Found: questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-05-19/185874/ UIN 185868 tabled on 19 May 2023 about Schools

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that children in school are not exposed to high levels of air pollution.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department has published the Building Bulletin 101, which provides non-statutory guidance on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings.

Local outdoor air quality is the responsibility of local authorities who should prepare air quality action plans to ensure the level of pollutants is reduced. In January 2019, the government published the Clean Air Strategy setting out plans to deal with all sources of pollution. This is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-air-strategy-2019.

Guidance on good estate management for ventilation in schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/good-estate-management-for-schools/health-and-safety.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 24 May 2023 to Question 185868 on Air Pollution: Schools, whether she has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the minimum filter class from BS EN 13779.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department’s guidance, ‘Building Bulletin 101: Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality’, refers to BS EN 13779 (Ventilation for non-residential buildings: performance requirements for ventilation and room-conditioning systems) as additional guidance specifically on filtration, which describes how minimum filtration classes can be applied to schools.

BS EN 13779 is owned by the British Standards Institute and the department has not made any specific tests in relation to this standard.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to next update the guidance entitled BB 101: Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality 2018, published on 23 August 2018.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The advice in ‘Building Bulletin 101: Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality’ remains current. The Department has no plans to update this guidance at this time.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to provide teachers and parents with air quality information next to schools.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

To improve public awareness about air quality around schools, English councils can apply for funding from Defra's Air Quality Grant. In 2023, 13 local authorities received almost £2.5 million for air quality information projects that included a focus on schools.

The Government’s Gear Change Plan 2020 includes the School Streets and Walk to School Outreach Programme, which continues to support safe active travel, change behaviour and reduce congestion around schools.

Since 2017, Defra has also funded the Clean Air Day - the UK’s biggest air pollution public awareness campaign. Through this campaign a wide range of resources are available for schools to use, designed to help people learn more about the actions they can take to reduce their exposure and contribution to air pollution.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps to reduce (a) nitrogen oxide levels and (b) particulate matter where particles are less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) in the vicinity of primary and secondary schools.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Local Authorities have responsibility for managing the local road networks including around schools. Through our local air quality grant, local authorities can bid for funding to take forward projects in their area. Previous projects under this grant have included anti-idling campaigns around schools alongside behaviour change campaigns to raise awareness of air quality issues.

Through our ongoing review of the Air Quality Strategy, we are considering how best to support local authorities to take action to improve air quality in their areas in a strategic way.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to fund a) air pollution monitors and b) air purification systems for schools in areas where air pollution levels exceed WHO guideline limits.

Answered by Jonathan Gullis

The Department is not currently planning to fund air quality monitors or fund additional air cleaning units for schools in areas where air pollution levels exceed World Health Organisation guideline limits. More information on the number of air cleaning units delivered to schools with poor ventilation can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/delivery-of-air-cleaning-units

The Department has published guidance in the Building Bulletin 101 (BB101), which provides guidelines on indoor and outdoor air quality in new and refurbished schools: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings(opens in a new tab). BB101 guidance promotes best practice in controlling pollutants and setting maximum standards for levels of pollutants in indoors.

Outdoor air quality is the responsibility of local authorities who should prepare air quality action plans to ensure the level of pollutants is reduced. In January 2019, the Government published the Clean Air Strategy setting out plans to deal with all sources of pollution.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help support local authorities mitigate the impact of air pollution at schools where recorded levels are higher than WHO guideline limits.

Answered by Will Quince

The department has published guidance in the Building Bulletin 101 (BB101), which provides guidelines on indoor and outdoor air quality in new and refurbished schools: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-101-ventilation-for-school-buildings. BB101 guidance promotes best practice in controlling pollutants and setting maximum standards for levels of pollutants in indoors.

Outdoor air quality is the responsibility of local authorities who should prepare air quality action plans to ensure the level of pollutants is reduced. In January 2019, the government published the Clean Air Strategy setting out plans to deal with all sources of pollution.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make changes to (1) standards, or (2) guidance, for the (a) construction, and (b) specification, of new school buildings, in respect of either (i) classroom ventilation, or (ii) air purification, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Schools should always create a healthy indoor environment for occupants, this includes keeping spaces ventilated to reduce the concentration of pathogens in the air, such as COVID-19. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the department have emphasised the importance of ventilation and provided guidance to settings on ventilation requirements.

In 2018, the department published Building Bulletin 100, guidance for school design on ventilation, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality. This includes the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines and Air Quality Standards Regulation 2010 for indoor air quality. The full publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bulletin-100-design-for-fire-safety-in-schools.

Furthermore, the department sets environmental standards for centrally delivered new schools and sets a minimum specification for ventilation to address healthy indoor air quality.

The current version was updated recently and published in November 2021. This can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/output-specification-generic-design-brief-and-technical-annexes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on their trial in Bradford of air purification technology suitable for classroom contexts.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The study of air cleaning units in primary schools, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, is run by the class-ACT (air cleaning technology) consortium and led by the Centre for Applied Educational Research at the University of Leeds.

The trial has provided valuable informal interim feedback on the practicalities of introducing ACT in schools. These interim findings have been published by the Class-ACT consortium as a 10-step guide for schools, published in the Times Educational Supplement on 27 January. This article can be found here: https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/covid-schools-ventilation-10-step-guide-using-air-cleaning-units.

The study of air cleaning technologies is still ongoing, findings are planned to be published in late 2022.