Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Twenty-Second Report - Tackling local air quality breaches
Public Accounts Committee
HC 37
Published 26 October 2022
Recommendations
2
Accepted
There is a high level of uncertainty in government’s model for assessing pollution levels, which...
Recommendation
There is a high level of uncertainty in government’s model for assessing pollution levels, which may mean that further areas of poor air quality might be missed by the programme. Government uses a national model to identify areas that are …
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Government Response Summary
The government states that the best available evidence has been used to identify areas exceeding pollution limits and that the national model meets uncertainty requirements. They will continue to improve the model and have increased the number of monitoring locations. They will consider local authority monitoring data if it meets AQSR requirements.
HM Treasury
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3
Accepted in Part
Central government has not always got the balance right in how it works in partnership...
Recommendation
Central government has not always got the balance right in how it works in partnership with local government, having been prescriptive in some respects, while seeming to avoid responsibilities that naturally sit at a national level in others. The best …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation. It states that local authorities are responsible for developing Clean Air Plans, with support from a dedicated account manager, and that each local authority has the flexibility to identify measures other than Clean Air Zones. They will write to the Committee by the end of February 2023 with a further update on how it is engaging with local authorities.
HM Treasury
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4
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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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5
Accepted
Government is not yet taking a sufficiently integrated approach to tackling the problem of poor...
Recommendation
Government is not yet taking a sufficiently integrated approach to tackling the problem of poor air quality. Measures to tackle air pollution on the strategic road network risk displacing heavy vehicle traffic onto local roads. Although government is aware of …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and states they have 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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6
Accepted
There is a lot resting on the updated plan that government expects to publish if...
Recommendation
There is a lot resting on the updated plan that government expects to publish if 2030 air quality targets are to be met. The UK may have missed its target for national ammonia emissions in 2020, and existing policy measures …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and states they have consulted on a revised National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP) that includes robust actionable measures to deliver compliance with the 2030 targets for all air pollutants.
HM Treasury
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14
Accepted
The UK Air website is government’s main source of communication on air quality, but it...
Recommendation
The UK Air website is government’s main source of communication on air quality, but it is fairly impenetrable to the general public.11 While the website provides a high- level air pollution forecast, and allows users to download air quality datasets, …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees to improve communication of air quality information to the public through a comprehensive Air Quality Information System (AQIS) Review, with outcomes published on UK-AIR and a final report in early 2024, and a major overhaul of the UK-Air website by March 2025.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (27)
7
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 England.1 Our report covers both the Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Programme …
Government Response Summary
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.
8
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 human-made air pollution in the UK has an effect equivalent …
Government Response Summary
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).
9
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 have missed the national limit for ammonia in 2020, and …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges breaches of NO2 limits and the upcoming update to the National Air Pollution Control Programme.
10
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 government’s largest dedicated air quality initiative and involves two main …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the role of the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) and the NO2 Programme in addressing air quality issues.
11
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 retrofit and traffic management schemes, and in some areas, Clean …
Government Response Summary
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.
12
Conclusion
Of the 64 local authorities initially directed to take action to tackle poor air quality, 16 were found to be already compliant following local modelling, and three exited the programme for other reasons.6 The Department for Transport told us that it expects the upcoming assessment of data for 2021, to …
13
Conclusion
The Department for Transport considers that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was a significant factor in delays seen by the Programme.8 The National Audit Office reported that although there was a clear impact from the pandemic, government did not have summary data on the extent to which other factors …
15
Conclusion
Issues of poor air quality are often highly localised: the 31 non-compliant sections of the Strategic Road Network represent about 51 miles of road, out of the 4,500 managed by National Highways.13 National Highways estimates about 240 to 250 houses or properties are directly affected by these exceedances, as many …
16
Conclusion
Accepted
National Highways acknowledge that the accessibility of the government’s data on air quality is an issue, and Defra told us that it is reviewing its social media and online offering over the next 18 months. It particularly highlighted the need to test the quality of its messaging for specific groups, …
Government Response Summary
The government recognizes the need to effectively communicate air quality information to the public and launched a comprehensive Air Quality Information System (AQIS) Review to ensure members of the public have what they need; outcomes will be published on UK-AIR with a final report in early 2024, and the government aims to complete the web system review by March 2025.
17
Conclusion
Government uses national and local modelling, together with two national networks of monitoring stations, to direct its actions on air quality, with directions to local authorities issued primarily on the basis of a national model identifying areas of likely exceedance of air quality targets.19 The national network consists of around …
18
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 us that the results of the national model are updated …
Government Response Summary
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.
19
Conclusion
DfT told us that it takes account of the uncertainty in the model when identifying local authorities requiring action, and that it worked with local authorities to update and reopen the model as required based on local monitoring.25 However Defra and DfT subsequently wrote to us to explain that there …
20
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 compliance assessment. Instead, they review the model results against local …
Government Response Summary
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.
21
Conclusion
Rejected
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 a fairly centralised, prescriptive approach to achieving compliance with air …
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.
22
Conclusion
Accepted
We asked if departments had considered revisiting the assumption of a clean air zone as the baseline for judging local authority plans, given that there have been delays to implementation. DfT told us that the evidence from the latest annual assessment is that the clean air zone is the fastest …
Government Response Summary
Local authorities are responsible for developing their own Clean Air Plans, with government support; they can use measures other than Clean Air Zones if compliance can be achieved as quickly.
23
Conclusion
Rejected
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 Clean Air Zones (CAZs) that are coming into effect through …
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.
24
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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. Further funding is available to 2024–25.37 Although the NO2 programme …
Government Response Summary
The government provides figures on spending on NO2 pollution and improving air quality on the Strategic Road Network.
25
Conclusion
Rejected
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, where it found that a lack of spending information at …
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.
26
Conclusion
Rejected
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 …
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.
27
Conclusion
National Highways retains responsibility for addressing air quality issues on the parts of the Strategic Road Network that pass through urban areas. It told us that, in setting its measures, it needs to ensure it does not do anything that displaces traffic onto other roads, which would shift where exceedances …
28
Conclusion
Government expects that all parts of the UK will eventually become compliant with the NO2 limits as a result of wider changes in the transport sector such as greater uptake of electric vehicles.48 There are some local authorities where no viable measures can be identified that will bring NO2 concentrations …
29
Conclusion
The Joint Air Quality Unit estimates that a targeted vehicle upgrade scheme would need to upgrade 34% to 89% of frequent vehicles to bring forward compliance by two to four years.51 Government has recently withdrawn grants that were available to support people purchasing electric cars; it told us that this …
30
Conclusion
Accepted
In addition to working with local authorities, the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs needs to ensure it is working with other sectors with either an interest in, or an influence on, air quality, such as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and has consulted on a revised National Air Pollution Control Programme (NAPCP) with actionable measures to deliver compliance with the 2030 targets and ensure full integration between different areas of responsibility.
31
Conclusion
The Department for Transport highlighted that local authorities are seeing addressing air quality not as a compliance issue, but as something to be considered more broadly as part of transport and local regeneration policies.56 We also heard about a pilot project working with GPs to provide advice on air quality …
32
Conclusion
Acknowledged
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 …
Government Response Summary
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.
33
Conclusion
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34
Conclusion
Ammonia emissions have remained broadly stable since 2007, with the latest data implying that the UK missed its 2020 ceiling for this pollutant.60 We heard from Defra that it only became clear that this target would be missed when the annual projections were published in 2021, and that it has …