Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) structure and (b) membership of the cross-departmental air quality unit is.

Mr John Hayes

The Joint Air Quality Unit has been established to lead delivery of the national air quality plan for nitrogen dioxide, published in December last year.

The unit is headed by a senior civil servant. The team consists of civil servants from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Transport (DfT), and is primarily based within Defra.

It reports to two Senior Responsible Officers: the Director for the Energy, Technology, and Innovation directorate in DfT, and the Director of the Environmental Quality directorate in Defra. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the Cabinet representative for air quality policy. Decisions relating to delivery of the national air plan for nitrogen dioxide are agreed jointly by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Environment and Rural Life Opportunities at Defra, and the Minister of State at the Department for Transport.