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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the study published in Nature Communications on 17 September 2019, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the presence of sooty carbon particles in the placentas of pregnant women caused by polluted air.

Although the Secretary of State (SoS) for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not had any recent discussions with the SoS of the Department of Health and Social Care on the presence of sooty carbon particles in the placentas of pregnant women caused by polluted air, Defra officials work closely with counterparts across Government Departments to ensure policies to improve air quality are joined up, to reduce the impacts of air pollution on human health and the environment.

Our Clean Air Strategy focussed on delivering national emissions commitments to reduce the emission of five key pollutants (including PM2.5) by 2030 and committed to the setting of a new ambitious long-term target to reduce concentrations of PM2.5.

In addition, our landmark Environment Bill builds on this ambition and includes a duty to set an ambitious legally binding target to reduce fine particulate matter, the pollutant that causes the greatest harm to human health.