Lee Waters MS, Deputy Minister for Climate Change has appointed a new Chair for the Clean Air Advisory Panel.
The Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters MS has appointed Professor Paul Lewis as the new Independent Chair of the Clean Air Advisory Panel (CAAP).
The Clean Air Advisory Panel provides evidence-based advice and recommendations to the Welsh Government on air quality matters in Wales, helping to underpin the decision making of Welsh Ministers. The Panel informs Welsh Government’s understanding of airborne pollution in Wales, supporting the development of policies to drive improvements in air quality in Wales. Membership of the Panel consists of multi-disciplinary policy makers, academia and air quality and public health practitioners.
A key priority for Welsh Government is to improve air quality and reduce the impacts of air pollution on human health, biodiversity, the natural environment, and our economy.
The Welsh Government’s current national air quality strategy, the Clean Air Plan for Wales: Healthy Air, Healthy Wales, was published in 2020. It sets out wide-ranging actions to improve air quality in Wales. Welsh Government is committed to developing more granular air quality evidence and supplementing existing information to support policy and legislative development in Wales. The advice of the Panel supports the delivery of this work.
Professor Paul Lewis is a genetic toxicologist who specialises in assessing the impacts of air pollution on health. After a long career in academic research at Cardiff University and Swansea University, he now works at Respiratory Innovation Wales and is a Professor Emeritus at Swansea’s Medical School. Since 2021, he has been the UKRI Clean Air Programme Regional Champion for Wales, helping support efforts to raise awareness of poor air quality by engaging with academia, industry, local government, healthcare, the educational sector and third sector organisations.
He has been a member of the Welsh Government Clean Air Advisory Panel since 2020, chairing sub-groups on pollutant targets and health impacts. In 2020, he led the Panel’s report into the ‘Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on air quality in Wales’. He has presented the links between air quality and health on behalf of the Welsh Government at public consultation events in preparation for the Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Act 2024. He has also been a member of the Welsh Government Air Quality Direction Independent Review Panel since 2018 and sits on the Welsh Parliament Cross Party Group - A Clean Air Act for Wales. All publications by the Panel are made available on the Air Quality in Wales website.
This appointment has been made for the duration of the current Senedd term (up to March 2026) in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, and on merit following an open, competitive process.