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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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.
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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 (Independent - Edmonton)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
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)
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
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)
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.