This In Focus note provides an examination of air pollution in the UK, and its reported impact on public health.
Air Quality and Health in the UK (80 KB , PDF)
A new study from King’s College London indicated that air pollution in London is now at levels which are more detrimental to health than previously thought, amounting to a ‘mortality burden’ of the equivalent of nearly 9,500 people per year. The World Health Organisation notes that there is an established link between air pollution and increased risk of disease and premature mortality, and the Government’s own data reveal that air pollution in some areas of the UK—such as London, the West Midlands, and West Yorkshire—is in breach of legal limits. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the biggest human-made sources of fine particulates and nitrogen dioxide—pollutants which have been identified as having significant negative impacts on human health in the UK—are stationary fuel combustion and transport.
Air Quality and Health in the UK (80 KB , PDF)
In 2024, the House of Lords established a committee to consider the prevention and consequences of preterm birth in England. This briefing provides a summary of the House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee findings, reactions to its report, and the government’s response, ahead of a debate in the House of Lords on 6 June 2025.
In December 2024, the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee published a report examining methane emissions in the UK. While acknowledging the UK’s efforts to reduce emissions, the committee expressed concerns about the UK’s international role in addressing the issue. It made several recommendations, including calling on the government to publish a methane action plan detailing how it would meet its global commitment to reducing methane emissions.
The House of Lords is due to discuss NHS staff access to single-sex spaces on 1 May 2025. Following a recent Supreme Court judgment about the meaning of the term ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission issued an interim update on 25 April 2025 about the implications of this for workplaces and services provided to the public.
