Hansard

There is mounting evidence of the health and environmental impacts of poor air quality and in that respect the committee’s inquiry has been timely. I welcome the opportunity that it offers to highlight the range of policies and initiatives that the Scottish Government and its partners are implementing to deliver further reductions in air pollution.

Although air quality has improved markedly in recent years—Scottish air quality in particular compares well with that in the rest of the United Kingdom and Europe—hotspots of poorer air quality remain in many of our towns and cities. We all agree that more needs to be done. Poor air quality affects us all, but we know that vulnerable groups in society—the very young, the elderly and those with existing respiratory and cardiovascular conditions—are disproportionately affected. We are therefore determined to build on our achievements to date and drive down pollution levels still further.

Air quality is a cross-cutting issue that is key to a number of other policy areas, notably transport, climate change, land use planning, public and environmental health and energy. Work undertaken across all of those areas has been hugely important in bringing us to where we are today. However, the complexity of effectively co-ordinating interactions between diverse and wide-ranging policies means that, in the past, we have not necessarily always gotten it right. There is no doubt in my mind that opportunities have been missed, and that Governments have not always realised the full potential or have avoided potential inconsistencies. To provide a focus for further action, in November 2015, we published “Cleaner Air for Scotland”, our first distinct air quality strategy. I remind members that that means that the strategy is barely two years old.

“Cleaner Air for Scotland” sets out a series of 40 key actions that will help us towards full compliance with EU and domestic air quality legislation, and our vision of Scotland having the best air quality in Europe. Underpinning the strategy is an emphasis on protecting human health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities. In support of that, we have already made significant progress.

We were the first country in Europe to legislate for the World Health Organization guideline value for particulate matter of the class PM_2.5—a pollutant that is of special concern for human health, because small particles can penetrate deep into the lungs. We are also establishing a PM_2.5 monitoring network to support achievement of that target, which is more than twice as stringent as the equivalent set in EU legislation. We have also created detailed individual air quality models for each of our four biggest cities within the national modelling framework. Those models will greatly assist councils in taking their local air quality action plans to the next level with more targeted policy interventions.

Since the publication of “Cleaner Air for Scotland”, we have increased our level of ambition still further, with a commitment to establish Scotland’s first low-emission zone by the end of 2018, which as we now know will be in Glasgow. That will be followed by further zones in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh by 2020. Subsequent zones will be established in other air quality management areas by 2023, where evidence suggests that such interventions will be effective.

The Scottish Government’s budget, which was recently agreed by Parliament, includes new funding of £10.8 million a year to support low-emission zone work. The budget also confirms a doubling of air quality monitoring funding from £0.5 million to £1 million a year. The overall air quality budget now stands at £4.5 million a year. The intention is to allocate more than 70 per cent of the low-emission zone funding—about £7.8 million—to support our bus industry to prepare for low-emission zones. We believe that such funding would be enough to support the retrofitting of more than 300 buses in Glasgow, which is more than 40 per cent of the city centre fleet. The Minister for Transport and the Islands will say more about that work later, when he will pick up on specific transport-related issues.

Another central pillar of “Cleaner Air for Scotland” is effective communication, which was one of the issues raised in the committee’s report. One of the six overarching objectives in the strategy is:

“A Scotland where all citizens are well informed, engaged, and empowered to improve our air quality”.

Last year, the Scottish Government helped fund and develop a permanent interactive air quality exhibit at the Glasgow Science Centre. Together with SEPA, we are now building on the success of that by developing a mobile version of the exhibit to be taken around the country. It will help to demonstrate the actions that we can all take to improve air quality. We hope to launch the mobile exhibit later in the year in conjunction with the second clean air day, which is to take place on 21 June. I hope that members will look out for that coming into their local areas.

For the inaugural clean air day last summer, I visited Sciennes primary school in Edinburgh, where I was hugely impressed by the knowledge and engagement of the pupils in relation to air quality. During the visit, SEPA conducted a session using the excellent air quality education package that it has developed. That was just one of many events that made the first clean air day such a success. The aim is for this year’s clean air day to be even bigger and better, with planning of the programme well under way. We can all play a part in that, and I strongly encourage members to get involved.

Although the current focus in “Cleaner Air for Scotland” is very much on transport—which was a deliberate decision, as transport continues to be the most important air pollution source in our towns and cities—we must remember that other pollutant sources also impact on health and the environment. As we make progress with implementing transport-related actions, we will begin to focus more attention on those other sources. However, I want to use this opportunity to highlight a couple of the things that we are already doing in relation to issues that the committee has drawn attention to in its report.

Agriculture is one such issue. We are working to establish best practices for slurry application and storage to reduce emissions, while ensuring that it is properly co-ordinated with greenhouse gas reduction efforts. The committee has also rightly drawn attention to the issue of wood burning. Jointly with the other UK Administrations, we are currently undertaking research to look at attitudes and behaviours relating to domestic combustion, and we hope to be in a position to report on that research later this year.

Although we have many reasons to be optimistic that we are now making progress in improving the quality of our air, it must also be acknowledged that new and existing challenges remain. When thinking about new challenges, the issue of the UK’s exit from the EU features highly. As in many other policy areas, legislation established at European level has created a framework within which international co-operation has been a major driver in reducing emissions of air pollutants in Scotland and further afield. That is particularly important in the case of air pollution, which of course is transboundary by its nature. It is essential that we do not lose that following EU exit, and the Scottish Government is absolutely determined to ensure that we maintain our environmental standards in whichever scenario may emerge in the future.

Members will also be aware, as I am, of the recent series of judicial reviews brought by ClientEarth over the UK’s failures to comply with EU air quality targets. We remain committed to securing compliance with EU obligations by 2020.

“Cleaner Air for Scotland” was a commendable collaborative effort involving the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, Health Protection Scotland, SEPA, local authorities and many other organisations across the public and private sectors. I expect that partnership working to continue. Successfully delivering the remit of the strategy will be challenging but it is achievable with a concerted effort to continue working together. I thank the committee for its report. I will also write to the committee in more detail in response to its specific recommendations.