Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2023 to Question 183301 on Air Pollution: Death, if he will provide (a) a worked calculation and (b) weblinks to references to show how the number of deaths attributable to nitrogen dioxide in 2019 was calculated.

The most recent estimates, in 2019, of mortality burden associated with air pollution are published in the UK Health Security Agency Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report (2022), which is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1083447/CHaPR_AQ_Special_Edition_2206116.pdf

The methodology used to calculate burden estimates, including nitrogen dioxide, is described in the article ‘Updated mortality burden estimates attributable to air pollution’ in the report and is based on the method described by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. ‘Associations of long-term average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide with mortality’ (2018) report is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrogen-dioxide-effects-on-mortality