Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the report entitled Potential Air Quality Impacts of Shale Gas Extraction in the UK, published by his Department in 2018, for what reason the report was compiled in 2015 but not published until 2018.

This was a routine report by the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG). Although it was based on an assimilation of evidence that took place in 2015, the report itself was not finalised until 2017. It was prepared alongside other AQEG reports, for example on ultrafine particles and vegetation, which were produced on similar timelines. These reports were released together following publication of the government’s Clean Air Strategy.