Committees

Air Quality

Inquiry

Air pollution has been classified as the largest environmental risk to UK public health. In 2016, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Physicians estimated about 40,000 people in the UK die every year due to outdoor air pollution, with disadvantaged communities disproportionately affected. It also estimated it costs the country £20 billion a year.

The Coronavirus pandemic has brought air quality into sharper focus. Emerging research suggests that poor air quality is correlated with higher death and infection rates from COVID-19. The lockdown led to a significant short-term improvement in air quality in many areas, but there are concerns that policies to discourage the use of public transport to limit transmission of the virus may now lead to increased road traffic pollution in cities.

In this context the EFRA Committee is revisiting its 2018 Improving Air Quality report and whether the Government’s 2019 Air Quality Strategy and the Environment Bill will deliver the national leadership necessary to deliver the “step change” in how air pollution is tackled in the UK.

Read the interactive summary of our report.

Read the call for evidence for more information about this inquiry.

Reports, special reports and government responses

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Fifth report - Air Quality and coronavirus: a glimpse of a different future or business as usual
Inquiry Air Quality
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
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889KB
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HC 468
Report
Response to this report
Seventh Special Report - Air Quality and Coronavirus: A Glimpse of a Different Future or Business as Usual: Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report
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246KB
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HC 1362
Special Report
Seventh Special Report - Air Quality and Coronavirus: A Glimpse of a Different Future or Business as Usual: Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report
Inquiry Air Quality
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
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246KB
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HC 1362
Special Report

Oral evidence transcripts

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16 November 2020
Inquiry Air Quality
Witnesses Defra, Department for Transport, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, and Joint Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Department for Transport Air Quality Unit
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
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306KB
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395KB
Oral Evidence
3 November 2020
Inquiry Air Quality
Witnesses Bristol City Council, and Derby City Council
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
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259KB
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333KB
Oral Evidence
29 September 2020
Inquiry Air Quality
Witnesses Centre for Cities, and Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
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266KB
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294KB
Oral Evidence

Written evidence

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AQU0092 - Air Quality
Witnesses Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Open PDF
147KB
Written Evidence
AQU0089 - Air Quality
Witnesses Imperial College London
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Open PDF
105KB
Written Evidence
AQU0088 - Air Quality
Witnesses Stephen Holgate
Committees Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
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44KB
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3KB
Written Evidence

Other publications

No other publications published.

Contact us

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  • Email: efracom@parliament.uk
  • Phone: (General Enquiries) 020 7219 1119 / (Media Enquiries) 020 7219 3279
  • Address: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA