Air Pollution

(asked on 1st July 2020) - View Source

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 number of local authority areas with air pollution levels higher than World Health Organisation guidelines.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 6th July 2020

We do not routinely assess air pollution levels against World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines at a local authority level. However, local authorities are required to review and assess local air quality with regard to air quality standards and objectives under the Local Air Quality Management regime.

We have committed to setting a new ambitious target for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). As part of that work we have explored progress made towards WHO PM2.5 guidelines on a national level and a report was published in July 2019.

The Government is committed to evidence-based policy making and will consider the WHO annual mean guideline level for PM2.5 when setting the target, alongside independent expert advice, evidence and analysis on a diversity of factors. It is important to get this right and set a target that is ambitious, achievable and focuses on how the greatest public health benefits can be achieved.

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