Cleaner Air for Scotland 2: delivery plan

Priority 1: Health

We will adopt a precautionary public health approach to further air pollution reduction.

Our strategic approach includes:

• Environment and Health Working Group
  Report http://www.scottishairquality.scot/assets/documents/Health-Environment-Working-Group-Report.pdf
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on domestic indoor air quality
  https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG149
• Respiratory Care Action Plan
  Respiratory care - action plan: 2021 to 2026 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Outcomes:

1. Our interventions are proportionate, fair and effective informed by an improved understanding of the long term health effects and exposure of air pollution at levels comparable to Scotland.

Actions:

Our key long term actions (to 2026)

• The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will assess the evidence of health impacts of low level pollution in countries with levels of ambient air pollution comparable to Scotland.
• The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will commission population research on the long term effects of air pollution using cohort methods to aid further understanding of health impacts and explain the apparently different epidemiology in Scotland.
• The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will convene a task group to identify what, if any, actions might best be undertaken at Scottish level to address the issues associated with indoor air pollution.
• Transport Scotland with support from the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland will contribute to research on in-vehicle air quality measurement methodology, the use of recirculation mode for long-distance journeys related to CO₂ and in-vehicle air pollution related to occupational health.

• The Scottish Government with support from Public Health Scotland will commission an assessment of actual exposures experienced by a representative sample of the Scottish population, assessing pollution exposures over a realistic activity range during a normal time period.