PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Clean Air Act 1993 (7 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact on human health of updating the Clean Air Act 1993 in line with World Health Organisation air quality guidelines published in 2021.

Asked by:
Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat)

The Government is committed to cleaning up our air and protecting the public from the harms of pollution and plans to introduce a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will include a series of interventions to reduce emissions, and in turn everyone’s exposure to air pollution.

There are currently no plans to undertake a general assessment of the potential impact on human health given that it is already well established that even low concentrations of air quality pollutants are likely to be associated with adverse effects on health. Therefore, continued reductions, even where concentrations are below the air quality guidelines, are likely to be beneficial to health.

Answered by:
Andrew Gwynne (Labour)
15 October 2024