Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to seek new nominations for another round of mid-tier Access for All funding.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Spending Review 2025 confirmed £280m total funding for the Access for All programme over a four-year period. Our focus is on delivering full step free access at stations, rather than the smaller scale upgrades previously delivered under the mid-tier. As such, we have no current plans to fund a future round of mid-tier projects.

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 introduce a pollution risk costing model for Windermere based on Environment Agency modelling of other mainly coastal designated bathing sites.

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

The Environment Agency currently provides pollution forecasting at 171 coastal sites and is exploring the feasibility of providing a forecast for inland sites.

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 a different classification system for lake ecosystems.

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

In the Bathing Water Regulations 2013, ‘Schedule 5, classification’ shows there are already different standards for inland waters and for coastal and transitional waters when measuring E coli and intestinal enterococci. This means there are varying classifications of water quality thresholds depending on pathogen levels in place at different locations, recognising the distinct natural characteristics and hydrodynamics that exist in different water environments.

The SI that was laid 28 October and due to come into force 21 November this year will not change this.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of current sampling coverage at designated bathing-water sites.

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

The Environment Agency (EA) monitors all designated bathing waters above the minimum monthly frequency requirement of the Bathing Water Regulations during the bathing water season. Most sites are sampled weekly, in line with the World Health Organisation’s recommendations to reduce misclassification risk. Data is published on the EA’s Swimfo bathing waters website, ensuring bathers can make informed decisions.

On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament an SI which incorporates reforms to modernise the Bathing Water Regulations. Core reform 3 comes into force 21 November, introducing the discretion to determine a different bathing season for a site where appropriate, allowing locally tailored bathing seasons that reflect their use.

We are working with the EA on a pre-implementation research project, where we will consult with stakeholders to ensure we have considered all the relevant factors. The outcome will be set out in public guidance to be published in due course.

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 allocate funding to ensure that bathing-water sampling in Lake Windermere takes place year-round rather than seasonally.

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

On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament a Statutory Instrument which incorporates reforms to modernise the Bathing Water Regulations. Core reform 3, which is due to come into force 21 November, introduces discretion to determine a different bathing season for a site where appropriate, allowing more flexible, locally tailored bathing seasons that reflect when people use the site.

We are working with the Environment Agency (EA) on a pre-implementation research project which will consult with stakeholders to ensure we have considered all the relevant factors. The outcome of this project will be set out in public guidance that will be published in due course.

Currently, the EA samples regularly throughout the season and this will continue with any bathing site extensions under core reform 3. This data is published regularly on the EA’s Swimfo bathing waters website ensuring the public can make an informed decision before entering the water.

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 publish updated guidance on incorporating (a) blue-green algae and (b) other additional public health factors into bathing-water quality assessments.

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

The purpose of the Regulations is to ensure the protection of public health through the use of monitoring and classifications. Bathing waters are one of the most visible ways in which the public interacts with the water environment and so it is critical that appropriate regulations meet the needs of water users and those involved with managing bathing water sites.

On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament an SI which incorporates reforms to modernise the Bathing Water Regulations. Coming into effect on 21 November 2025, these reforms include the scope to extend the bathing and monitoring season from 21 November 2025. We will continue to evaluate environmental and societal impacts of future reforms and engage stakeholders as we move to implementation.

Current guidelines on Environment Agency and Local Authority roles during pollution incidents, including blue-green algae, remain valid.

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 publish a review comparing UK bathing-water (a) monitoring and (b) classification systems with international best practice.

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

Existing practices for monitoring and classification in the UK mirror the European Commission’s Bathing Water Directive which is based on the World Health Organisation’s recommendations for management of recreational waters.

Environment Agency (EA) monitoring also currently exceeds the minimum requirements of the Bathing Water Directive at all Bathing Waters.

The Government is committed to improving the quality of our coastal waters, rivers and lakes for the benefit of the environment and everyone who uses it. We are continually working to improve and modernise our bathing waters system and learn from best practice.

We laid an SI on 28 October, due to come into force on 21 November 2025 which introduces three core reforms and several technical amendments to the Bathing Water Regulations. These will bring legislation in line with modern sampling practices, allowing the EA to improve ways of working and improve delivery for the public.

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 allocate funding for the introduction of a (a) traffic-light system and (b) publicly accessible platform in the context of improving the communication of bathing-water results.

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

Swimfo, the Environment Agency’s (EA) bathing water quality website, provides details on over 450 bathing waters, classifications, pollution sources, and seasonal water quality results. From May to September, Swimfo posts daily forecasts for over 170 sites where water quality may be temporarily affected by factors like rainfall or tides, helping the public make informed choices quickly.

The EA is exploring redevelopment opportunities to enhance communication and service delivery. This will include working with the public and key stakeholders to understand their needs and preferences for future developments of the system. The EA have also introduced several stabilisation measures to reduce service disruptions and will continue to enhance the resilience of Swimfo ahead of the next bathing season.

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 take steps to increase spatial representation of sampling points around Lake Windermere including areas not currently designated as bathing-water locations.

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

The Environment Agency samples the designated bathing waters in Windermere according to the Bathing Water Regulations. Applications for new bathing water designations in Lake Windermere can be made to Defra if the criteria published on GOV.UK are met.

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 take steps to move away from multi-year averages and adopt a more real-time approach to reporting bathing-water quality data.

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

On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament an SI which incorporates reforms to modernise the Bathing Water Regulations. Core reform 3, due to come into force 21 November, introduces the discretion to determine a different bathing season for a site where appropriate, enabling flexible, locally tailored bathing seasons that reflect its use.

The Environment Agency (EA) sample throughout the season, and data is published regularly on the EA’s Swimfo bathing waters website ensuring the public can make an informed decision before entering the water. Where bathing water quality is not consistently excellent the EA makes pollution risk forecasts each day using an analysis of previous samples and notifies the public through the Swimfo website and on signage at the site in this event.

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 effectiveness of the current SwimFo system in helping the public understand bathing-water risks.

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

We know that local communities want to have a clear picture of water quality at popular bathing sites. The Environment Agency (EA) publishes sampling information during the bathing season on Swimfo to inform bathers of water quality and provide daily pollution risk warnings. This includes details on over 450 bathing waters, including classifications, pollution sources, and seasonal water quality results. Local Authorities use this information to provide bathing water quality information on physical signs at each bathing water.

The EA has introduced several stabilisation measures to reduce service disruptions and will continue to enhance the resilience of Swimfo ahead of the next bathing season. They are also exploring redevelopment opportunities to enhance its communication and improve its service delivery. This will include working with the public and key stakeholders to understand their needs and preferences for future developments of the system.

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 take steps to ensure that (a) people swimming away from the shoreline and (b) all other lake users are considered in future bathing-water monitoring strategies.

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

The Bathing Water Regulations 2025 were laid before Parliament on 28 October 2025 and come into force 21 November 2025. Defra is committed to working with local and national stakeholders as work progresses to implement these Regulations.

In the November – December 2024 consultation on bathing water reforms, views were also sought about further reforms to expand of the definition of ‘bathers’ to include other water users at both coastal and inland sites, and the use of multiple monitoring points at each bathing water site where useful to classify bathing water quality.

We are now exploring further research and policy development to determine how best to implement these reforms and consider any potential environmental and societal impacts. Defra will engage with local and national stakeholders as this work progresses.

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 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.

National inquiry into child sexual exploitation

Buying community energy locally

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025

Fly-tipping and illegal waste dumping by criminal gangs

Cumulative disruption proposals and the right to protest