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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding has been allocated from the public purse to local authorities to support steps to establish air quality plans.

The Government is requiring local authorities where persistent exeedances of nitrogen dioxide concentrations have been identified to produce local air quality plans to reduce the pollution in the fastest possible time. We are helping them by providing £255 million to develop and implement their plans. In addition we will be establishing a Clean Air Fund, which will allow local authorities to bid for additional money to support the implementation of measures to improve air quality. This funding is over and above the £2.7 billion we are already investing to support air quality improvements.