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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the levels of air pollution on (a) economic productivity and (b) workforce participation.

The Government assesses the impact on labour productivity and workforce participation of changes in air pollution from new policies. The Defra's damage cost guidance is used for these assessments and is publicly available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assess-the-impact-of-air-quality/air-quality-appraisal-damage-cost-guidance.

We estimate that achieving the Environment Act targets for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) will result in an increase in economic productivity valued at £710 million over the period from 2023 to 2040. [Source: The Environmental Targets (Fine Particulate Matter) (England) Regulations 2022].