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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve air quality in Sutton Coldfield.

Air quality is a threat to public health and more needs to be done to improve it. That is why we have put in place a £3.5 billion plan to reduce harmful emissions from road transport, and published the Clean Air Strategy which focuses on broader emissions beyond road transport and which aims to cut air pollution and save lives.

Local authorities are responsible for reviewing and assessing local air quality and must take action in the event of exceedances in pollution concentration limits. The Environment Bill includes measures to improve air quality which will ensure that local authorities have a clear framework, and simple to use powers, to tackle air pollution.

The Government is taking a strong national leadership role in improving air quality and provides financial and expert support to local authorities to develop innovative plans to tackle local air pollution. Defra and the Department for Transport’s Joint Air Quality Unit has been working with local authorities including Birmingham City Council to tackle nitrogen dioxide exceedances.