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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what definitions and approval criteria distinguish an air pollution press release, news story, information bulletin and alert; which require proactive distribution to news media; and what sending evidence must be retained before the Department identifies an item to Parliament as a press release.

Air quality alerts are issued to subscribers if concentrations for any one of the five pollutants measured by the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) are forecast and/or measured as 'high' or above. The distribution of air quality information to news and media is assessed on a case-by-case basis.