Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 64 of the Clean Air Strategy, what funding his Department plans to allocate to tackle the effect of ammonia from agriculture on natural habitats; and what the timeframe is for the allocation of that funding.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government launched a consultation on the Clean Air Strategy on 22 May. This ambitious Strategy aims to cut air pollution and save lives by achieving substantial reductions in emissions of five pollutants, including ammonia, which are harmful to human health and the environment.
The National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory report published in 2018 provides estimates of ammonia emissions from agriculture in the year 2016. The report attributes the 3.2% rise in ammonia emissions between 2015 and 2016 to a slight increase in numbers of dairy cattle and an increase in the use of urea-based fertilisers. The report indicates that the increased use of fertilisers is likely to be due to price variation between different fertiliser types.
Farming accounts for 88% of ammonia emissions in the UK. The Clean Air Strategy proposes concerted action to tackle these emissions by requiring and supporting farmers to invest in the equipment that will reduce emissions. It includes proposals to regulate to reduce ammonia emissions from farming and consults on three approaches. Proposals include regulations to reduce emissions from storage and spreading of slurry and manure and from use of urea-based fertilisers.
The Strategy sets out the support that has been provided to farmers through the Farm Ammonia Reduction Grant which offered grants for covering slurry stores and provided on-farm advice. It also highlights the grants now available through the Countryside Productivity Scheme to help farmers purchase manure management equipment including low-emission spreaders and through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme for slurry tank and lagoon covers for farmers in priority water catchments.
Defra has worked with farming industry organisations to develop a Code of good agricultural practice which will be published later this year.
As set out in the Clean Air Strategy a group of independent specialists will be recruited to make recommendations on the maximum limits that should be applied for fertiliser application. Details of the members of this group will be available in due course.
The Agriculture Bill will set the foundations for a future domestic agricultural policy as the UK leaves the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy. As set out in the Health and Harmony consultation, future financial support for farming should see public money paying for public goods. The new environmental land management scheme, underpinned by natural capital principles, will contribute to delivering against many of the key outcomes set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and the Clean Growth Strategy. These include clean air; clean and plentiful water; thriving plants and wildlife, which habitat protection would contribute to; reduced risk of harm from environmental hazards such as flooding and drought; using resources from nature more sustainably and efficiently; enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement for the natural environment and mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with referenced to page 64 of the Clean Air Strategy which independent experts he plans to comprise the board that will make recommendations on the maximum limits of fertiliser application.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government launched a consultation on the Clean Air Strategy on 22 May. This ambitious Strategy aims to cut air pollution and save lives by achieving substantial reductions in emissions of five pollutants, including ammonia, which are harmful to human health and the environment.
The National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory report published in 2018 provides estimates of ammonia emissions from agriculture in the year 2016. The report attributes the 3.2% rise in ammonia emissions between 2015 and 2016 to a slight increase in numbers of dairy cattle and an increase in the use of urea-based fertilisers. The report indicates that the increased use of fertilisers is likely to be due to price variation between different fertiliser types.
Farming accounts for 88% of ammonia emissions in the UK. The Clean Air Strategy proposes concerted action to tackle these emissions by requiring and supporting farmers to invest in the equipment that will reduce emissions. It includes proposals to regulate to reduce ammonia emissions from farming and consults on three approaches. Proposals include regulations to reduce emissions from storage and spreading of slurry and manure and from use of urea-based fertilisers.
The Strategy sets out the support that has been provided to farmers through the Farm Ammonia Reduction Grant which offered grants for covering slurry stores and provided on-farm advice. It also highlights the grants now available through the Countryside Productivity Scheme to help farmers purchase manure management equipment including low-emission spreaders and through the Countryside Stewardship Scheme for slurry tank and lagoon covers for farmers in priority water catchments.
Defra has worked with farming industry organisations to develop a Code of good agricultural practice which will be published later this year.
As set out in the Clean Air Strategy a group of independent specialists will be recruited to make recommendations on the maximum limits that should be applied for fertiliser application. Details of the members of this group will be available in due course.
The Agriculture Bill will set the foundations for a future domestic agricultural policy as the UK leaves the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy. As set out in the Health and Harmony consultation, future financial support for farming should see public money paying for public goods. The new environmental land management scheme, underpinned by natural capital principles, will contribute to delivering against many of the key outcomes set out in the 25 Year Environment Plan and the Clean Growth Strategy. These include clean air; clean and plentiful water; thriving plants and wildlife, which habitat protection would contribute to; reduced risk of harm from environmental hazards such as flooding and drought; using resources from nature more sustainably and efficiently; enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement for the natural environment and mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to update indicator 3.01 in the Public Health Outcomes Framework to include morbidity as well as mortality linked to anthropogenic PM2.5 to reflect the role of that pollutant in exacerbating cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses and increasing the risk of a health episode being experienced by those living with those conditions.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Public Health Outcomes Framework 3.01 indicator provides the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution. There are no plans to update this indicator to include morbidity.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to indicator 3.01 of Improving outcomes and supporting transparency, updated in August 2016, what data does his Department holds on the level of mortality linked to air pollution.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Public Health Outcomes Framework for England reports on a range of indicators for local authorities, including an indicator for air pollution expressed as the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution (Indicator 3.01).
In England, approximately 4.7% of all adult deaths in 2015 were attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution.
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) premature deaths and (b) illnesses have been attributed to poor air quality in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
In 2010 the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants published the report “The Mortality Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution in the United Kingdom”, which concluded, using 2008 data, that the 2008 burden of man-made particulate matter air pollution is, an effect on mortality equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths in the UK.
In 2014 a Public Health England (PHE) report estimated the annual mortality burden attributable to long-term exposure to man-made particulate air pollution as being equivalent to 25,000 deaths in England.
Estimates of the fraction of mortality attributable to long-term exposure to man-made particulate air pollution for local authority areas in England (2010-15) are provided by the Public Health Outcomes Framework indicator 3.01.,available to view here:
http://www.phoutcomes.info/search/air%20pollution#pat/6/ati/102/par/E12000004
PHE has not quantified the number of illnesses attributed to poor air quality for each of the last ten years.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of air pollutants in the home on people’s health.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Indoor air is affected by outdoor air pollution and by indoor sources such as tobacco smoke, scented candles and other household products. Further research is needed into how people are exposed to different sources of household air pollution to quantify its effect on health.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of poor ventilation on people’s health.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Public Health England has made no assessment of the effect of poor ventilation on people’s health.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the health risks posed by air pollution; and what plans they have, including targets, to reduce air pollution.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Long-term exposure to air pollution reduces life expectancy by increasing deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory conditions and lung cancer. Short-term exposure to elevated levels of air pollution can also have a range of adverse health effects, particularly on individuals with pre-existing heart or lung conditions, including exacerbation of asthma, effects on lung function, increases in hospital admissions and mortality.
The Government is committed to tackling air pollution and that is why we are continuing as a matter of urgency to explore all possible further measures to improve air quality across the country. In addition, the United Kingdom has signed up to legally binding overall national ceilings for emissions of five major pollutants to be met by 2020 and 2030. The 2030 target should, if achieved, result in deaths from poor air quality being halved.
Asked by: Tom Blenkinsop (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of particle pollutants on children's health and development in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The independent expert advisory Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) published a statement on the evidence linking air pollution to effects on children’s health in 2008. This acknowledged the conclusions of a report by the World Health Organization (2005) of effects on children’s health, including development of lung function, but also noted that the evidence for some effects was from areas where levels of air pollutants were higher than those found in the United Kingdom.
In 2010 COMEAP published a statement on the evidence linking air pollution with childhood asthma. The evidence confirmed that exposure to ambient concentrations of air pollutants is associated with an increase in exacerbations of asthma in those who already have the condition. The evidence for air pollution causing new cases of asthma is less clear. However, COMEAP concluded that it is possible that air pollution plays a part in the induction of asthma in some individuals who live near busy roads, particularly roads carrying high numbers of heavy goods vehicles.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent research findings that magnetite, derived from pollution, can damage the brain, what further research they are funding into the health risks of air pollution.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department’s National Institute for Health Research is funding the Health Protection Research Unit in Health Impacts of Environmental Hazards, whose remit includes air pollution research. This unit is a partnership between King’s College London and Public Health England in collaboration with Imperial College London.
The Research Councils, funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, invest in a range of research into the health impacts of air pollution exposure in the United Kingdom and internationally. They also support research into the sources and processes controlling air pollution and how it can be better monitored and mitigated to inform integrated policies across health, the natural and built environments, transport and energy.