Asked by: Earl of Listowel (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of air pollution on public health; whether they intend to introduce legislation to implement World Health Organisation standards for fine particulate matter; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government’s Clean Air Strategy recognised the impacts that air pollution has on health, and proposed a range of actions to meet our existing emissions reduction commitments to 2020 and 2030 in order to reduce these impacts. The Clean Air Strategy also committed to the setting of an ambitious long term air quality target to reduce the population’s exposure to PM2.5, and committed to publishing evidence on the feasibility of meeting World Health Organisation air quality guideline levels for PM2.5. This work is ongoing and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Earl of Listowel (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking, if any, to address the (1) short-term, and (2) long-term, risks of air pollution to children's health.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
All of the measures set out in the Clean Air Strategy will reduce emissions of pollution, improving public health for children.
In the short term, the Government has a plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions with funding of £3.5 billion, which includes £495 million for local councils to improve air quality. Part of this funding is specifically for local authorities with very high NO2 emissions to bid for.
Local authorities are best placed to target action to improve local air quality. The Government’s air quality grant programme provides funding to local authorities for projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions, which may include action targeting schools. Defra has awarded over £57 million in funding since the air quality grant started in 1997. A further £3 million has been allocated for 2018/19.
In the long term, some of the measures the Government are taking include ending the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2040. The Road to Zero strategy sets out new measures to help us achieve our 2040 mission. The Department for Transport has also announced that diesel-fuelled trains will no longer be used by 2040.
Other measures are included in the Clean Air Strategy.