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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce air pollution in (a) Liverpool and (b) other cities.

As a result of the 2017 NO₂ Plan and 2018 supplement, 61 local authorities including Liverpool have been required to assess what action is needed to address NO₂ exceedances in their area and develop local plans. The Government is committed to improving air quality in the UK and have provided £572 million to support the development and implementation of required measures by these local authorities.

Liverpool City Council submitted a final plan to deliver compliance with legal limits for NO₂ in the form of an Outline Business Case in October last year. We continue to work with the Council to ensure their final plan delivers compliance with legal NO₂ limit levels in the shortest possible time.

Our Clean Air Strategy (CAS) sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollutant emissions from a wide range of sources. The World Health Organization has recognised the CAS as an example for the rest of the world to follow. Our Environment Bill was reintroduced to Parliament on 30 January 2020 and makes a clear commitment to set an ambitious target for fine particulate matter, the pollutant of most concern for human health. It also ensures that local authorities have a clear framework and simple to use powers to tackle air pollution in their areas, and will provide the Government with new powers to enforce environmental standards for vehicles. All this action will improve air quality across the UK, including in the most affected areas