Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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/).
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
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.