Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to introduce a public health campaign on air pollution.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government will take action to reduce exposure to harmful emissions, including commitments to increase public understanding of air pollution and to enhance communication of air quality information.
The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with partners across the Government and the health system to ensure that the public has access to clear, evidence-based information. This includes working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to deliver commitments in the Environmental Improvement Plan, helping to ensure that air quality becomes part of everyday public conversations.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of air pollution on different groups by ethnicity.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
While air pollution impacts many people’s health, the department recognises that these impacts are not felt equally. This is an issue that Defra takes seriously, which is why the Government commissioned the independent Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) to examine the evidence on air pollution disparities across different communities and regions in the UK.
Their report demonstrates spatial differences in pollution emissions and concentrations. There is evidence of higher air pollution concentrations being experienced by certain minority ethnicity groups.
The report provides a number of recommendations to address this complex challenge, which the department is now considering and have fed through to commitments in the NHS 10 Year Plan and the Environmental Improvement Plan.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Physicians' report entitled A breath of fresh air: Responding to the health challenges of modern air pollution, published on 11 June 2025, what steps he is taking to support public awareness of ways to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As the Royal College of Physicians' report outlines, indoor air quality remains an important public health consideration.
Our 10-Year Health plan sets out Government actions to improve the quality of the air we breathe, with commitments to increase understanding of indoor and outdoor air pollution and improve communication of air quality information to the public.
We will continue to work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on commitments in the Government’s the Environmental Improvement Plan to help make air quality part of everyday conversations.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of domestic wood burning in residential areas on public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Chief Medical Officer’s 2022 Annual Report highlighted that domestic wood burning is a significant source of harmful fine particulate matter, particularly in residential areas.
The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA’s) systematic reviews of the association between outdoor and indoor exposure to solid fuel burning and respiratory diseases have shown that burning solid fuels can contribute to the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer in adults. The UKHSA’s reviews are available at the following two links:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35149281/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33017761/
Our 10-Year Health Plan for England sets out how the Government will improve the public's health, including action to reduce the health harms of air pollution, and in particular on domestic burning.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on air pollution.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I have had discussions with ministerial counterparts on this issue.
The Department engaged with departments across the Government in developing our 10-Year Health Plan for England, which sets out the steps the Government will take to improve the public's health, including actions to reduce the health harms of air pollution.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce concentrations of fine particulate matter in the Birmingham City Council area.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Birmingham City Council is responsible for reviewing and assessing air quality in its area. The 2025 Birmingham Air Quality Annual Status Report notes continued action to reduce PM2.5 through implementation of the Birmingham Clean Air Zone, fleet renewal and retrofit of buses and taxis, promotion of active travel, traffic management and anti-idling enforcement. The Council is also reducing emissions from domestic solid fuel burning through smoke control enforcement and public awareness, and works with Defra supported monitoring and modelling to track PM2.5 trends and inform further targeted interventions. The Council continues to work with Defra, DfT, the West Midlands Combined Authority and partners to identify new measures to reduce pollution.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many hectares of English countryside have been burnt by wildfires in the last twelve months; and what the cost was of (a) fighting the fires, (b) loss of economic activity, (c) restoring the landscape and (d) NHS treatment of the effects of smoke pollution from those wildfires.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) has responsibility for land management and environmental policy, which includes environmental restoration. As outlined in the departments’ response to the Member’s question UIN 95122 on 14 January 2026, Defra does not hold details on how many hectares of the English countryside have been burnt by wildfires in the last twelve months.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has made no assessment as to the total cost of wildfires in England over the last 12 months.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has not made any estimates of deaths attributable to wildfire smoke in the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years. While there is extensive evidence of health impacts from other countries linked to wildfires, there is relatively limited, but growing, evidence specific to the UK. The UKHSA monitors the broader impact of ambient air pollution on mortality in the UK.
Departments are working closely to develop the evidence base on wildfires, including assessing the risk and impacts. In 2025 Defra commissioned a two year research project, Wildfire and Peatland: Studies to Support Delivery of the Third National Adaptation Programme. The six sub-projects will address wildfire risks to English peatlands through evidence reviews, economic analysis, risk mapping, and stakeholder engagement.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025 to question 99733, whether his Department has conducted analysis of the drivers for the 121,506 hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2024-25; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of improved outpatient and secondary care management on reducing avoidable admissions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the drivers of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for 2024/25. In general, COPD is commonly worsened by smoking, occupational exposure, and poor air quality, and exacerbations are often triggered by respiratory infections including flu, pneumococcal disease, and COVID‑19.
There are a range of measures in place to help reduce preventable COPD admissions. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents the most significant public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will support our ambition for a smokefree United Kingdom. The Department is also working across Government to tackle air pollution and address poor housing conditions including damp and mould. The National Health Service is running winter vaccination campaigns against key respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal disease, which can trigger COPD. Further, pulmonary rehabilitation is a proven intervention that improves symptoms and reduces hospital admissions for people with COPD. NHS England’s commissioning standards ensure services are high quality, equitable, and reduce health inequalities.
More broadly, our 10-Year Health plan sets out the new neighbourhood health model to expand urgent care at home and in the community, which will reduce unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, thereby improving patient experience. To enable this, and deliver faster diagnosis and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
Regarding readmissions, the information is not publicly available in the format requested. NHS England publishes annual data on the total number of readmissions in England within 30 days for 2024/25, but this is not broken down by diagnosis. This information can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025 to question 99733, how many of those admissions were readmissions within (a) 30 and (b) 90 days of initial hospitalisation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not conducted a specific assessment of the drivers of hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for 2024/25. In general, COPD is commonly worsened by smoking, occupational exposure, and poor air quality, and exacerbations are often triggered by respiratory infections including flu, pneumococcal disease, and COVID‑19.
There are a range of measures in place to help reduce preventable COPD admissions. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill represents the most significant public health intervention since the 2007 indoor smoking ban and will support our ambition for a smokefree United Kingdom. The Department is also working across Government to tackle air pollution and address poor housing conditions including damp and mould. The National Health Service is running winter vaccination campaigns against key respiratory infections including COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal disease, which can trigger COPD. Further, pulmonary rehabilitation is a proven intervention that improves symptoms and reduces hospital admissions for people with COPD. NHS England’s commissioning standards ensure services are high quality, equitable, and reduce health inequalities.
More broadly, our 10-Year Health plan sets out the new neighbourhood health model to expand urgent care at home and in the community, which will reduce unnecessary hospital visits and admissions, thereby improving patient experience. To enable this, and deliver faster diagnosis and earlier access to treatment, access to spirometry tests in community diagnostic centres (CDCs) is growing and will continue to do so as more sites come online. The first five months of 2025/26 saw an increase in CDC spirometry testing of approximately 2,000 tests per month more than in the previous year.
Regarding readmissions, the information is not publicly available in the format requested. NHS England publishes annual data on the total number of readmissions in England within 30 days for 2024/25, but this is not broken down by diagnosis. This information can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Department for Transport's Consultation on a New Heavy Goods Vehicle CO₂ Emissions Regulatory Framework for the United Kingdom, published in January, what assessment they have made of the potential impact on air quality of each regulatory option set out in the document.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Beyond significant carbon savings, the transition to zero emission HGVs is expected to reduce overall air pollution from road transport including through reduced noise pollution and improvements in air quality, leading to better public health.
The consultation explores the potential regulatory design of a new framework and all options remain on the table. A full impact assessment will accompany any final proposal for regulation.