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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what provisions on indoor air quality will be included the Environment Bill; and how those provisions will be enforced.

We recognise the importance of national leadership on the issue of indoor air quality, and we are working across Government with the Chief Medical Officer and the Government Chief Scientific Advisor to coordinate further action, as well as with the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England who are taking the lead on this area.

Our Clean Air Strategy also includes measures to reduce emissions from key sources which contribute to indoor air pollution, including measures to reduce emissions of fine particulate matter from domestic solid fuel burning, which are in part delivered through the Environment Bill.

However, we consider that building our evidence base is a key first step to ensure that any future interventions are appropriately targeted and effective and that is what we are now focusing on. For example, our Air Quality Expert Group, with support from members of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution, will be producing a report on indoor air quality, focusing on fine particulate matter and volatile organic compounds as the air pollutants which are prevalent in indoor environments.