Key information
Request reference number: MGLA190123-7922
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
A spokesman for the Mayor is quoted in today’s press (Daily Mail Online - 19 January 2023) as stating that: 'Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely each year due to the toxic air in our city with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in London's outer boroughs”.
Please provide the source data to this statement, in particular
- How the number of deaths due to toxic air was measured – or if not measured, how was this number estimated.
- How the relationship between deaths and toxic air was established as fact or if not established fact, the basis of the claim.
- How the deaths were attributed to air pollution in London’s outer boroughs.
- How many of the 4,000 deaths occurred in London’s outer borough
Our response
These are the findings of the review produced by the Environmental Research Group at Imperial College London assessing the impact on health of air pollution in London. They followed the latest methodology for calculating health burden of air pollution recommended by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) – the national expert Committee advising Government on the health effects of air pollution. Their recommendations for quantification are usually used in Government’s cost-benefit analysis of policies to reduce air pollution.
This is also the standard methodological approach followed by Government and other cities in the UK such as Birmingham and Bristol for the assessment of mortality attributable to air pollution.
You can find an explanation here: COMEAP mortality effects of long term exposure to particulate air pollution (publishing.service.gov.uk)