The next item, therefore, is the statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change—no, by the Minister for Climate Change, on the Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill. And I call on the Minister to make the statement—Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. I'm very pleased to make this statement in relation to the Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Bill, which was laid before the Senedd yesterday. The air we breathe, and the sounds carried on it, affect our health and well-being every minute of every day, even when we are asleep. The World Health Organization has described air pollution as the world’s largest single environmental health risk, and noise pollution as the second in western Europe. Our programme for government recognises the high importance of improving the air environment through the commitment given to bring forward this Bill, previously known as the clean air Bill.

The aim of the Bill is to bring forward measures that will contribute to improvements in air and soundscape quality in Wales, reducing public health impacts associated with a poor air environment. I know this is an aim you all support, following useful discussions with the cross-party group in November, and through commitments for a clean air Act in many of your recent manifestos. In developing the Bill, we built on proposals consulted on through the clean air plan and White Paper on a clean air Bill. We've also included proposals related to noise and soundscapes, becoming the first part of the UK to bring forward such legislation.

The Bill needs to be seen in a broad context, not in isolation. It is one part of cross-sector action under way to tackle air and noise pollution. It builds on existing legislation and the suite of actions to reduce air and noise pollution contained in our clean air plan for Wales and noise and soundscape plan. The proposals in the Bill aim to help improve the quality of our air environment at a Wales-wide level, at a local and regional level, and throughout society. The Bill also recognises the importance of considering airborne noise as a type of airborne pollution, and sound more generally as a key attribute of the air environment.

At a Wales-wide level, we are creating a framework to set national targets for air quality. This provides a strong mechanism to deliver the Welsh Government’s long-term ambitions for clean air and associated public health and environmental outcomes, alongside supporting action to tackle the climate and nature emergency. The framework complements existing legislative air quality standards. Regulation-making powers in the Bill allow Ministers to set Wales-specific, evidence-based targets in relation to air pollutants. Through the framework, we can tighten targets on air pollutants and introduce targets for newly identified pollutant risks, based on evidence as it emerges, including World Health Organization air quality guidelines. Having targets set in regulations, rather than in primary legislation, means they are easier to update and are responsive to changing evidence.

Our independent clean air advisory panel has determined the strongest body of evidence connecting an air pollutant with human health effects involves particulate matter 2.5, commonly referred to as PM2.5. Consequently, the Bill includes a duty on Welsh Ministers to make regulations to set a target for PM2.5 within 36 months of Royal Assent. At a Wales-wide level, we must ensure that sustained action is taken to improve our air environment; therefore, the Bill amends the Environment Act 1995, which contains the current provisions relating to the national air quality strategy. This ensures Welsh Ministers are under a duty to consult on a review or modification of the strategy every five years.

As mentioned, Wales is the first part of the UK to include soundscapes in legislation. The Bill places a duty on Welsh Ministers to publish a national strategy for soundscapes every five years. The requirements and timeline of both of these strategic documents are aligned, to allow us to publish them separately or collectively, where beneficial. The new proposals for these strategic documents also ensure the public, stakeholders and delivery partners are engaged in future action to improve our air quality and soundscapes. At a local and regional level, we will ensure the local air quality management regime operates proactively, preventatively, and with a greater public health focus.

The Bill introduces a clearer requirement on local authorities to undertake an annual review of air quality and an obligation for an air quality action plan, to contain a projected compliance date, which must be agreed with Welsh Ministers. The Bill will also amend the Clean Air Act 1993 to enable local authorities to better manage and enforce emissions of smoke in smoke-control areas. Smoke control covers the control of pollution from solid fuel burning from chimneys in homes and businesses within smoke-control areas. Currently, criminal offences are hard to administer and rarely result in prosecution. The Bill introduces civil monetary penalties to replace current criminal sanctions, which can be instigated by local authorities where smoke is emitted from a chimney within a smoke-control area.

The Bill removes statutory defences to help enforcement of the new civil sanctions regime. If a consumer uses an approved appliance with authorised fuel, there should be no emissions of visible smoke. By making it easier for local authorities to enforce smoke-control areas, we anticipate breaches becoming rarer, with officers encouraging behaviour change, and, if appropriate, issuing monetary penalties. We will issue statutory guidance to support the implementation. Amendments to the smoke-control regime contribute to our broader policy to reduce emissions from domestic burning, which is being dealt with outside this Bill process, using existing levers.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.

To support reductions in air pollution from transport, the Bill gives Welsh Ministers the power to create trunk-road charging schemes to improve air quality in the vicinity of trunk roads. The Bill also gives Ministers more flexibility to apply net proceeds arising from a scheme for the purposes of air quality, widening the current provision, which only applies net proceeds to transport measures. These new provisions enhance powers available to Welsh Ministers to implement clean air zones and low emission zones, where needed. They can result in improvements in local air quality through incentivising behaviour change. There are no current plans to utilise these powers, but they are a valuable addition to our toolkit to improve air quality, where necessary. 

Stationary vehicle idling also contributes to poor air quality and unnecessary noise. We want to enhance the deterrence provided by the current anti-idling penalties regime. Currently, fixed penalties for the offence of idling are set at only £20, rising to £40 if unpaid. We've included a regulation-making power in the Bill to enable Welsh Ministers to set a monetary range of penalties. Local authorities will be able to apply an amount from the range set in regulations, and will be able to apply penalties at the higher end of the range to combat idling outside schools and hospitals, where sensitive receptors are more likely to be affected. We will issue statutory guidance to support the implementation. Local authorities have a key role to play in supporting delivery of actions under the clean air plan and this Bill.

I am pleased to announce the launch of our local air quality management support fund, which will make £1 million of funding available in the financial year 2023-24 to support local authorities in improving local air quality. This is in addition to the £450,000 we awarded over the past two financial years through pilot phases of the scheme. Through the grant, we are inviting bids across three categories, which are prevention, mitigation and innovation. I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with local authorities to deliver this effective action.

And finally, the Bill places a duty on Welsh Ministers to promote awareness of the health and environmental impacts of air pollution, and the ways in which it can be reduced or limited. It is crucially important we ensure high levels of awareness, so that we can all protect our health and the health of our local communities, particularly those most vulnerable to air pollution. This year, sadly, marked the 10-year anniversary of the tragic death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. The duty was developed using recommendations from the prevention of future deaths report following the inquest into her death, which found air pollution was a significant contributory factor. The report highlights the need to address low public awareness on sources and adverse effects of air pollution. We will implement this duty by developing a delivery plan with stakeholders, which will set out actions to increase awareness of the impacts and sources of air pollution, as well as ways to reduce exposure. 

Through this Bill and our clean air and noise and soundscape plans, we set out the action needed to protect public health and the environment. I strongly believe we can collectively deliver this action across society, securing clean air and positive soundscapes for current and future generations. I would like to say thank you to the many people who have got us to this point. It has been an extremely positive and collaborative effort. Everyone deserves to breathe clean air and experience a good quality sound environment. The future is in our hands. I look forward to working with you all as the Bill makes its way through the scrutiny process. Diolch.  

Diolch yn fawr, Minister, for bringing forward, today, this statement on this Bill. As a party, we absolutely support this, and we have, over the years, religiously made many calls to the Welsh Government to bring this Bill forward and quickly. This, of course, was a key campaign pledge and manifesto pledge of the First Minister. So, it is a little disappointing that it has now taken some five years to bring it here to the Senedd. I would like to put on record my thanks to Joe Carter for his work for Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation. He has not stopped shy of challenging us all, as Members here, to ensure that this Bill comes through and that it is fit for purpose.

Air pollution accounts for 2,000 deaths in Wales each year, the equivalent of 6 per cent of all deaths. Air pollution reduces average life expectancy by seven to eight months. It is estimated that air pollution costs Wales £1 billion every year in terms of lost work days and costs to the health service, and we are all familiar with children across Wales who have asthma as a result of breathing in air that is not fit for purpose.

It’s also very worrying how the Welsh Government’s own evidence has found that people in Wales have also typically become more exposed to noise pollution. The number of people exposed to noise levels between 70 and 74 decibels, which is the average noise level for main roads, from major roads had increased from 44,600 in 2012 to 54,000 in 2017. The number of people exposed to more than 75 decibels has also increased, rising from 4,000 in 2012 to 6,600 in 2017. And the number of people exposed to more than 75 decibels from major railways—this is one for the Deputy Minister—increased from 2,100 in 2012 to 3,500 in 2017. Hearing loss can be caused by continued exposure to noise above 70 decibels. This is the real human and financial cost of the Welsh Government’s delays. So, Minister, will you now apologise for the length of time that it has taken for this Bill to come forward, during which time many more people have been suffering the effects of worsening noise pollution and air pollution?

In the consultation, respondents raised the issue of—[Interruption.] I’m glad you think it’s funny. It’s a very important Bill that is coming forward—particular proposals on the impact to lower income individuals. This was highlighted in response to suggestions of ultra-low emissions zones and anti-idling measures. In response to the latter, it was raised that fixed-penalty notices could unfairly target those on the lower incomes. There was also some uncertainty as to what vehicles would be regarded as ‘idling’, with respondents questioning whether a school or mainstream bus would count as ‘idling’ in a designated stop. So, I suppose that we’re asking for clarification on these vehicles, as well as additional vehicles—for example, vans that are unloading goods, or tractors whose trailers are being loaded or unloaded. So, to provide some clarity for individuals and businesses, will you agree—obviously, as it comes forward—to explicitly define ‘idling vehicles’, especially in relation to vehicles that load and unload goods?

Concerns have also been raised regarding the road user charging proposals, as we have also raised many times with you, with many respondents stating the need for sustainable alternative transport. Rural areas were highlighted in particular, with respondents identifying communities and businesses in these areas that do have fewer transport alternatives. And as we’ve seen from the widespread backlash to the roads review, this investment in alternatives has been sadly lacking from this Welsh Labour Government.

So, in light of the cost-of-living crisis, will you consider the disastrous idea to introduce road charges for commuters, which will further penalise people suffering from cuts to local transport services? It is important that the Welsh Government does not use this Bill to punish the people of Wales. With the Bill set to include provisions to enable road charging, Welsh Ministers must remember that every local authority in Wales has at least 30 per cent of households facing transport poverty. We will certainly not be supporting any trunk road charging schemes as we put forward our amendments to this Bill. Welsh workers already have the lightest pay packets in Great Britain. The Welsh Government should not be subjecting our motorists to further additional costs. So, will you ensure, Minister, that both health and social justice are entrenched in the purpose of this Bill, and that your Bill does not place the greatest burden for reducing pollution on those who can least afford it?

I look forward to working with you, Minister, as this Bill comes forward. I’m sure that we won’t get all of our amendments through, but let’s try and work together, cross-party, to ensure that this Bill is fit for purpose for the next 50, 100 or 200 years. Thank you. Diolch.

Thank you, Janet. I think that I found three questions in that six and a half minutes, but perhaps you will let me know later if I'm wrong. The first question was nonsensical. I am very delighted to introduce the Bill now. The idea that we then go over the fact that we are introducing it now—I just really wasn't following you there. I think that you were accepting that we are introducing the Bill now and welcoming it, so I welcome your welcome. I also agree with you about Joseph Carter, who has been very vocal this morning, very helpfully welcoming the Bill. So, that's very nice as well.

The second thing I think you were asking me was about idling measures. I said very clearly in my statement that we would put out guidance for local authorities on exactly how the measures would work, but that, clearly, people who were asked to stop idling close to vulnerable people, such as in a school or hospital, might receive a greater fine than those idling elsewhere, but that the greatest point here is a piece of education: that people shouldn't idle at all. So, if your car is stationary, you should shut off its engine. It's a pretty straightforward thing to say to people. It shouldn't come up. If you're unloading a lorry, shut off the engine. If you're stopping your car, shut off its engine. It's pretty straightforward stuff. So, I think that answers that question, but we will be putting out guidance on a range of civil enforcement measures, because the current civil enforcement is £20, and that hasn't been a sufficient deterrent, so, clearly, we need a better deterrent there. I think that's that one.

On the road user charging points, I just disagree with you entirely, as always. Janet, you just talk all the time about climate and nature emergencies, and yet every single time we do anything at all about it, you don't want to do it. I'd be delighted to have a chat with you about what you think we should do, because I've never, ever come across anything positive. All you ever want to do is not do things. So, we are going to do that, because it is very important indeed that people who pollute our air should pay for it. Now, obviously we'll be targeting businesses and the people who make the things that pollute, but, in the end, people need to either drive more slowly so that their emissions fall down, or they need to be able to upgrade their car—I accept that lots of people can't do that. We will be upgrading the public transport network to low-emission vehicles; we have been for a very long time already. We've been upgrading, for example, the waste fleet right across local authorities to do that. We will be helping people to do that. But, in the end, if you drive more slowly and you turn off your car when you're stationary, you will significantly reduce your emissions. Frankly, if you fail to do that, then you will end up paying a charge for that, because that is absolutely right. We need to get people to do the right thing.

But I emphasise this is about education and making the people of Wales aware of what effect their own behaviour has on the surroundings there. I say this all the time: we all wear many hats, so if you're a mother or an auntie or whoever you are, and you're in your local environment, you can do some things about your own behaviour. But you'll also be an employee, you'll also be a member of a local community, you'll also be all kinds of other things, and, for each of those hats, you can think very seriously, 'What can I do to affect this environment in the way I live?' So, you can lobby your employer, you can lobby your community, you can lobby your local authority, and you can change your own behaviour at home. If we do all of that together, we will make a very significant difference. 

Diolch, Gweinidog. There is a lot to welcome in this statement, and this is a really important day. I really would welcome this from the Government. I will go on to say a little bit more about how urgently necessary this is, but I would firstly press the Government a little more on why the name of the Bill has changed. I appreciate the point that the Minister has made, that the scope of the Bill is so much wider. The reason I'm asking this is because, when the commitments were made about a clean air Act specifically, there's an argument that that would have been very self-explanatory, it would have been clear for the public to understand when public buy-in is so important, and it would have sent that clear signal. So, in that context, that's why I'm asking why it's changed. Perhaps the Government would wish us to look at this Bill as Juliet does a rose, and ask, 'What's in a name? Surely a Bill by any other name would deal with smells and pollution as potently as would a clean air Bill.' But I would still pursue this question, because the expectation surrounding the legislation was specifically about clean air, which is something that everyone can understand. So, I'd like to know a little more, if possible, please, about the decision-making process about the change and whether any consultation has been undertaken about how that could affect public engagement and what might be done to mitigate that, if so. Because we all want to avoid any thorns in the rose bush, of course, and the sting that could come from the legislation not having the changes in behavioural patterns that we all have to see, because that change is so urgently needed, as we've heard.

Roughly 2,000 people in Wales die prematurely, before their time, every year because of dirty air. The toll that heavy industry has taken on our communities from coal to steel is clear to see in the high rates of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other diseases—they affect our lungs, they choke our breath. Exposure to air pollution is associated with higher rates of problems when babies are born—this is what I find most awful about this—like low birth weight, pre-term births, higher miscarriage rates, even the incidence of diabetes and problems with neurological development in children. Air pollution is associated with causing cancer, even exacerbating mental health problems. Again, this is why this is an important day. Yes, I've got questions and I've got some issues that I'd like to raise, but the fact that we are taking action on this cannot be overstated as to how important this really is. It's so often the poorest communities who suffer most. This isn't only an environmental and public health issue; it's a question of social justice. So, I'd like to ask you, Minister, how measures to reduce air pollution will be targeted at the areas that most need that support. Thinking, for example, of the Afan valley, which is affected by the toxic fumes coming in from Port Talbot, I know average speed cameras have been installed on the M4 through Port Talbot and air-quality readers have been put in place, but toxic clouds do sometimes still get released. Or thinking of Hafodyrynys, much closer to where I live, houses were demolished because of air pollution, but that same monitoring isn't happening everywhere. There could be other Hafodyrynyses in the Valleys that we don't know about, so any more details you could give us in addition to what's in the statement, I'd be grateful, please.

I would echo some of the concerns of the British Heart Foundation that the Bill doesn't include everything that was promised in the clean air plan, like commitments to reduce harmful fine particulate matter pollution or PM2.5. Could you address the rise in PM2.5 that's linked to domestic burning in relation to this, please, Minister, and would you commit to reducing it in line with World Health Organization guidelines?

I would echo what's been said in praise of Joseph Carter, and some of the questions that have been posed by Asthma and Lung UK. Some of this has definitely been covered in the statement. If there's anything further you can say, Minister, on this, and whether the Bill will bring national and local air pollution monitoring together, whether guidance will be made available on clean air low emission zones, when that will be published—. And again, I appreciate some of this has been covered, but most pressingly, in the time that I have left, Minister, could you please give us some clarity on how the effect of this Bill will be measured, how it will protect our health and environment, and what benefits will come from having a statutory duty to promote awareness about the effects of air pollution, which, again, is something that so important, and I really, really welcome the fact that that's included? Because it isn't all about a name; there is so much here that there is to welcome, and I would echo what's been said: I hope that we as a Senedd can work in a cross-party way to ensure that this Bill is as strong as is needed and that it does get the results that we so desperately need to see. So, diolch yn fawr iawn, Gweinidog, and to your team for your work on this.

Thank you very much, Delyth, for that series of comments and questions. Obviously, we're in the same broad place here. I'm very glad to be bringing this forward. It will make a substantial difference to the people of Wales. It will also help our local authorities target their efforts, and that's very important too, and that goes directly to the heart of the social justice point you make, because what the local authorities will be asked to do is make a plan for their area that targets particular areas for particular measures. And that's where we will be able to get some of the social justice points in that you make.

It's a sad fact of life—it is in my own constituency—that, very frequently, the poorest people live in the places, and in my constituency in particular, where the air actually gathers. So, if you think of Swansea seafront, people drive along the front, and the air goes up and sits on the top of the hill, which is where some of the most socioeconomically deprived wards are. So, there's a real lack of social justice, even in the way that the wind works in that way. And so, the local authority will be asked to look at that and target it.

But we do need to have a lot more robust data than we have. We have a lot of data—and Janet read out quite a bit of it—but, actually, we don't have that much specific Wales data. We have a lot of UK data, we have a lot of England data, but we don't have a lot of Wales data. So, part of what this will do is it will allow us to deploy a whole series of measures across Wales to measure the data, to measure the air that we breathe. That's also the answer to one of your questions: that's how we'll know it's improved, because we will deploy a lot more tech, if you like, to be able to do that. And I've very specifically been looking to see how we can have a scale-uppable set of tech do that. So, we'll start with what we can afford, and then, as we can afford more, as we look to work with our local authorities, we'll put it in. So, you'd expect a local authority to be targeting those places it knows have the least good air quality.

The name matters because, first of all, we have to get the Llywydd to agree that we should introduce it, and, therefore, it has to be descriptive of what what we're doing, and we did want to include soundscapes for all kinds of very relevant reasons that I think you agree with. And secondly, actually, it's part of a suite of legislation that goes with it. So, in terms of access to Welsh law, it is part of the environment Act series. It will be known as the clean air Act, inevitably, but a formal title fits it into the suite of Acts that people would be expected to look at. This is not a stand-alone piece of legislation; it amends other legislation and it fits into a suite. So, it's quite important that people don't expect to find everything they want in the one Act, they would need to look wider. And so, actually, I think it's important. But, I think you're right, I think colloquially it will become known as the clean air Act.

I very much welcome this Bill, although I hope we'll be able to find a slightly more Daily Mirror-ish title for it. Asthma is the third biggest killer after cancer and heart disease, and I completely associate myself with everything that Delyth Jewell has said on this matter. My constituents living in congested roads going in and out of our capital city rarely choose to live there, and if they can't afford double glazing or have no access to fresher air at the back of their property, these properties probably should be condemned as not fit for human habitation.

I absolutely welcome the civil penalties that you will be able to put on people who are in idling stationary vehicles, particularly outside schools. I don't think this is quite such a big issue around hospitals, but if it is, then obviously it's just as reprehensible there. But it has to be part of a culture of ensuring that people are not taking their child right up to the doorstep of the school, but are doing the last quarter of a mile on foot or on a bike.

I wanted to know what plans there might be in these local air quality management regimes for how we're going to get articulated lorries in and out of city centres in a less environmentally harmful way, because they're hugely noisy, very difficult to get down small streets, and the last bit of the delivery needs to be done in electric vehicles—small electric vehicles—it seems to me. So, I very much look forward to the local—geographically local—action teams, because clearly, the measures that are going to be required in Cardiff are going to be different to those in Swansea or Maesteg or anywhere else. So, the devil is always in the detail on something like this, but at least we are now making a really good start on it, and I look forward to the legislation in due course.

Yes, thank you, Jenny. So, as I said, we have a national strategy, but we have a locally delivered and local plan, and in some cases, actually, a regional plan, where obviously Cardiff and its hinterland will need to work together, as will other cities across Wales. It's a bit more of a complicated piece. This isn't a stand-alone Act; I can't emphasise that enough. So, the national air quality strategy is established across three separate pieces of primary legislation. So, that's the Environment Act 1995, the Environment Act 2021 and this Bill. So, it's quite important that people understand that this doesn't stand alone. It is amending the other legislation to bring it up to date and to stiffen the duties therein. So, I think that's quite an important point there. 

We do expect local authorities—. We will issue statutory guidance to the local authorities, and we do expect them to follow it. We are assisting them with resource, and then we expect them to produce their own air and soundscape plans—separately or together; the Bill deliberately allows them to do them together, if it's suitable to do that. And then that will target a range of ambient air quality.

The issue around particulate matter—I know Delyth brought it up as well—is a complex one. We don't have a safe level of particulate matter, we just need to get it down as low as possible. Zero would be great. So, there isn't a safe level. So, what we want to do is to clean up the air as much as we possibly can, and we want to have a Bill—I think Janet did make this point—that's suitable onwards into the future. So, we don't put it on the face of the Bill, we have regulations that allow us to upgrade the target as more data becomes available and, frankly, more ways of cleaning the air become available to us. So, we will expect quite a bit from our local authorities in putting the plans together.

And then the point you make about the kinds of noise and the kinds of emissions that we're looking at, that would be expected to be included in the local authority plan for that and what they do about it. So, you'll know already that deliveries are restricted to particular times of day, for example, idling vehicles should not be permitted, all that kind of stuff. So, we would expect each local authority to have a fit-for-purpose-for-its-own-area plan, and then that will sit inside a national strategy that will pull it all together. We have given ourselves powers to enforce that, but actually I can't imagine they'll ever be used. We work very well with our local authorities in this regard, and they're very anxious to do the right thing too.

So, I think this is a huge step forward for Wales. I'm glad we've been able to put the soundscapes stuff into it as well, because that actually is just as important in many areas of Wales. And just to make the last point, we know that it really enhances mental health for people to be able to hear the sounds of the natural world, so if you can get the ambient noise down so that you can hear the dawn chorus, we know that that really helps people. So, it's really important to do that. It might seem ephemeral but it really isn't.

Good afternoon, Minister. Yes, I join with many people in welcoming this. It is long overdue, but it's great to have the start. We know that air pollution cuts people's lives short, makes people, including our children, unwell, and is a huge strain on our health service as well as harming the environment. Just two issues from me, if I may, Minister.

One is that you talked about deploying the tech, in response to Delyth's points. I just wondered if you could just say a little bit more about how that then translates into practice in terms of these new powers, because as Jenny Rathbone has said, we want to see the detail, really, of how it's actually going to be enacted. So, that's my first point.

The second is that this isn't a Bill just for urban areas, which I'm sure you would echo. In rural areas like Mid and West Wales, we have the same challenges. In Crickhowell, in Welshpool on the high street, we also need a concentration of monitoring as well that will help people in rural areas to see that their air quality is being taken seriously. So, I do hope that I hear a little bit more about that, but thank you very much for all of your work and the work of your team as well. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Diolch, Jane. Just to clarify, then, as I keep saying, we're amending existing legislation in this Bill as well as introducing new things, and the important part that we're amending is that, currently, local authorities are required to review air quality in the areas from time to time. What this is doing is putting a statutory duty on them to do that in a cycle, so that they have to do an annual review of air quality henceforth, so that they keep it up to date. That's one of the big changes, actually. And then what we're doing is deploying tech in association with local authorities at spots where they think it would be the most beneficial, and then I hope that we can deploy even more tech as time goes on, as we get the data in and we know where the data gaps are. So, it will roll out over time, but local authorities will already—. There are already many air monitoring stations out there, I hasten to say. We're not starting from nothing. So, what we're doing is enabling a further roll-out, and then that will reflect the local authority plan, the data will come back in, and we expect them to do an annual review of that, and so on. So, you'd expect an exponential increase in quality as that data comes in, and people can adjust their plans accordingly. I think that's quite important.

And as I say, there isn't a safe level. We're not trying to get it below a safe level, we're trying to clean it up as fast as possible. I think that's quite an important point as well. You're not trying to get to some barrier. We're not trying to measure it everywhere and say it definitely is below whatever. We're saying, 'Get this air to be as clean as humanly possible all over the place,' and obviously target the hot-spots first. And as the plans bed in and the statutory guidance goes out, it will snowball, effectively, won't it? That's the idea. We work very closely with our local authorities. They're very keen on this, and they've worked collaboratively with us to bring it in. That's across all administrations and so on; it's not political, this. We're all agreed on doing it. And then, tech changes, doesn't it, as well, so who knows what will be available in 10 years' time to do this, in the same way as the stuff that controls emissions from vehicles has changed in all of our lifetimes? We need a Bill that's flexible enough to be able to cope with that and not have to be re-legislating all the time. So, we need to learn those lessons as this Bill goes through the Senedd, to make sure it has that future flex that delivers us the outcomes on air quality that we all need, and I share.

And finally, Huw Irranca-Davies.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm genuinely a glass-half-full person here today. Can I thank the Minister for bringing forward the statement, but also for her engagement as well, not just with the cross-party group on a clean air Act for Wales, but all of the member organisations who are part of that and the Senedd Members, on a cross-party basis, who have been campaigning so long for this? It's unfair to name some of those, but people like Healthy Air Cymru, Asthma and Lung UK Cymru, Friends of the Earth, Living Streets Cymru and Wales Environment Link. So many people are on record as welcoming this step forward today, and it would be remiss of me not to mention the shy and unassuming Joseph Carter, who has been a one-man bandwagon, pushing this along and getting us all there.

So, I only have one, straightforward question, Dirprwy Llywydd, and it's this: within this renamed Bill—I wonder now whether we have to rename our cross-party group to reflect it—but within this renamed Bill, can I just ask is the Bill, in your opinion, Minister, ambitious enough? Does it deliver on the commitments made in the clean air plan and the clean air White Paper? And, just finally, in welcoming the intent to bring this Bill forward in consultation, in collaboration, in co-production, will she make sure she continues to engage with all those outside campaigners who've got lived experience as well, sometimes tragic, of the implications of air pollution?

Yes, thank you very much, Huw. So, it was a pleasure to come to the cross-party group, and we absolutely will continue to engage with everyone.

What we need is a Bill that's capable of delivering improved benefits over time. So, I do think it's ambitious enough for where we are now. It might not be ambitious enough for where we want to be in five years, and that's the point about future-proofing it, isn't it? So, to make sure that we can move with the times without having to come back for primary legislation all the time. It doesn't have targets on the face of the Bill, quite deliberately, because we want those targets to be able to be made stricter as time goes on. It would be very difficult, anyway, to hit on a target, and then I think there are some unintended consequences of that. So, it's that kind of thing. And as we go through scrutiny on the Bill, we can explore this in greater depth.

We want to be able to do some other things. So, we want the Bill to be enabling enough to be able to do that. We also want it to be able to work well with the other legislation in this field. This isn't a consolidation Bill. So, we need it to amend properly the other legislation, and we need that to be as flexible as possible, going forward, as well.

And then, primarily, we want it to place a duty on us to get the data on air quality in Wales, and that's one of the big pieces. So, it places a duty on Welsh Ministers to make arrangements for obtaining data about air quality in Wales as they consider appropriate to monitor progress being made towards meeting air quality targets set under the Bill. So, there we go—that's it, isn't it? So, it gives us the chance to improve what we have already. We haven't got very great data in this regard, actually, and it gives us a series of levers, if you like, that we can use to morph people's behaviour, and that's whether we're drivers or pedestrians, whether we're home owners or employees—we've all got a role to play in that.

We, obviously, work very closely with our industries here. We're actually quite lucky—we have a very clean steel industry, as clean as steel can be, and actually they're very engaged in that. We have other industries in Wales similarly engaged. This is about the air we breathe, this is about human health. But this is also about the climate and nature emergencies. It's about making a planet fit for all of the species, isn't it? So, I've got a lot of—. I think this Bill has a lot of ambition. I've got a lot of ambition for it, and as we go through the scrutiny process, I hope we can make it as futureproofed as possible.

I thank the Minister.