Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of air pollution on the NHS.

In 2018 Public Health England (PHE) published an estimation of the potential health burden and costs to the National Health Service and social care system arising due to diseases related to air pollution.

Between 2017 and 2025, the total cost to the NHS and social care from air pollution in England is estimated to be £1.60 billion for fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide combined, where there is robust evidence for an association between exposure and disease. Where the evidence is less robust the cost is £2.81 billion for fine particulate matter and £2.75 billion for nitrogen dioxide.

PHE also published a tool which allows local authorities to quantify the number of expected disease cases and costs in their local area. The tool includes NHS and social care cost data for England and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-pollution-a-tool-to-estimate-healthcare-costs