Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the consequences for his policies of the long-term (a) health impact of air pollution and (b) cost of treatments in the NHS associated with such pollution.

Air pollution has a significant effect on people’s health and poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the United Kingdom. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants has estimated that long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK has an annual effect equivalent to 29,000 to 43,000 deaths.

Between 2017 and 2025 the total cost to the national health service and social care from air pollution in England has been estimated, by Public Health England, to be £1.6 billion for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) combined where there is robust evidence for an association between exposure and disease; where the evidence is less robust the estimated cost is £2.81 billion for PM2.5 and £2.75 billion for NO2.

Implementation of the Government’s policies to improve air quality will therefore support better health and help mitigate demand for health and care services.