Diolch, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank the Welsh Conservatives for tabling this debate on this very important issue, and I’m very happy to support the original motion. I’m very sorry that David Melding, the Member for South Wales Central, wasn’t reassured enough last week by my answer to him, that, yes, I am absolutely responsible for air quality; it is within my portfolio. And it is absolutely key to public health, something I’m very passionate about, and it does obviously have a significant impact on the health of people in Wales. Around 1,300 deaths a year can be linked to long-term exposure to fine particulates. Concern regarding the health effects of emissions from diesel vehicles is very topical following the Volkswagen emissions scandal and the news about diesel emissions below temperatures of 18 degrees last week. Simon Thomas referred to that in moving amendment 1, and, again, I’m happy to support that amendment.

I do support calls for the European Commission to clarify the regulations on emissions from diesel vehicles. I think regulations on the testing need to be much more transparent, and I think many Members made the point—Simon Thomas certainly did—that the EU legislation that covers us now, we signed up to it willingly. There is an opportunity—Andrew R.T. Davies, I hope you’re listening, because you were asked for three opportunities, so here’s one for you straight away—and I do think that going forward we are able to strengthen it, and it’s certainly something that I’ll be very happy to look at.

Several Members raised the issue around the poor levels of air quality in Crumlin. My colleague Rhianon Passmore, the Member for Islwyn, raised it with me last week, and it is obviously a very serious local problem. Since Rhianon Passmore raised it with me last week, I’ve made it very clear to Caerphilly County Borough Council—I’ve written to the leader to emphasise the importance of the plan, particularly the timetable that they’ve now given me—that they will consult on a draft air quality action plan by November. I think it’s really important that they keep to that, and my officials will be monitoring it very closely.

The Welsh Government has developed a very clear and agreed approach to local air quality management in Wales. We’ve established statutory air quality objectives through the Air Quality (Wales) Regulations 2010. Every local authority is required to review their air quality and provide an annual report on their findings. Where those air quality objectives are not being achieved, the authority must designate an air quality management area and then develop a local action plan.

We also issued statutory guidance to ensure local authorities follow best practice when reviewing air quality and developing action plans. New Welsh policy guidance was published in March this year and is being used in local authority reports already. I am also going to consider options for enforcement if necessary, again including using my powers to issue directions to local authorities in relation to local air quality management. But, of course, there’s always more that we can do.

I think we need to better utilise data gathered by local authorities and use them to inform the new state of natural resources report and area statements produced by Natural Resources Wales. And, I think they should be used to then inform the assessments of local well-being and associated plans produced by public services boards.

We are going to consult soon on proposals to improve the local air quality and noise management regime in Wales, and we’re going to build on the discussions that have previously been held between Welsh Government and local authorities. This will involve streamlining processes and developing a robust procedure for following up overdue progress reports and action plans. This consultation will include an open-ended question inviting comments and suggestions on any potential ideas for improving air quality in Wales. I very much look forward to receiving responses from interested parties. However, it is clear our local efforts must work alongside a national approach to air quality that tackles the main causes of pollution and protects people from them.

The Welsh Conservative motion calls on us to develop an effective low-emission strategy for Wales. I absolutely support this and I think we need to go even further. I think we need an approach that reduces emissions where possible, ensures that pollutants are effectively dispersed before they reach people if they cannot be prevented, and reduces the health risks from unavoidable exposure to pollutants. Steffan Lewis raised the question of possible low-emission zones and that’s something that, I think, in the upcoming consultation we have, I’d be very interested to hear people’s views on. But, at the moment, they are an existing option for local authorities.

I think it means there is very little point in developing a stand-alone strategy for air quality in a single silo. I think it’s really important that air quality is embedded across all policies on infrastructure, planning, transport, active travel and public health, to name a few. So, my officials are in the early stages of canvassing local authorities on how we do improve national planning policy and guidance in relation to air and noise pollution. We are also working closely with partners, as no organisation or sector can obviously tackle this issue on their own.

Natural Resources Wales, for example, have been undertaking research on the air quality benefits of trees. They’ve estimated that trees remove around 250 tonnes of air pollution from the atmosphere each year in the three urban study areas of Wrexham, Bridgend and the Tawe catchment. This is the equivalent in monetary terms of over £1.5 million-worth of savings to the NHS every year from the resultant respiratory conditions. We’re also working with regulators and industry to address the specific challenges associated with air pollution from industrial sources in Port Talbot and the Swansea valley. Simply complying with air quality objectives in the relatively few areas where they are breached is not enough if we are really going to reduce the health burden of air pollution on society—