Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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
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.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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
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.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department has spent on reducing air pollution in (a) Enfield North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Enfield in each of the last five years.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Mayor of London is responsible for air quality in the capital and has devolved powers under the Environment Act 1995 allowing him to require London boroughs to take action to address local air pollution. The provision of funding to tackle air pollution is also devolved to the Mayor of London.
Additionally, Defra’s annual Air Quality Grant is open to all English councils. Under the grant, councils can submit bids for projects to help them develop and implement locally targeted air quality measures. In 2023, London Borough of Enfield Council, which includes the Enfield North Constituency, received £223,500 to fund a project reducing pollution outside schools.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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
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.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish best practice initiatives to reduce air pollution around (a) schools, (b) health care centres and (c) residential areas.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Air Quality Strategy, published on 28 April 2023, is our strategic delivery framework for local authorities and other partners. A range of best practice initiatives to reduce air pollution are highlighted.
To further facilitate the sharing of information and lessons learned between local authorities, Defra has also funded the AQ Hub, where air quality professionals can upload case studies and connect on specific issues of relevance.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the impact of air quality on the health and wellbeing of people under the age of 18.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the United Kingdom. Children are more vulnerable to the effects from air pollution exposure than adults due to their incomplete lung development, high physical activity and breathing rates, as well as lower height which increases exposure to traffic pollution.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has studied children’s exposure to air pollution in outdoor school environments in England. In 2017, around one third of schools in England, representing around 3.4 million pupils, were located in areas with fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exceeding the World Health Organization’s previous guideline of PM2.5 of 10 µg/m3.
Long-term exposure to air pollution can suppress lung function growth in children. Children can be at risk from respiratory problems such as wheezing, asthma and respiratory infections, and reduced cognitive performance.
UKHSA has a Clean Air Programme which aims to reduce people’s exposure to air pollution, particularly the most vulnerable groups, including children. A copy of UKHSA’s ‘Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report’ of June 2022 is available at the following link:
Asked by: James Daly (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) Greater Manchester Combined Authority or (b) any other councils within that Combined Authority (i) applied for and (ii) secured funding through the Air Quality Grant scheme 2022-23.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra did not receive or accept any applications from Greater Manchester Combined Authority or any councils within the combined authority as part of the Air Quality Grant scheme 2022-23.
79 applications were received from councils for this year’s scheme. 44 applicants were provided with funding totalling £10.7 million, which is helping them to develop and implement measures to benefit schools, businesses and communities and reduce the impact of air pollution on people’s health. Examples include supporting programmes that will educate doctors, nurses and social care workers about air quality; support for an e-cargo bike library helping local businesses in Norfolk to cut operating costs while lowering their emissions; and data collection to develop and deliver a traffic management plan that will reduce congestion and improve traffic flow across Derbyshire.
The air quality grant scheme sits alongside a further£883 million made available as part of the government’s NO2 Plan to support local authorities in cleaning up transport and cutting levels of nitrogen dioxide down to legal levels in the shortest possible time.
Under the 2017 UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Concentrations, Greater Manchester authorities are required to take urgent action to address NO2 pollution and develop plans to bring levels to within legal limits in the shortest possible time.
Greater Manchester’s review in July 2022 identified they would not be fully compliant with legal limits before 2027 without action, with 79 points of exceedance predicted in 2023. We have reviewed Greater Manchester’s proposals and identified a number of gaps in the evidence, meaning it is not yet possible to understand how the proposed approach will achieve compliance with NO2 limits in the shortest possible time. We have requested further evidence from the Greater Manchester authorities to enable us to consider the plans further.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact on air pollution on young people in education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has not made an assessment on the effects of air pollution on pupils. The Department is aware, as reported in the Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2022, that air pollution can affect children’s lung development, asthma, development problems, wheezing and coughs among other health effects. This report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1124738/chief-medical-officers-annual-report-air-pollution-dec-2022.pdf.
The Department is collaborating with other Government Departments and several academic institutions on air quality projects. The School Air Quality Monitoring for Health and Education project was initiated, with funding and support from the Department to understand the air quality in UK schools. The findings from these projects will inform our guidance and standards for school buildings.
In 2018, the Department published Building Bulletin 101 (BB101), establishing guidance for school design on ventilation, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality. This guidance sets out the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines and Air Quality Standards Regulation 2010 for indoor air quality. BB101 requires the indoor environment of new or refurbished school buildings to be monitored by recording temperature and levels of carbon dioxide.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an estimate of the number of schools in the West Midlands in areas with high levels of toxic air.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Local authorities have a duty to monitor and assess air quality and to take action to reduce pollution where local air quality objectives are breached. The positioning of monitors is expected to be in line with national and local priorities, which may include schools and other locations where there are more vulnerable populations.