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.

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.