With climate change hogging the headlines work on air quality in the UK can sometimes feel like a bit of a backwater. Major policy announcements are few and far between, so it's surprising that when a significant shift in air quality policy happens it slips out quietly rather than being shouted from the rooftops. The policy shift in question was contained in the dry sounding ' Public health outcomes framework for England, 2013-2016 ’ released by the Department for Health earlier this week. To give a bit of background here the document supports the Government’s earlier decision to hand back public health responsibilities to local authorities. This will take place via the appointment of Directors of Public Health in English county and unitary level authorities, who will be provided with ring-fenced funding to support their work. The new document sets down the indicators by which public health will be defined and measured. The indicators span 4 categories, and focus on the f...
Squawking, flapping and pecking around environmental policy since 2011.