Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 she has made of the adequacy of government spending on supporting local authorities in improving air quality.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Defra provides a large amount of funding to Local Authorities. Under the Local Air Quality Management Framework, we have recently updated our statutory guidance for local authorities to support them to tackle air pollution.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 (a) support and (b) encourage local authorities in meeting WHO guidelines on air quality..
Answered by Baroness Coffey
Defra provides a large amount of funding to Local Authorities. Under the Local Air Quality Management Framework, we have recently updated our statutory guidance for local authorities to support them to tackle air pollution.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of a public awareness campaign on the health impacts and causes of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Defra is currently conducting a holistic review of the way we communicate air quality information to the public. This will ensure the public is provided with timely and relevant information about air pollution, the actions people can take to limit their personal exposure, the impacts of air pollution on their health, and their own influence on air quality. The findings of the review will support the development of future public facing air quality information.
We ran a dedicated communications campaign, targeted at domestic burners, to improve awareness of the new regulations and to educate the public on the environmental and public health impacts of burning in their home to help reduce exposure to pollution. The Burn Better campaign focused on what the public can do to improve the way they burn, including switching to cleaner fuels, using approved appliances and maintaining their open fire or stove which includes advice on getting their chimney swept. Further information can be found here: Burn better: Making changes for cleaner air - Defra, UK
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to (a) property occupants and (b) the wider public of greater use of green roof systems; and if he will make it his policy to support the installation of green roofs.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Government recognises the multiple benefits of green roofs and other well-designed green infrastructure, and committed in the 25 Year Environment Plan to introduce stronger new standards for green infrastructure. These will be published as part of a new Green Infrastructure Framework by Natural England in January 2023. Green infrastructure can contribute to nature recovery, make towns and cities more attractive places to live and work and improve people’s health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 ensure that central government targets are adopted on air quality in line with the Environment Act 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Environment Act sets out a legal duty to publish two air quality targets. These were announced on 16th December.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 integrate clean air and Net Zero policy development.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Yes.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 improve the monitoring and reporting of air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
There are currently over 500 monitoring sites across the UK, made up of 14 networks measuring a range of pollutants, which provide information to the public. These are subject to continuous review to ensure that they remain fit for purpose and deliver on public expenditure at good value.
As part of our work to assess progress towards the new PM2.5 targets, we have already invested £1m to expand the PM2.5 monitoring network in 2021/22. By the end of 2025 we will have invested a further £10m to at least double the size of the original PM2.5 network.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 taken steps to facilitate cross-departmental collaboration on tackling air pollution.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The Secretary of State is working across Government to tackle air pollution.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 respond to the recommendations of the report by UK100 Yes we CANZ! published in June 2022.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
No.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of supporting the installation of water saving technology designed to conserve rainwater, make appropriate use of greywater and reduce flooding in (a) new build and (b) existing properties.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
In our 2021 written ministerial statement on reducing demand for water we committed to developing a roadmap towards greater water efficiency in new developments and retrofits. As part of this roadmap we are exploring water saving technologies including rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse.
In August 2021 the Government announced a review of the implementation of Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The review is looking at the benefits and impacts of implementation and the Government will publish the review and decision regarding implementation of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 in due course.