Committee
Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee 24 February 2016
24 Feb 2016 · S4 · Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Air Quality (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 [Draft]
I will let Andrew Taylor answer the second part of your question. On the financial implications of the new objective, as I have said, there is a need to increase the number of PM2.5 monitoring stations. However, the aim is not to add an additional financial burden to our local authorities, so we will utilise central Government’s budgets for that purpose. Where possible, we will modify existing monitoring equipment to reduce costs.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Under agenda item 2, the committee will take evidence on the draft Air Quality (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2016. We welcome Dr Aileen McLeod, Minister...
The Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (Aileen McLeod)
SNP
Thank you, convener. I am delighted to be here this morning as the committee considers the draft regulations, which I hope will make an important contributio...
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
A report out yesterday said that 40,000 people across the United Kingdom will die early deaths because of air pollution. Could you spell out for us the parti...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
The data that Public Health England published in 2014 covering the whole of the United Kingdom suggested that around 2,000 premature deaths each year in Scot...
Andrew Taylor (Scottish Government)
The important thing about PM2.5 in health terms is that the particles are obviously very small. They penetrate deeply into the lung and cause respiratory and...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
The cleaner air for Scotland strategy sets out a series of actions for the short, medium and long term. In relation to health, we are including in legislatio...
Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP)
SNP
I have some air-quality management areas in my constituency and I have a technical question. How easy will it be, practically, to upgrade the AQMA monitors i...
Andrew Taylor
We are considering that issue at the moment. We already have a fairly extensive network of monitors for PM10, which is a slightly larger size particle. We ha...
Angus MacDonald
SNP
Do you have a timeline for that?
Andrew Taylor
That review should be complete in the next two or three months. After that, we will draw up a programme for rolling out the new PM2.5 monitoring network.
The Convener
SNP
There was recently news in the press about local authorities failing to monitor the effects in particular streets. A lot of this work ties up with the nature...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
All local authorities have air-quality management areas, so they have in place plans that contain a wide range of actions that are designed to improve local ...
Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Good morning to you and your officials, minister. My question partly follows on from the convener’s question. No business and regulatory impact assessment ha...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I will let Andrew Taylor answer the second part of your question. On the financial implications of the new objective, as I have said, there is a need to incr...
Andrew Taylor
On the action that local authorities might take, as the minister has said, many local authorities have in place air-quality action plans that contain a wide ...
Claudia Beamish
Lab
I am still not clear about this. It would be helpful not only for me but for the committee and others more generally to understand what action a local author...
Andrew Taylor
Local authorities can take a range of measures, and what measures they decide to take will depend on local circumstances. An example would be to clean up veh...
Graeme Dey (Angus South) (SNP)
SNP
I will follow-up Claudia Beamish’s point. I want a bit of clarity. It strikes me that there may be a far bigger picture that goes beyond local and national G...
Neil Ritchie (Scottish Government)
A number of actions can be taken. I do not recall the report of two or three years ago that you refer to, but there is work at European Union level on vehicl...
Graeme Dey
SNP
Just to be clear, I am not in any way against the measures—we absolutely need to do this. I just wanted information on where we think the issue sits. That Wo...
Dave Thompson (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
Of course, electric vehicles have zero emissions, which is one way to ensure that there is no PM2.5—or anything else, for that matter. However, there still s...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
You are absolutely right. The Government has invested £11 million in the development of the chargeplace Scotland network of electric vehicle charging points....
The Convener
SNP
Never let it be said that the RACCE Committee fails to look at the minutiae of particulates as well as the minutiae of secondary legislation. It is all very ...
The Convener
SNP
Does any member wish to speak?
Sarah Boyack
Lab
I will just briefly say that I strongly support the measure. However, as has been teased out in the questions from members, although it looks like a really b...
The Convener
SNP
Minister, do you wish to wind up?
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I am happy not to do so. Motion agreed to.
The Convener
SNP
We will take a short break to allow the officials to change. 10:20 Meeting suspended. 10:21 On resuming—