sexual exploitation

Buying community energy locally

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025