Baroness Falkner of Margravine – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Falkner of Margravine on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in making their decision about how to vote on the implementation of real driving emissions tests at the 28 October meeting of the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles, whether they took into account (1) estimates from DEFRA and Public Health England that pollution from mono-nitrogen oxides is responsible for 23,500 premature deaths in the UK per annum, (2) the 2010 estimates from the WHO suggesting that air-pollution related deaths cost the UK $83,069 per annum, (3) the failure of London, Leeds, and Birmingham to maintain nitrogen dioxide levels within legal limits over the past five years, and (4) the Supreme Court’s ruling in R (on the application of ClientEarth) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2015] UKSC 28 on 29 April that they should take immediate action to tackle air pollution.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is committed to taking action on vehicle emissions testing that restores consumer confidence and delivers our wider air quality and climate objectives. We strongly support the current Real Driving Emissions agreement, which is expected to significantly reduce average real world NOx emissions from new diesel cars from 2017. It makes type approval requirements for diesel vehicles significantly more stringent by requiring manufacturers to ensure real-world emissions are maintained below 2.1 times the laboratory-testing limit in 2017 and at or below the laboratory-testing limit by 2020 (with a margin for measurement uncertainty). Issues relating to vehicle emissions are considered in the context of the UK Government’s plans for air quality. More detail is set out in the air quality plans published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the 17th December.
