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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets its targets on air quality.

The UK meets all legal air quality obligations, except for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentration limit values at the roadside, and the latest UK compliance data in 2019 shows an improvement since 2018.

The Government published the UK plan for tackling roadside NO₂ concentrations in July 2017, followed by a supplement in October 2018. The plan and supplement set out how the Government will achieve compliance with legal limits for NO₂ in the shortest possible time, supported by a £3.8 billion investment into air quality and cleaner transport.

In January 2019, the Government also published a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy, which aims to cut air pollution across all sectors and sits alongside the 2017 plan. This strategy sets out the comprehensive action required across all areas of government and society to reduce air pollution and meet our ambitious air pollutant emission targets for 2020 and 2030.

The Environment Bill delivers key parts of the Clean Air Strategy and will enable and drive more effective action to improve air quality.