Twenty-Second Report - Tackling local air quality breaches

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 37 26 October 2022

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 33 items (6 recs)

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Government Response (AI assessment · 29 of 33 classified)

Accepted 10

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 11

Deferred 2

Rejected 5

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty second report from Session 2022-23 · published 14 Dec 2022

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Recommendations & Conclusions

5 results

4 Recommendation Rejected

Although calculating an exact figure may be difficult, with Departments claiming it would be a...

Recommendation

Although calculating an exact figure may be difficult, with Departments claiming it would be a great deal of effort to produce something not necessarily precise, Government could do more to improve the transparency of cross-government public spending that has an … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating that the resource required to disaggregate spend driving air quality benefits across the variety of complex policies would be disproportionate, estimates produced would be misleading, and would not support accountability/transparency.

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21 Conclusion Rejected

Government sees the relationship with local authorities as a partnership, and told us that it...

Conclusion

Government sees the relationship with local authorities as a partnership, and told us that it believes the programme will fail if it is seen to be a top-down programme done by national Government.29 However, local authorities are expected to follow … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government disagrees with the need for a national communication campaign on Clean Air Zones, stating that local authorities are best placed to tailor communications to their communities, and that it has already provided significant support for local campaigns.

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23 Conclusion Rejected

On the other hand, government has not taken the responsibility it should for national messaging...

Conclusion

On the other hand, government has not taken the responsibility it should for national messaging on the need for air quality measures. We asked Defra and DfT why Government had decided against a national communication campaign about the new charging … Read more

Government Response Summary

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25 Conclusion Rejected

The NAO reports that, by not tracking spend across its work on air quality, government...

Conclusion

The NAO reports that, by not tracking spend across its work on air quality, government risks being unable to evaluate the relative cost-effectiveness of its spending on the issue. The NAO highlighted the example of government’s preparations for EU Exit, … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government disagrees with the recommendation to improve transparency of cross-government air quality spending, citing the disproportionate level of resources required and the uncertainties in the resulting estimates.

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26 Conclusion Rejected

Defra and DfT wrote to us to provide a breakdown of funding through the Joint...

Conclusion

Defra and DfT wrote to us to provide a breakdown of funding through the Joint Air Quality Unit and the Air Quality & Industrial Emissions programme. They also provided a summary of cross-government initiatives that affect air quality; these include … Read more Defra and DfT wrote to us to provide a breakdown of funding through the Joint Air Quality Unit and the Air Quality & Industrial Emissions programme. They also provided a summary of cross-government initiatives that affect air quality; these include work by Defra and DfT, as well as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the Department of Health and Social Care. They explained that while Defra attempts to anticipate and model what the long-term reductions in air pollutants as a result of other department’s policies and initiatives may be, their estimates tend to be subject to uncertainty because it is difficult to predict the level levels of uptake, and other factors that will influence how pollution is reduced in practice. They told us that, given how difficult it can be to determine the precise air pollution reductions associated with net zero policies and other important programmes 36 Q 54 37 C&AG’s Report, para 4 38 C&AG’s Report, para 1.16 39 Q 33 40 C&AG’s Report, para 1.18 41 Committee of Public Accounts, Achieving Net Zero: Follow up, Forty-First Report of Session 2021–22, HC 642, 2 March 2022 42 LAQ0004 Tackling local air quality breaches 13 such as active travel, it would be consequently challenging to assign any meaningful estimates of public expenditure on each component of action that results in air pollution emission reductions. They agree that it is important to have robust procedures in place to ensure they are accountable for how money is spent on programmes in each Department, but believe it would not be proportionate to maintain ongoing detailed tracking of the air quality components of policies affecting air pollution across government, especially if the resulting estimates were subject to uncertainties. They told us that their priority is to ensure that their respective policies dovetail to secure multiple benefits, and to estimate the real-world outcomes and bene Show less

Government Response Summary

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