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Curry Report

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the timetable and implementation of the Curry report. [63525]

Mr. Morley: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 26 March a series of early actions as a first step towards implementing the report. At the same time, a comprehensive process of engagement with a wide range of stakeholders was launched to explore how to translate the commission's vision into action. This has included a series of regional and sectoral events and the publication of a document, "Sustainable Food and Farming: Working Together". Feedback from these is now being analysed and will help inform construction of a Strategy for Sustainable Food and Farming in England, to be launched in the autumn. The strategy will incorporate a response to all of the Policy Commission's recommendations.

Beef Exports

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to meet her French counterpart to discuss the ban on British beef exports. [63526]

Mr. Morley: The Secretary of State regularly raises the French Government's illegal ban on British beef with her French counterpart. The Prime Minister also made it clear when he met President Chirac on 19 June that he expected the new French Government to lift their ban on the import of UK date-based export scheme beef rapidly.

Air Pollution

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what date the standards for the eight pollutants named in the National Air Quality Strategy were last reviewed; and on what date they will next be reviewed. [64666]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 27 June 2002]: The standards within the Air Quality Strategy are recommended to Ministers by the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS) or are based on the limit values in the European Union's Air Quality Daughter Directives. The Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards and their secretariat keep a watching brief on the literature for the health effects of air pollutants and make recommendations to the Department when they are aware of information that could change their original point of view.

The table sets out when each of the standards was first proposed, dates of any reviews already carried out and plans for future reviews.

Pollutant	First produced	Reviewed	Next review
Benzene	February 1994 by EPAQS	EU Second Daughter Directive limit value to be adopted in 2002	Daughter Directive requires the European Commission to report by 2004
1,3-butadiene	December 1994 by EPAQS	EPAQS second report due to be published shortly
Carbon monoxide	December 1994 by EPAQS	EU Second Daughter Directive limit value to be adopted in 2002	Daughter Directive requires the European Commission to report by 2004
Lead	May 1998 by EPAQS	EU First Daughter Directive limit value adopted in 1999	Daughter Directive requires the European Commission to report by 2003
Nitrogen dioxide	December 1996 by EPAQS	EU First Daughter Directive limit value adopted in 1999	To be reviewed by European Commission in 2003
Ozone	May 1994 by EPAQS	EU Third Daughter Directive limit value to be adopted in 2003	Under review as part of the Clear Air for Europe programme
Particulate matter	November 1995 by EPAQS	EU First Daughter Directive limit value adopted in 1999	To be reviewed by European Commission in 2003
Sulphur dioxide	September 1995 by EPAQS	EU First Daughter Directive limit value adopted in 1999	Daughter Directive requires the European Commission to report by 2003

1 Jul 2002 : Column 53W

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many air quality monitoring sites operate in the United Kingdom; how many of these sites monitor all the pollutants named in the National Air Quality Strategy; and how many of these sites recorded air quality exceedences for each of the pollutants named in the National Air Quality Strategy. [64661]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 27 June 2002]: There are a total of 1,709 air quality monitoring sites in United Kingdom. These are broken down by network in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Number of air quality monitoring sites in the United Kingdom

	Number of sites
Automatic monitoring (nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, PM 1 0 , carbon monoxide, ozone, benzene, 1,3-butadiene)	122
Non-automatic monitoring:
Nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes	1309
Black smoke/sulphur dioxide	150
Rural sulphur dioxide	40
Rural nitrogen dioxide diffusion tube	32
Lead	6
Benzene	28
Hazardous air pollutants (PCBs, Dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)	22
Total	1709

1 Jul 2002 : Column 54W

No sites monitor all the pollutants in the Air Quality Strategy. However, London Marylebone Road monitors all the pollutants except lead. The number of sites recording air quality exceedences for the pollutants named in the Strategy during 2001 are given in Table 2 below.

Table 2: number of sites exceeding the standards and objectives in the Air Quality Strategy in 2001

Automatic sites	Standard	Objective	Number of sites exceeding Air Quality Strategy standard in 2001	Number of sites exceeding Air Quality Strategy objective in 2001
Nitrogen dioxide	Hourly mean, 200 micrograms per metre cubed,	not to be exceeded more than 18 times per year	18	4
	Annual mean, 40 micrograms per metre cubed		32	0
Sulphur dioxide	15 minute mean, 266 micrograms per metre cubed	not to be exceeded more than 35 times per year	17	1
	Hourly mean, 350 micrograms per metre cubed,	not to be exceeded more than 24 times per year	2	0
	Daily mean, 125 micrograms per metre cubed	not to be exceeded more than 3 times per year	1	1
Particulate matter (PM 1 0 )	24 hour mean, 50 micrograms per cubic metre	not to be exceeded more than 35 times per year	59	6
	Annual mean, 40 micrograms per cubic metre		1
Carbon monoxide	Running 8 hour mean, 11.6 milligrams per metre cubed		0	0
Benzene	Running annual mean, 16.25 micrograms per metre cubed		0	0
1,3-butadiene	Running annual mean 2.25 micrograms per metre cubed		0	0
Non-Automatic sites			Number of sites exceeding Air Quality Strategy standard in 2001	Number of sites exceeding Air Quality Strategy objective in 2001
Nitrogen dioxide	Annual mean 40 micrograms per metre cubed		251
Sulphur dioxide	Daily mean, 125 micrograms per metre cubed	not to be exceeded more than 3 times per year	8	4
Lead	Annual mean, 0.5 micrograms per metre cubed		0	0

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when (a) 1,3-butadienes, (b) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, (c) cadmium, (d) arsenic, (e) nickel and (f) mercury will be added to the pollutants monitored under the National Air Quality Strategy for the United Kingdom. [64663]

1 Jul 2002 : Column 55W

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 27 June 2002]: Of these pollutants:

(a) 1,3 butadiene is already one of the eight pollutants covered by the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, published in January 2000 ("the Strategy");

(b) we consulted in September 2001 on the possibility of adding polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to the list of pollutants covered by the Strategy, and hope to make an announcement on this shortly. Levels of PAH in the UK are currently measured at 21 sites, and we hope to add a further 4 sites to the network as soon as possible;

(c) we have no immediate plans to add cadmium, arsenic, nickel and mercury to the list of pollutants covered by the Strategy. Our monitoring shows that levels of these pollutants in ambient air in the UK are not generally a cause for concern, and the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) estimates that emissions of each have fallen significantly in recent years. Between 1990 and 1999, for example, estimated emissions of cadmium, arsenic, nickel and mercury fell by 71 per cent. 69 per cent., 47 per cent., and 65 per cent. respectively.

We understand that the planned Fourth European Union Air Quality Daughter Directive may include proposals in respect of PAH, cadmium, arsenic, nickel and mercury. We intend to keep under review the need for separate national measures on these pollutants in the light of progress with negotiations on the Directive.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what efforts have been taken to ensure the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants plays a role in supporting the United Kingdom's input into air pollution policy making within the European Union. [64665]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 27 June 2002]: The Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants is a Department of Health non-departmental public body. Its advice is published in Reports and Statements, which are publicly available on the Committee's website "http:// www.doh.gov.uk/comeap/index.htm". As necessary we draw attention to that advice in contacts and in negotiations with the Commission and other member states. The advice from the Committee is taken into account in developing a UK position on proposals for new air quality legislation.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is currently carrying out reviews on the health impacts of particulate matter and ozone, which will feed into air pollution policy in the European Union. Department of Health officials ensure that WHO is aware of the work of the Committee.

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