Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
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 take steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase the air quality grant for local authorities in the forthcoming Spring budget.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra remains committed to providing support for local authorities to tackle air pollution through the air quality grant. Since 2018 we have awarded over £35 million to a range of projects. This includes £10.7 million in funding awarded to 44 local authorities this year that will benefit schools, businesses and communities, and reduce the impact of polluted air on people’s health.
The value of funding committed to the grant is reviewed annually. The budget available for the next round of funding will be announced in summer 2023.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 hold discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the air quality grant for local authorities in the spring budget.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra remains committed to providing support for local authorities to tackle air pollution through the air quality grant. Since 2018 we have awarded over £35 million to a range of projects. This includes £10.7 million in funding awarded to 44 local authorities this year that will benefit schools, businesses and communities, and reduce the impact of polluted air on people’s health.
The value of funding committed to the grant is reviewed annually. The budget available for the next round of funding will be announced in summer 2023.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
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 take steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase the air quality grant for local authorities in the next Budget.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra remains committed to providing support for local authorities to tackle air pollution through the air quality grant. Since 2018 we have awarded over £35 million to a range of projects. This includes £10.7 million in funding awarded to 44 local authorities this year that will benefit schools, businesses and communities, and reduce the impact of polluted air on people’s health.
The value of funding committed to the grant is reviewed annually. The budget available for the next round of funding will be announced in summer 2023.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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
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.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 of the impact of toxic air pollution on the health and wellbeing of people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds living in urban communities in England.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), an expert committee of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), published advice on the health evidence relevant to setting PM2.5 targets in 2021. It concluded that there is evidence to suggest that people from minority ethnic backgrounds are more highly exposed to air pollution, such as fine particulates (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was recently involved in a review of the association between air quality around schools and inequalities in England, finding that schools in areas with the highest background levels of PM2.5 had a significantly higher ethnic minority pupil proportion compared to schools in areas with the lowest background PM2.5, and were more likely to be near major roads.
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, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the funding available to local government to improve air quality.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Latest published figures show that air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010. Emissions of nitrogen oxides have fallen by 44% - and are at their lowest level since records began, sulphur dioxide emissions have fallen by 70% and fine particulate matter emissions are down 18%. However, HM Government recognises that there is more to do to protect people and the environment from the effects of air pollution.
Local authorities have a critical role to play in tackling air pollutants. That is why we are providing £883 million to help local authorities develop and implement local NO2 reduction plans. As part of our commitment to making walking and cycling the natural choice for millions more journeys, we have invested more than £2 billion in funding for cycling and walking over this Parliament. In addition, we have committed over £2.8 billion funding to support local authorities in rolling out electric vehicle charging infrastructure to tackle tailpipe emissions.
Since 2010, we have allocated more than £42 million in funding to local authorities in England to support air quality projects in local communities and reduce emissions affecting schools, businesses, and communities. We expect to allocate at least £7 million in the 2023 round, for which applications have now closed. Successful applicants will be announced early next year.
We will also be providing funding up to £2.3 million to local authorities with Smoke Control Areas for measures introduced through our landmark Environment Act 2021 to improve the enforcement and management of smoke emissions in smoke control areas in England.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) schools and (b) playgrounds in England that are in the vicinity of air quality monitoring sites that have recorded a rise in the level of air pollutants in the last 12 months.
Answered by Steve Double
Data on the location of monitoring sites, as well as pollutant concentrations from these sites, is available on the UK Air website (https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk).
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, if he will make an assessment of the effect of the July 2022 heatwave on air quality around (a) schools and (b) care homes.
Answered by Steve Double
Defra provides a five-day air pollution forecast and health advice in the form of recommended actions that could be taken according to current air pollution levels. The annual 'Air Pollution in the UK' report provides information and assessment of significant periods of air pollution across the UK. The report covering the 2022 heatwave period and any associated air pollution episode will be published in September 2023.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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.