Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Not Addressed
The noticeable improvement many people had in their experience of air quality and their wellbeing...
Recommendation
The noticeable improvement many people had in their experience of air quality and their wellbeing following the initial lockdown illustrates the benefits of action to tackle air quality for all of us. The tragic death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, and thousands of others each year, shows the costs of the failure to do so. This highlights the need for legally binding air quality limits and the Committee recommends that the Office for Environmental Protection (see chapter 3) be empowered to enforce them. (Paragraph 19) Health inequalities and covid-19
Government response summary AI-generated
The government outlined its comprehensive Clean Air Strategy, including proposals for new goals and legislation, and discussed collaborations with health departments, review of the National Air Quality Strategy, and increased Air Quality Grant funding, but did not address the recommendation to empower the Office for Environmental Protection to enforce legally binding air quality limits.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The UK has existing legally binding air quality limits, set out in UK legislation (Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010, National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018). The Environment Bill additionally places a duty on the Secretary of State to set at least two further legally binding targets for air quality, one of which must be to reduce the concentration of ambient PM2.5. Both our existing limits and the new targets fall within the Environment Bill’s definition of “environmental law”—this places them within the remit of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), meaning they can be enforced by the OEP once it is operational. In contrast to the European Commission, the OEP will be able to carry out enforcement proceedings against all public bodies for suspected breaches of environmental law, including local authorities, rather than just national government.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗