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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what powers the Office of Environmental Protection will have to (a) monitor, (b) regulate and (c) mitigate harmful levels of air pollution.

The Environment Act 2021 gives powers to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) to hold public authorities to account on their environmental commitments. The Government will set at least one legally binding, long-term target on air quality as one of its four priority areas and a target in respect of the annual mean level of PM2.5 particulate matter in ambient air. The OEP will play a key role in monitoring the Government’s progress towards these targets and any other air quality targets set out in the Government’s Environment Improvement Plan (EIP). Each year, it will comment on the progress set out in the Government’s EIP report, providing the opportunity for the OEP to highlight, early on, where it believes there is a risk the Government may not meet its legally binding targets or how progress could be improved.

The OEP will also receive complaints from members of the public about alleged failures by public authorities to comply with environmental law. The OEP will have the power to investigate and bring legal proceedings where necessary if Government breaches its environmental law duties.