Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the report from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology entitled Indoor Air Quality, published on 26 September 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes non-statutory guidance on indoor air quality in ‘Building Bulletin 101: Guidelines on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in school’ (BB101).
BB101 is regularly reviewed to ensure that it aligns with best practice and industry standards to deliver high-quality school environments. The department will assess the report of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) for any relevant new information.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what reviews he has undertaken on the adequacy of the Clean Air Act 1993 since the Review of the Clean Air Act Call for Evidence Summary of Responses, published in July 2014.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since the Review of the Clean Air Act Call for Evidence Summary of Responses was published, we have passed the Environment Act 2021.
This legislation updated our comprehensive legal framework, including by amending the Clean Air Act 1993. The Environmental Improvement Plan published in January 2023 sets out the further actions we will take to reduce emissions, including from domestic sources and industry.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure compliance with (a) legal limits and (b) targets for (i) benzo[a]pyrene, (ii) nickel, (iii) nitrogen dioxide, (iv) ozone and (v) particulate matter.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are delivering a wide range of actions to drive improvements to air quality:
We continually measure ambient concentrations of a wide range of air pollutants, including ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particles, hydrocarbons, and metallic pollutants at over 500 urban, suburban, roadside, industrial and rural locations throughout the UK. In September 2023 we published the Air Pollution in the UK 2022 report providing the most comprehensive and complete analytical picture of the UK’s air pollution during 2022, at Air Pollution in the UK report - Defra, UK.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 take steps to ensure that the report entitled Assessment of the effectiveness of measures under the Clean Air Act 1993, published on 20 July 2012, is updated to include (a) modern fuels and (b) technologies.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have no current plans to update the named report.
Through the Environment Act 2021, we updated our comprehensive legal framework, including by amending the Clean Air Act 1993. The Environmental Improvement Plan published in January 2023 sets out the further actions we will take to reduce emissions, including from domestic sources and industry.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the report from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology entitled Indoor Air Quality, published on 26 September 2023.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department takes note of the report.
The Department is aware of the impacts of domestic cooking appliances on indoor air quality. In particular, we are currently considering the impacts of potential updates to Ecodesign and energy labelling requirements for domestic cooking appliances, including the societal benefits of reduced asthma rates caused by an increased use of electric cooking appliances reducing amounts of NOx and small particulates in the home. The published report reinforces the importance of retaining these benefits as a key consideration in ongoing policy development in this area.
The Department is also a member of the cross-Government Working Group on indoor air quality which is led by Defra. We will continue to ensure that the Department is represented in that group.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to page 40 of Ventilation: Approved Document F of the Building Regulations 2010, published in June 2022, if he will update table B1 using the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines published in September 2021.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department has a wide and reforming programme to improve the quality and liveability of the housing stock within the United Kingdom. The Government’s policies have been set out and we will bring forward any new proposals in due course.
We welcome all contributions to the public debate on building quality, building use and building safety.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the interventions listed in section 6.2 of the UK Parliament POST brief entitled Indoor Air Quality, published on 26 September 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department has a wide and reforming programme to improve the quality and liveability of the housing stock within the United Kingdom. The Government’s policies have been set out and we will bring forward any new proposals in due course.
We welcome all contributions to the public debate on building quality, building use and building safety.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what guidance his Department provides to those participating in military exercises during episodes of high air pollution.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
As set out in Joint Service Publication (JSP) 375, Management of health and safety in Defence, military exercises must be risk assessed to identify and manage potential risks. The accountable person, who may be the commander or manager, must identify hazards and whether reasonable steps are being taken to prevent harm. This process is conducted prior to conducting military exercises and may be further refined during the exercise as part of a dynamic risk assessment.
In incidences where there is a risk of poor air quality, specific information on its prevention and mitigation are provided to all service personnel through Force Health Protection Instructions. In certain situations, deployment restrictions may be implemented for those deemed at greatest risk of poor air quality.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities data on D01 - Fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution (new method), if she will publish the annual number of deaths attributable to long term exposure to total concentrations of fine particulate matter for each year that data is available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The estimates for the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution, measured as PM2.5, are published every year. Data for 2022 will be published later this year. The fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution indicator represents the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged 30 and older attributed to PM2.5.
Annual numbers of deaths attributable to particulate air pollution are not calculated each year. The published estimate for England for 2019 was 26,000 to 38,000 deaths for adults aged 30 and over. For the United Kingdom, the published estimate for 2019 was 29,000 to 43,000 deaths for adults aged 30 and over.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) average and (b) longest time between application and a start date for recruiting a civil servant was in the last three years; and whether he is taking steps to reduce those times.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010 which outlines the requirements to ensure that Civil Servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition. The Civil Service must also ensure that detailed pre-employment checks (such as appropriate levels of security clearance) are carried out before employment can begin.
Information on the average time to hire across departments can be found in the recent National Audit Office report published on ‘Civil service workforce: Recruitment, pay and performance management', found here: https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/civil-service-workforce/
As set out in the Civil Service People Plan published on 10 January 2024, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds, to create a brilliant Civil Service now, and for the future.
We must modernise the ways we recruit, speed up and simplify the process and improve the candidate experience without compromising on quality or fairness. We must also continue to expand the use of secondments and other direct entry routes (including the Fast Stream and apprenticeships), ensuring they are properly embedded in the skills and resourcing strategies of all departments and professions.
The Cabinet Office is introducing a set of consistent and comparable Civil Service recruitment measures and benchmarks which will be implemented across the Whitehall 17 departments. This will give greater transparency of metrics across the recruitment cycle.