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, what recent discussions his Department has had with clinical bodies on a possible causal link between cot death and air pollution.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has not held any discussions with clinical bodies on the link between cot death and air pollution.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate the Government has made of the number of deaths per year caused by air pollution in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) for England includes an indicator for air pollution expressed as the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution. The most recent published estimates available are for 2015. For England, estimates within the last five years are: 2013: 5.3%; 2014: 5.1%; 2015: 4.7%.
Figures for 2016 are due to be published with the next release of updated PHOF data in May 2018.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to include a target to reduce premature deaths from air pollution in the new clean air strategy.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the hon. Members to the reply given to the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick, on 16 February 2018, PQ 126553.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will include a target on reducing premature deaths from air pollution in its new clean air strategy.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the hon. Members to the reply given to the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick, on 16 February 2018, PQ 126553.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to include a target on decreasing premature deaths from air pollution in its new clean air strategy.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The evidence of health impacts from particulate matter (PM) is particularly strong and the Government is already taking action to reduce emissions of harmful PM. The UK has signed up to ambitious new targets to reduce emissions of PM2.5 as well as four other damaging pollutants (ammonia, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds and sulphur dioxide) by 2020 and 2030. The Government is aiming to cut early deaths from air pollution by half. The Statutory Instrument committing these targets to law was laid on 1 February.
We will publish a Clean Air Strategy, which will set out plans to meet these targets, for consultation in 2018. We are currently calling for evidence on domestic solid fuel use, one of the largest emissions sources of PM. Householders and businesses are being asked for their views on proposals to cut harmful emissions caused by domestic fuel burning.
Defra works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care and Public Health England to develop a strong evidence base on the health impacts of air pollution and to provide health advice during episodes of elevated air pollution. We are carefully considering public health measures.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the total number of premature deaths attributable to air pollution in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
There is no estimate of the total number of premature deaths attributable to air pollution.
The air pollution health indicator 3.01 in the Public Health Outcomes Framework estimates the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to PM2.5 air pollution (in local authority areas) in England. This ranges from less than 3% in the least polluted rural areas to over 7% in some London boroughs.
In 2015, the average for England was 4.7%. This is equivalent to approximately 25,000 adult deaths attributable to fine particulate matter exposure (PM2.5) in England every year.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of premature deaths attributed to particulate air pollution; and what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of Public Health England's report, Estimating local mortality burdens associated with particulate air pollution.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government have committed more than £2 billion since 2011 to reduce transport emissions and the Autumn Statement provided a further £290 million to support greener transport.
We are developing the Air Pollution Action Plan. This is to tackle the five main pollutants: sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, ammonia and fine particulate matter. The UK has agreed legally binding national ceilings for emissions of these pollutants by 2020 and 2030.
Asked by: Andy Burnham (Labour - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the mortality rate in (a) England and (b) Greater Manchester caused by long-term exposure to particulate air pollution arising from human activities.
Answered by David Mowat
The fraction of annual all-cause adult mortality attributable to anthropogenic (human-made) particulate air pollution (measured as fine particulate matter, PM2.5*) is provided by the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicator 3.01.
This calculates the mortality burden associated with long-term exposure to anthropogenic particulate air pollution at current levels, expressed as the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged 30+.
In formation on presents the fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution extracted from the PHOF 3.01 indicator, for the period 2010-14, for England, North West and Areas within the Greater Manchester Area (as GMA is not an Administrative Area) is available at:
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people in London who have died as a result of air pollution in each year since 2010; and if he will estimate the forecast number of such deaths in the next 10 years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Estimates of the fraction of mortality in English local authority areas and regions attributable to long-term exposure to particulate air pollution arising from human activities are published by Public Health England as one of the indicators in the Department’s Public Health Outcomes Framework, which is available at:
Long-term exposure to air pollution is understood to be a contributory factor to deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the quantum of premature death in the UK caused by the emission of wood smoke; and whether he plans to publish that information.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Figures for premature death in the United Kingdom caused by the emission of wood smoke are not calculated and the Department has no plans to do so.
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) has considered the wider issue of the potency of particulate matter from different sources in causing adverse effects on health. This work included consideration of evidence on biomass combustion. COMEAP’s current view (as published in reports in 2009 and 2010) is that particulate matter measured as PM2.5 is the most appropriate measure of air pollution for estimating the impact on mortality of long-term exposure to air pollution in the UK. COMEAP believes that the available evidence does not make it possible to distinguish with confidence between the effects of the different components of the ambient air pollution mixture, nor of different sources.
COMEAP’s reports are available at:
www.comeap.org.uk/documents/reports
Wood smoke is a small contributor to the overall level of PM2.5, which is mainly related to traffic and industry emissions.