UK Inquiry Tracker

Tackling local air quality breaches

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 6 Jun 2022 Closed: 14 Dec 2022 Parliament page

The UK has air quality targets which specify legal limits of major pollutants at a local and a national level. While emissions of most air pollutants have been falling in recent decades, air quality continues to cause significant health, economic and environmental risks, and the UK is not currently meeting … Read more

6 Recommendations

27 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 6 events

14 Dec
2022

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty second report from Session 2022-23

26 Oct
2022

Report published

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling local air quality breaches

20 Oct
2022

Correspondence

Joint correspondence from David Hill, Director General for Environment, Rural and Marine and Gareth Davies, Second Permanent Secretary of t…

17 Oct
2022

Correspondence

Joint correspondence from Gareth Davies Second, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport and David Hill Director General for Env…

27 Jun
2022

Oral evidence

Tackling local air quality breaches

27 Jun
2022

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Tackling local air quality breaches

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

27 Jun 2022

View on parliament.uk

Tackling local air quality breaches

David Hill · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Gareth Davies CB · Department for Business and Trade Nick Harris · National Highways

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Twenty-Second Report - Tackling local air quality breaches	HC 37	26 Oct 2022	33	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

9 results

7 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the Department for Transport, and National Highways on their work to tackle poor air quality in … Read more

Government Response

Acknowledges the committee's report and provides background information on the government's approach to tackling air quality, including the NO2 programme, Clean Air Zones, and funding for local authorities and the Strategic Road Network.

HM Treasury

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8 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

While emissions of most air pollutants have been falling in recent decades in the UK,...

While emissions of most air pollutants have been falling in recent decades in the UK, poor air quality continues to cause damage to people’s health and the natural environment. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants estimated that … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges the impact of poor air quality and the legal limits in place, referencing the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) and measures like bus retrofits and Clean Air Zones (CAZs).

HM Treasury

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9 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

The UK complied with most of these legal limits between 2010 and 2019 with the...

The UK complied with most of these legal limits between 2010 and 2019 with the exception of the local concentration limits for NO2, for which there have been longstanding breaches in some areas of the country. The country may also … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges breaches of NO2 limits and the upcoming update to the National Air Pollution Control Programme.

HM Treasury

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10 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Transport (DfT)...

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Transport (DfT) established the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) in 2016 to oversee delivery of government’s plans to achieve compliance with NO2 limits. The NO2 Programme is … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges the role of the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) and the NO2 Programme in addressing air quality issues.

HM Treasury

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11 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

Since 2017 Defra and DfT have jointly issued directions to 64 local authorities.

Since 2017 Defra and DfT have jointly issued directions to 64 local authorities. It has also identified 31 sections of the Strategic Road Network that are above the limit value and therefore non-compliant. Measures to tackle NO2 pollution include bus … Read more

Government Response

The government has directed 64 local authorities to take action to improve air quality through its NO2 programme, and has commissioned National Highways to examine breaches on the Strategic Road Network in England, with £883 million committed to the Programme and £39 million spent to improve air quality on the Strategic Road Network.

HM Treasury

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18 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

DfT explained to us that the national model ‘fills in the gaps’ in data collected...

DfT explained to us that the national model ‘fills in the gaps’ in data collected by its monitoring stations to create a kilometre by a kilometre map of air quality across the country, and forecasts to 2030.23 DfT also told … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees that the best available evidence is used to identify areas in exceedance and bring them into the programme, and that they continue to work with experts to improve the model and have set up a new monitoring network, and where monitoring identifies a potential breach, local authorities can share the information with the Joint Air Quality Unit.

HM Treasury

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20 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

Defra and DfT also wrote to us to explain that local monitoring is not directly...

Defra and DfT also wrote to us to explain that local monitoring is not directly fed into Defra’s national model in real time, particularly as many local measurements do not meet the data requirements for inclusion in the national NO2 … Read more

Government Response

The government acknowledges the uncertainty in the national model but states it meets requirements for assessing compliance and that they continue to work with experts to improve it and have set up a new monitoring network that has greatly increased locations where compliance is assessed and has reduced uncertainty.

HM Treasury

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24 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

As at May 2022, a lifetime budget of £883 million has been committed to the...

As at May 2022, a lifetime budget of £883 million has been committed to the NO2 Programme to support local authorities. Separately government has spent £39 million to improve air quality on the Strategic Road Network from 2015–16 to 2019–20. … Read more

Government Response

The government provides figures on spending on NO2 pollution and improving air quality on the Strategic Road Network.

HM Treasury

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32 Conclusion Acknowledged

Twenty-Second Report - Tackling lo…

Existing policy measures will not be sufficient to achieve most of the 2030 emissions ceilings...

Existing policy measures will not be sufficient to achieve most of the 2030 emissions ceilings (Figure 1). Defra told us that Government will soon publish a draft national air pollution control plan to set out policies and measures designed to … Read more Existing policy measures will not be sufficient to achieve most of the 2030 emissions ceilings (Figure 1). Defra told us that Government will soon publish a draft national air pollution control plan to set out policies and measures designed to bring the UK into compliance for 2030. It told us that these plans will build on existing programmes of continuous improvement, such as environmental permitting and work with industry around industrial emissions. Defra told us that building on these existing bodies of work gives some assurance over the feasibility of its proposed measures, but that it also intends to use a consultation period to further test the plans ahead of publication in September.58 53 Q 32 54 LAQ0003 55 LAQ0004 56 Q 40 57 Qq 55, 60 58 Q 2 Tackling local breaches of air quality Part One 23 1.13 Existing policy measures will not be sufficient to achieve most of the 2030 emissions ceilings and government is developing plans for the new policies needed (Figure 4). Projections submitted to the EU in 2019 indicated that targets would be missed, but did not include (as required by the EU) a full modelled scenario showing how compliance with all of the emission reduction commitments could be achieved. Government plans to publish an update to the UK’s National Air Pollution Control Programme in September 2022, in which it expects to outline in detail the measures required to achieve its emissions ceilings. Defra told u sT tahactk tlhienreg alroe cteaclh aniicra ql aunad lity breaches 15 behavioural challenges to reducing emissions of particulate matter, including because of the potential impact of increased energy prices on domestic wood-burning. Figure 4 Figure 1: UK UpKr porjoejecctteedd e memissiiosnssi oconms pcaoremd tpo aermeisdsi otnos ceemilinigsss iino 2n0s3 0ceilings in 2030 The latest government projections show that existing policy measures are insufficient for the UK to achieve most of its 2030 emissions ceilings Emissions (kt) 700 600 500 400 300 20 Show less

Government Response

The government acknowledges that existing policy measures are insufficient to achieve most of the 2030 emissions ceilings and that they consulted on a revised National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP) which includes robust actionable measures for further consideration to deliver compliance with the 2030 targets for all air pollutants.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 22 of 6 classified

Accepted 7

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 9

Rejected 5

Total 6 recs + 27 conclusions

Correspondence 2 letters

20 Oct 2022 Joint correspondence from David Hill, Director General for Environment, Rural and Marine and Gareth Davies, Second Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport to Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Deputy Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, re Air Quality PAC: Follow-Up Response, dated 11 July 2022

Parliament page

17 Oct 2022 Joint correspondence from Gareth Davies Second, Permanent Secretary of the Department for Transport and David Hill Director General for Environment, Rural and Marine to Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Deputy Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, re Air Quality PAC: Follow-up response regarding the publication of the 2021 Air Quality Annual Compliance Assessment, dated 29 September 2022

Parliament page