Dear Neil Parish, Mary Creagh, Lilian Greenwood & Andrew Selous,

Thank you for the request for additional information to supplement our evidence to the joint inquiry on 30 November, which our Departments received on Monday 11 December.

At the evidence session we agreed to write to the joint committee with further information on the cost of air pollution to the exchequer, spend to date on measures to improve air quality and cleaner transport, and the number of electric vehicle charge points that we expect to be installed by 2020.

You have also asked for additional information on how the nearly 20% reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions since 2010 was achieved, whether there is a target for bus use as a whole, the proportion of the bus fleet that is clean, and wider measures that have been put in place with regard to the impact of disease conditions.

We have set out below a joint response on behalf of the three Departments to which the committee’s requests were directed, containing the further information sought.

Cost of air pollution to the exchequer

Government does not routinely calculate the total cost of air pollution but rather focuses on assessing the impacts associated with relevant policies, programmes and projects. The way that these impacts are assessed is set out in the best practice guidance (Green Book supplementary guidance).

The latest estimated aggregate impact of air pollution was published in September 2015, and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/460401/air-quality- econanalysis-nitrogen-interim-guidance.pdf. Experts agree that the impact is large, although there are differing views about how large. There are therefore uncertainties around the estimates in this report, primarily as our understanding of the mortality impacts of NO2 has changed significantly since it was produced. As Dr Coffey mentioned in the inquiry, the Government is waiting for updated estimates of these impacts from the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants.

Overview of what has been spent to date on the various measures that are included in the air quality plan, including on walking and cycling schemes

The Government has committed £3.5 billion to cleaner transport and air quality since 2010. Overall spend to date on the measures identified in the 2017 Air Quality Plan is around £1.55 billion. Of this, £555 million was spent on walking and cycling schemes.

£475 million has been allocated to delivery of the Air Quality Plan (£420 million from Autumn Budget 2017 and £55 million from Spending Review 2015). In addition, the devolved administrations have received around £89 million in Barnett consequentials following these allocations, leading to £564 million in total. Devolved administrations are not obliged to spend the Barnett consequentials on air quality, but rather can allocate according to local needs and priorities.

Annex A sets out the breakdown of spend to date across the various measures identified in the Air Quality Plan. We have provided additional detail on the nature of the funded walking and cycling schemes as a footnote to the table, since committee members expressed a particular interest in these elements of the spend.

Assessment of how the measures Government has implemented have delivered the 20% reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions since 2010

Data from the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) shows substantial nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission reductions from the following sources between 2010 and 2015:

• Coal burning and natural gas burning from power stations
• Gas oil in industrial non-road mobile machinery and mobile agricultural machinery
• Petrol passenger cars
• HGVs
• Buses and coaches driving in urban areas
• Natural gas from domestic combustion

It is likely that the reduction in total NOx emissions was largely the result of the closure of a number of coal-fired power stations and the long-term trend away from the use of coal and oil in power stations and industrial combustion plants. Reductions in emissions from road transport are likely to have resulted from fleet turnover to cleaner vehicles.

Terms of reference and functioning of the programme board, showing how it involves local government

The terms of reference for the NO2 delivery programme board are included at Annex B. The committee will note that programme board members include the Regional Deputy Director of the joint DCLG/BEIS Cities and Local Growth Unit, the Programme Director of Local Partnerships, and the Head of Policy and Research at Centre for Cities.

Clarification of whether there is a target for bus use as a whole

We can confirm that there is no target for bus use.

Proportion of the UK bus fleet that is clean, either through retrofitting or through being an ultra low emission bus or a Euro VI standard

National Statistics (Annual bus statistics, year ending March 2017) www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-statistics#publications-2017 show that the number of buses used by local bus operators in England has remained at similar levels since 2004/05, at

around 35,000 buses. Over a quarter of these buses were in London. The average age of a bus in England in 2016/17 was 7.6 years.

Government is unable to provide an accurate figure for the proportion of the UK bus fleet that is ‘clean’ for a number of reasons. Most operators consider this commercially sensitive information, so do not publish details of their bus fleets and the splits across Euro III, IV, V and VI. Transport for London (TfL) is an exception and regularly publishes its fleet statistics, the most recent of which can be found here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/bus-fleet-data-and-audits. However, these figures should be considered in isolation and not as representative of the UK as a whole. TfL has significantly more funding available for the purchase of low emission buses than bus operators and local authorities outside London.

The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership has estimated that there are 2697 buses either accredited as, or assumed to be, Low Emission Buses (15% greenhouse gas emissions savings in comparison to a Euro V and meets Euro VI engine standards for air pollutant emissions), alongside an estimated 1175 Euro VI standard diesel buses, in service in the UK. As there is currently no single Government or industry database which breaks down the number of buses, coaches and mini buses registered in the UK by Euro standard, it has not been possible to provide a more accurate figure for the number of standard Euro VI diesel buses. Around 1700 new LEBs have been put on the roads with assistance from DfT funding since 2009. 1240 of these were funded by the four rounds of the Green Bus Fund, which ran from 2009-2014, and 479 from the 2015 Low Emission Bus Scheme (326 from the initial funding announced in July 2016, and an additional 153 from the second tranche announced in August 2017).

Government does not hold data on the proportion of the current UK bus fleet that has been retrofitted to Euro VI-equivalent emissions standard. Since 2013, Government has awarded over

£27 million to retrofit almost 3,000 vehicles (mainly buses) including under the Clean Bus Technology Fund and the Clean Vehicle Technology Fund. However these schemes did not set outcomes in terms of Euro standards equivalence. In August 2017, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership launched a Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS) which is based on Euro VI-equivalent emissions standards. In September 2017, Government published an invitation to local authorities to apply for the Clean Bus Technology Fund 2017-19, one of the criteria being that technologies supported must be accredited under the CVRAS.

Information on the specific measures that have been put in place with regard to the impact of disease conditions

While it has proven challenging to attribute quantifiable health impacts to specific pollutants, it is even more difficult to construct metrics that measure reductions of health impacts that can be attributed to the interventions made by Government to reduce emissions and concentrations of air pollutants. Government’s focus has been on measuring and modelling the reductions that it achieves, with the assumption that in achieving those reductions it is reducing people’s exposure, and thus achieving gradual health benefits.

Information on how many charging points will be installed with the £600 million funding for clean vehicles

Following a range of further investment commitments in ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs), including most recently the Autumn 2017 Budget, committed spend on ULEVs has risen to almost

£1.5 billion between April 2015 and March 2021. As Jesse Norman explained to the joint committee, this is the total budget for ULEVs and not just for chargepoints.

Since 2015 more than 38,500 domestic chargepoints have been installed under the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, and more than 750 chargepoints installed under the Workplace Charging Scheme.

The Department for Transport anticipates that more than 1,900 chargepoints will be installed under the Go Ultra Low Cities scheme, a mixture of flagship hubs of rapid chargepoints and on-street charging solutions. More than 2,600 chargepoints are due to be installed to support charging infrastructure for taxis, and the Department expects that funding made available for Local Authorities under the On Street Residential Charging will enable the installation of thousands more chargepoints on residential streets.

The Department has committed to publish a strategy by March 2018 which will look at the pathway to zero emissions from road transport. This will consider additional funding to 2020 for charging infrastructure.

We trust that this covers all the committee’s requests.

Yours sincerely,

Thérèse Coffey MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Environment

Jesse Norman MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Roads, Local Transport and Devolution

Andrew Jones MP

Exchequer Secretary to HM Treasury

Annex A – overview of spending on measures identified in the Air Quality Plan

Annex B – Terms of Reference for the NO2 Delivery Programme Board

The NO2 Delivery Programme Board will be chaired by Defra and DfT Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) who are responsible for ensuring that the programme meets its objectives and delivers projected benefits. The Board will also be attended by the Programme Director who is responsible for delivery of the Project within agreed tolerances as set by the Programme Board.

The Board has overall accountability for governance of the programme. The Board will be supported by the programme team who are responsible for monitoring, reporting and controlling delivery.

The Board should meet on a bimonthly basis once the programme is established (by agreement of the board) with additional meetings of the Board arranged when required [in practice the Board has met monthly since October and we envisage it needing to do so in coming months].

Key responsibilities/accountabilities

i)        Ensuring the programme and its projects continue to meet the strategic aims of De- fra and DfT and that synergies with other Government objectives such as growth, housing development, devolution, carbon reduction and its industrial strategy are maximised.

ii)      Approving the programme objectives and benefits and other supporting documenta- tion, reviewing periodically and agreeing any changes in scope.

iii)    Ensuring that projects within the programme have been established with appropri- ate objectives, governance and resources.

iv)    Approving any variances against agreed tolerances (timescales, quality or budget) (to be determined).

v)     Monitoring programme progress – including key delivery milestones, benefits and budget forecast – as well as providing oversight of progress by each local authority.

vi)    Identifying projects at risk and agreeing actions to bring them back on track.

vii)  Securing support for programme and project objectives from linked Government ac- tivities and programmes, such as wider transport investment and devolution discus- sions.

viii) Escalation of risks and issues to Defra/DfT senior management and Ministers.

ix)    Monitoring and agreeing actions to mitigate programme risks.

x)     Ensuring adequate resources are deployed to deliver agreed priorities.

xi)    Approving progress reporting to the Defra Environmental Quality governance struc- tures, DfT’s International Strategy and Environment Programme, Defra/DfT senior management and Ministers

Members

• Joint (alternating) Chairs:
• Director for Energy, Technology and International DfT,
• Director of Environment Quality Defra

• Deputy Directors, JAQU
• Defra Deputy Director for Air Quality and Industrial Emissions
• DfT Deputy Director for Environmental Strategy
• Deputy Director, OLEV
• DfT Deputy Director for Buses and Taxis
• DfT Deputy Director for Regional Engagement
• DfT Deputy Director, Airport Capacity
• DfT Deputy Director, Head of Road Investment Strategy 1 team
• Defra and DfT Deputy Directors, Finance Business Partnering
• DfT, Deputy Director, Head of EU Exit, Environment and Innovation Analysis
• Defra, Head of Procurement Technical Services
• Regional Deputy Director, DCLG/BEIS Cities and Local Growth Unit

• Director of Environmental Public Health, PHE
• Cabinet Office (EDS DD)

• HMT (Head of Defra Spending Team)
• GLD Deputy Directors from Defra and DfT

Other officials to attend as necessary – e.g. programme team, commercial, legal or finance experts

External Members

• Highways England, Environment Group Manager
• Programme Director, Local Partnerships
• Head of Policy and Research, Centre for Cities

Administrative Support

The Secretariat for the Programme Board will be the Programme Office within JAQU (to be established).

Standard Board Papers

i)        Agenda and action points

ii)      Risks and Issues Log

iii)    Programme Dashboard, including overview of each project, and programme Plan/ Milestones