Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential link between dementia and air pollution.

The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), an expert committee of the Department, has evaluated the evidence between cognitive decline and dementia risk in adults and exposure to ambient air pollution. It concluded that it is likely that air pollution contributes to these effects through the circulation. It is known that air pollutants, particularly small particles, can affect the heart and blood vessels, including to the brain.

Recommendations have been made for further research which COMEAP believes would develop the evidence on this topic.