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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has allocated to (a) school behaviour change programmes and (b) other projects designed to protect children's health from air pollution in each of the last three years.

Air quality is a devolved matter. Local authorities can bid for additional government funding via the air quality grant fund for projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions affecting schools, businesses and residents. In 2016/17, the London Borough of Islington was awarded £50,000 to run a local school-focused awareness and engagement campaign through the air quality grant.

Local authorities have a duty to monitor and assess air quality and to take action to reduce pollution where these breach statutory limits, and are best placed to determine local priorities. Their local knowledge and interaction with the communities that they serve means that they know the issues on the ground in detail and the solutions that are best suited to local circumstances.

The government awarded a total of £2.4 million to local authorities from the 2017/18 air quality grant fund; £3.7 million was awarded to local authorities in 2016/17 and £0.5 million in 2015/16. £3 million has been allocated for 2018/19.

The government has also put in place a £3.5 billion plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions, which includes £475 million for councils to improve air quality. We have consulted on our Clean Air Strategy, which includes ambitious goals, legislation, investment and policies which will help us to clean up our air faster and more effectively.