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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the funding allocated to local authorities to improve air quality.

The department works closely with local authorities to develop approaches to reducing air pollution.

Under the NO2 Programme, the Government’s DfT-Defra Joint Air Quality Unit has provided significant funding to support local authorities to improve air quality in areas of NO2 exceedances, for example recently agreeing Greater Manchester’s £86m Clean Air Plan. We continue to work closely with local areas as they implement their plans.

Local authorities have funding allocated to them as part of the local government settlements. Any future, additional funding for local authorities will be subject to the Government’s spending review process.