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

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with civil society groups about the disproportionate impact of air pollution on (1) people living in poverty, and (2) ethnic minority communities.

The Government recognises there is more to do to protect all people in our society and the environment from the effects of air pollution. This is why we are taking the significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan 2023.

As part of the Air Quality Information System (AQIS) review, officials engaged in a series of semi-structured interviews with civil society groups with the aim of learning directly from groups who either: (1) have first-hand experience communicating messages about air quality directly to communities; or (2) represent communities that may be disproportionately impacted by air pollution. The insights from these interviews will be incorporated into the AQIS recommendations which will be published in summer 2024.