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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of air quality action plans in tackling local pockets of air pollution.

The Government published the report ‘Review of Effectiveness of Local Authority Action Plans (LAQM) and Future Policy Options for LAQM’ in 2013, which looked at a broad selection of local authorities with Air Quality Management Areas that ranged from hotspots to large areas of exceedance. This report concluded that although the review and assessment part of the LAQM regime was working very well, though too bureaucratic, some improvements could also be made to the action planning process.

We are currently reviewing the Local Air Quality Management system to reduce bureaucracy and enable greater focus on taking action, and intend to consult on a streamlined reporting system and revised guidance later this year.