Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the correlation between deprivation and lung conditions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.
More tests and scans delivered in the community will allow for earlier diagnosis, better joint working between services, and greater use of apps and wearable technology will all help people manage their long-term conditions, including respiratory conditions, closer to home. Earlier diagnosis of conditions will help prevent deterioration and improve survival rates. Taking action to reduce the causes of the biggest killers, such as enabling a smoke free generation, can further help prevent lung conditions.
It is the most disadvantaged who suffer the most from the financial and health burden of smoking, with 230,000 households living in smoking induced poverty, and with smoking being the number one cause of preventable death, disability, and ill health, claiming the lives of approximately 80,000 people a year in the United Kingdom, as well as being the leading cause of lung cancer. The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill will create the first smoke-free generation, ending the cycle of addiction and disadvantage, and putting us on track to a smoke-free UK.
The NHS England Core20PLUS5 approach strives to inform action that targets the most deprived 20% of the population and other inclusion health groups, with the aim of reducing health inequalities.
The approach focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement, those being cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory, maternity, and mental health outcomes, in the poorest 20% of the population, along with other disadvantaged population groups identified at a local level.
The Department is also working across Government on ways to reduce the health harms of air pollution, including with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to support their plans for cleaner air, so that everyone’s exposure to air pollution is reduced.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will (a) issue guidance and (b) provide resources to local authorities to help tackle household air pollution.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Government is taking significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality, as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan, including by providing over £883 million to help local authorities develop and implement local nitrogen dioxide reduction plans, and to support those impacted by these plans.
The Government has published guidance for private and social landlords on understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould, following the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from a severe respiratory condition due to prolonged exposure to mould in his home, and is additionally investing £10 million into the Healthy Homes pilots, working with selected local authorities to test measures to improve enforcement on damp and mould in private rented sector housing, while boosting the capability and capacity of enforcement teams in the greatest areas of housing and health need. Further information on the guidance for private and social landlords is available at the following link:
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities data on D01 - Fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution (new method), if she will publish the annual number of deaths attributable to long term exposure to total concentrations of fine particulate matter for each year that data is available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The estimates for the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution, measured as PM2.5, are published every year. Data for 2022 will be published later this year. The fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution indicator represents the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged 30 and older attributed to PM2.5.
Annual numbers of deaths attributable to particulate air pollution are not calculated each year. The published estimate for England for 2019 was 26,000 to 38,000 deaths for adults aged 30 and over. For the United Kingdom, the published estimate for 2019 was 29,000 to 43,000 deaths for adults aged 30 and over.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to publish the annual estimate of the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution in 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Department plans to publish the annual estimate of the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution for 2022 for England in the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) in early 2024 which can be found at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 30 May 2023 to Question 185872 on Death, if he will publish the total number of deaths from all causes (a) including and (b) excluding covid-19 for each (i) area, (ii) region and (iii) country in 2022 in which there was an estimated fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution in 2021.
Answered by John Glen
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 1 December is attached
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 9 May 2023 to Question 183300 on Air Pollution: Death, what the evidential basis is for his Department's calculation of the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution since the overall number of attributable deaths is not available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
An estimate of deaths attributable to long-term exposure to air pollution can be made by multiplying the fraction of mortality attributable to air pollution by the total number of deaths annually. The fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution is estimated through the adjustment of the unit relative risk factor (1.08), recommended for use in quantifying mortality associated with long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (COMEAP, 2022), to the air pollution levels.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 15 May 2023 to Question 183301 on Air Pollution: Death, if he will provide (a) a worked calculation and (b) weblinks to references to show how the number of deaths attributable to nitrogen dioxide in 2019 was calculated.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The most recent estimates, in 2019, of mortality burden associated with air pollution are published in the UK Health Security Agency Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report (2022), which is available at the following link:
The methodology used to calculate burden estimates, including nitrogen dioxide, is described in the article ‘Updated mortality burden estimates attributable to air pollution’ in the report and is based on the method described by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. ‘Associations of long-term average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide with mortality’ (2018) report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrogen-dioxide-effects-on-mortality
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
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 24 April 2023 to Question 181817 on Air Pollution: Death, if he provide a worked calculation and weblinks to references of how the number of deaths in Greater London attributable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was calculated from the fraction of mortality in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
We do not have the information in the format requested. UK Health Security Agency has not calculated the number of deaths attributable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for the years requested. The following table shows the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution, measured as PM2.5, for Greater London in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The provided values represent the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged 30 years old and older. Estimates are currently available until 2021.
Region | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Greater London | 9.0 % | 8.8 % | 7.1 % | 6.5 % |
An estimate of deaths attributable to long-term exposure to air pollution in a local area can be made by multiplying the above attributable fraction by the total number of deaths annually in the local area. This represents the effect of air pollution across the whole population, as air pollution is considered to act as a contributory factor to many more individual deaths.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 20 of the UK Health Security Agency report entitled Chemical hazards and poisons report, Issue 28, published in June 2022, how many attributable deaths there were in (a) East Midlands, (b) East of England, (c) Greater London, (d) North East, (e) North West, (f) South East, (g) South West, (h) West Midlands, (i) Yorkshire and the Humber and (j) England for nitrogen dioxide NO2 in 2019.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The numbers of attributable deaths due to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) for the listed areas have not been calculated. The most recent estimates of mortality burden associated with exposure to air pollution in the United Kingdom take into account exposure to the air pollution mixture of NO2 and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and are published in the UK Health Security Agency Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report (2022), which is available at the following link:
The burden of long-term exposure to air pollution in 2019 in the UK was estimated to be an effect equivalent to 29,000 to 43,000 deaths for adults aged 30 years old and over.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 20 of the UK Health Security Agency report entitled Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report, Issue 28, published in June 2022, how many attributable deaths there were in (a) East Midlands, (b) East of England, (c) Greater London, (d) North East, (e) North West, (f) South East, (g) South West, (h) West Midlands, (i) Yorkshire and the Humber and (j) England for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in 2019.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The information is not held in the format requested. The following table shows the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution, measured as fine particulate matter, PM2.5, for 2019, in each region as a percentage.
Region | 2019 |
East Midlands | 7.4 |
East of England | 7.6 |
Greater London | 8.8 |
North East | 4.9 |
North West | 6.2 |
South East | 7.2 |
South West | 5.9 |
West Midlands | 7.3 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 6.6 |
England | 7.1 |
The numbers of attributable deaths have not been calculated; the provided values represent the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged 30 and older.