To ask the Secretary of State for Health what actions have been taken by her Department to monitor asthma levels among children in London; what further research is planned; and if she will make a statement.

This information is not routinely collected. In 1992 the Department set up a Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants under the chairmanship of Professor Stephen Holgate. The committee has recently set up a sub-group on asthma and air pollution to look at asthma trends and geographical variations, to consider what effect air pollutants might be having on asthma rates and to recommend research objectives.