7. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact on Wales of the UK Government scrapping the local air quality grants scheme? OQ60986

Thank you for the question. The UK Government’s decision not to fund its local air quality grant scheme does not impact Wales. It solely supports English local authorities, which will not have access to that scheme. However, in Wales, on 19 April, the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs agreed a £1 million budget for Wales’s local air quality management support fund for the financial year that we are now in.

Well, thank you very much, First Minister, for looking into that and also for the response of the Cabinet Secretary, because we know that thousands of children are living on polluted roads. They don't choose to live there, they are obliged to live there because that is the only choice open to them. And we absolutely have to bear down on this as one of the main sources of pollutants, along with fossil fuels generally, both used for heating and for driving motor cars. So, I wondered if you could tell us if the scheme that the Welsh Government is now going to push ahead with will not be impacted in any way by the consequentials that might have been received by the Welsh Government as a result of the UK Government simply turning its back on air pollution, it would seem. 

I think there are two broad points to mention. The first is that the decision made by Steve Barclay is simply for England. He decided not to carry on funding local air quality management scheme support in England. That would have been £6 million in England that is now not going to happen because he's scrapped the scheme. Actually, what we're doing in Wales with the £1 million that Huw Irranca-Davies has decided to invest in this area does mean that we're going to carry on the support. The contrast, I think, is that if in Wales we had gone ahead with a scheme of a similar size to the £6 million in England, then it would have been an approximate two-thirds reduction in the scheme that we're undertaking. So, actually, the level of support here in Wales is significantly better even if England had gone ahead with the scheme that it has.

We recognise the environmental health and well-being benefits that improved air quality can deliver. We recognise we have really challenging spots in different communities in Wales. This is about how we'll support communities and local authorities to try and make a real difference and to then understand the broader action we need to take countrywide. So, I do believe that there is a more positive future for us, a future that looks at air quality, that looks at the future of our economy, that looks at the future of transport. Our journey to net zero is an important one for us in environmental health terms, and I believe—and you'll hear later today from the economy and energy Secretary—actually, a future that looks for more investment and more opportunities in a genuinely sustainable economy.

Finally, question 8, Cefin Campbell.