Any future policies or targets need to be underpinned by evidence to ensure that they deliver the most effective change. This includes assessing the associated practicalities, such as the social, economic and technical impacts. We need to gather evidence to make sure we are targeting the right areas in the right way. The Member almost precipitated some of my lines by referring to the First Minister's manifesto. Indeed, there was a manifesto commitment to improve air quality through the development of a clean air Act for Wales. This is something that I welcome, and work on the clean air programme that we're doing now already may identify gaps and opportunities where new legislation will be required to reduce air pollution. That is something that's on the table and we'll address going forward. But it's also important that we recognise, as we said, that we need to take action now, and we do already have some extensive legislative powers and tools at our disposal that allow us to do that. These include planning, infrastructure and communication measures, amongst others.

Assessment of air quality and associated environmental risks occurs at a number of levels. Local authorities are responsible for managing air pollution in their areas as part of the local air quality management regime, established under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995. We have issued extensive statutory guidance setting out what is expected of local authorities in fulfilling their local air quality management duties. Our guidance states that local authorities must take a risk-based approach to the assessment of local air quality. This focuses monitoring on the locations where members of the public are more likely to be exposed to excessive levels of air pollution, such as schools, hospitals and nurseries, among others, known as sensitive-receptor locations.

National and local monitoring and modelling were established for different purposes. In order to develop an improved understanding of air quality across Wales, we are working with both local and UK partners to understand how local data can be better integrated with national data. We're also working with Public Health Wales to develop more local evidence, where it is needed, to complement existing evidence on airborne pollution.  

Last year, a pilot project to test a new public health-driven approach to air pollution risk assessment was completed in the Cwm Taf health board area. A paper has been drafted to summarise and promote the work amongst stakeholders, and this will aid us in developing a public health-driven approach to enhance local air quality management risk assessment in Wales.

Welsh Government is taking a broad range of actions to tackle transport emissions across the whole of Wales. Many will support air quality improvements and the decarbonisation of transport. This includes encouraging modal shift. All of us must become less reliant on the private car and move towards more sustainable models of transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport. I wonder how many people in this Chamber and in this building today got here by car. But, as the Member said, this is why we need to work across Government with all the levers that are at our disposal, because, while this is a health and environmental issue, many of the things that will achieve that change rely on transport, which is why the emphasis on working across Government is so important to make sure that those alternatives are there for people.

This Welsh Government has invested over £60 million over three years from 2018 to create active travel routes across Wales to support safer, healthier and more attractive options for citizens. We also have a bold ambition to reduce the carbon footprint of buses and taxis in Wales to zero by 2028. This action supports improvements to air quality in our towns and cities, and shows leadership in the drive to low carbon and low emission transport.

This spring, we'll publish the clean air zone framework for Wales. Any local authority in Wales may introduce a clean air zone in order to address local air quality issues, and clean air zones have the potential to bring about real improvements in air quality by encouraging behaviour change and raising awareness of air pollution.

In December last year, we published 'Planning Policy Wales', which has been completely rewritten in light of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. Air quality is embedded throughout 'Planning Policy Wales' edition 10, in addition to a dedicated section on air quality and soundscape. This is to ensure air quality is considered early on in the planning process, rather than a merely technical consideration, almost as an add-on, and to be central rather than a supplementary at the end of the process. Further support in technical guidance on noise and air quality will be published within the next two years.

Work on domestic combustion policy is an integral part of the clean air programme. This month, Welsh Government held the first meeting of a task and finish group made up of representatives from industry, health, DEFRA and local authorities to support and oversee the delivery of future domestic combustion policy in Wales. As you've already heard today, a multi-faceted and holistic approach is required, which looks at fuels, appliances, maintenance, legislation and behaviour changes, amongst other things, to fully address the air quality issues, given the scale of the problem. All manner of intervention will be considered as part of this work, including prohibiting the sale or quantity of some solid fuels, and banning their use where it is deemed necessary.

In March, the first meeting of the cross-governmental communications behaviour change group will take place. This work is vital to improving air quality across Wales. Whilst we develop policies to tackle air quality at Government level, we need to raise awareness of air pollution at an individual and community level too. It's important that we encourage everybody to ask, 'What can I do to take action to reduce our emissions?' The communications group will be working with external stakeholders to develop air quality education and communications messaging to inform the Welsh public of the actions we can take to tackle air pollution together.

The Member also referred to the complex issues that we face within the Port Talbot area, with the combination of factors there. You will be aware that the Minister for Economy and Transport and I, in my previous role, met with Tata Steel, Neath Port Talbot council and Natural Resources Wales at the end of last year to reaffirm this Government's commitment to making continuous air quality improvements in Port Talbot. Over the next 12 months, the Welsh Government will be undertaking work to improve and better understand the issues in the area, and this includes a review and update of the Port Talbot air quality action plan to ensure we have fit-for-purpose governance arrangements in the area and remedial actions needed are targeted effectively. This work will be informed by the outcome of a peer review from the University of the West of England, which is due imminently.

In addition, the Welsh Government is taking action to address exceedances of legal limits for nitrogen dioxide, in as soon a time as possible, on the M4 between junctions 41 and 42 at Port Talbot. Measures being taken are highlighted in our plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations in Wales. To bring all this together, we'll publish the clean air plan later this year. This plan will set out key pollutants and their effects on public health and the natural environment in Wales. It will include measures to achieve compliance with legislative requirements, identify cross-Government and sectoral actions required to achieve air quality improvements, and set up communication, engagement and education measures to encourage behavioural change to support a reduction in air pollution. 

A key role of this work will be to engage with children and young people to develop the plan to aid us in developing a strategy that promotes the well-being of current and future generations, because we know taking action is key to their future and they have a key part to play in realising our ambitions to tackle air quality and also to raise awareness amongst their peers. We've seen in the Young Dragons programme a number of primary schools across Wales taking part in monitoring and developing their own behaviour change campaigns, which could include walking buses, scooting to school and no idling measures outside the school grounds. I look forward to a nine-year-old knocking on somebody's window telling them to turn off their engine. 

In closing, I'd just like to reiterate this Government's commitment to action now and in the future to ensure we have the sustained improvements that we know we need in air quality health and well-being.