Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what data they hold on how air pollution impacts the health of people of different (1) ethnic groups, and (2) income levels; and whether they have identified any significant gaps in this data.

A 2025 report by the Air Quality Expert Group highlights inequalities in exposure to air pollution across the United Kingdom, as certain minority ethnic groups are exposed to higher levels of outdoor air pollution. Additional evidence suggests that people in lower-socioeconomic groups are more likely to live in heavily polluted areas, and that more ethnically diverse neighbourhoods experience higher levels of air pollution.

Based on this evidence, the UK Health Security Agency has developed an indicator to represent population level vulnerability to air pollution in England. However, more research is needed to better understand how socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and ethnic minority communities experience the health harms of air pollution.