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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of poor air quality on marginalised communities.

This is an issue that Defra takes seriously, which is why we commissioned our independent Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) to examine the evidence on air pollution disparities across different communities and regions in the UK.

Their report demonstrates spatial differences in pollution emissions and concentrations, evidencing that low income and deprived communities often live in areas with higher air pollution concentrations and higher local emissions, and highlighting links between lower quality of housing and increased exposure to indoor air pollution.

The report provides a number of recommendations to address this complex challenge, which the department is now considering.