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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a stand-alone Clean Air Act.

HM Government does not consider that a new Clean Air Act would add any benefit to our comprehensive existing air quality legal framework, which already allows us the powers and capability we need to make effective interventions to drive down air pollution.

This includes the Environment Act 2021, under which we have consulted on two new targets for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) - the pollutant most harmful to human health. The primary focus of our new targets is to drive improvements to public health.