CIEH's campaign for an APPG on Environmental Health

This blog explains what an APPG is, why CIEH is advocating for one on environmental health and how members can get involved to help make it happen.

On World Environmental Health Day, 26 September 2024, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) called on members to join us in our pursuit to set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Environmental Health. Following on from a successful general election campaign, we need just eight more parliamentarians (MPs or Lords) to set up an APPG.

What is an APPG?

An APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) is a group within UK Parliament where members from across political parties come together to focus on a specific topic or issue. These groups have no formal legislative powers, but they bring attention to areas of interest such as environmental health. APPGs often work with experts and organisations to discuss policies and raise awareness, but they don’t have the power to make laws.

If these groups are made up of parliamentarians, how will CIEH be involved?

CIEH will act as the secretariat for the APPG on Environmental Health. This means that they will provide a crucial administrative and organisational role. It is common for an external organisation such as CIEH to act as the secretariat for APPGs, providing additional policy and research expertise, ensuring the group’s message is clear and targeted effectively at policymakers or government departments.

Most importantly, in our role as secretariat, CIEH will be able to ensure that its work is informed by frontline environmental health experience. Our member-led policy Advisory Panels will directly feed into this group.

Why does CIEH want to create an APPG on Environmental health?

Despite hundreds of APPGs currently existing on nearly any topic you can imagine, there is no APPG on environmental health. Our aim is to fill this gap and ensure that environmental health is a top priority for policymakers.

Our recent membership survey let us know that 70% of our members want to see our influence increased in Parliament. An APPG would enable to us elevate our advocacy work, build cross-party support and better influence government on environmental health issues. The powers of an APPG can be understood through four unique factors:

• Cross-party support: Since APPGs include members from different political parties, they show that certain issues have broad, non-partisan support. This can encourage the Government to take notice and potentially act on the group's recommendations. Most importantly, cross-party support is a crucial factor in securing long-lasting policy change.
• Expert engagement: APPGs often work closely with experts, charities and advocacy groups, which helps them gather credible evidence and propose well-informed solutions to issues. An APPG on Environmental Health will be driven by 7500 members frontline expertise on protecting the UK’s environmental health. This knowledge and expertise will be indispensable to policymakers and will improve the submission of policy proposals.
• Raising awareness: APPGs can draw attention to under-explored issues by holding meetings, publishing reports, and raising public awareness. This can shape public opinion and media coverage, indirectly influencing policymakers. CIEH know that there is a research and data gap in environmental health, we hope to use our Environmental Health APPG to address this.
• Playing an advisory role: While they can’t create laws, APPGs can influence policy by making recommendations to government ministers or departments, which can sometimes lead to changes in legislation or policy.

Have APPGs been influential in the past?

Pulling on these four unique characteristics, APPGs have a track record of influencing UK government legislation since their establishment in the 1930s. Successful examples include:

• APPG on Smoking and Health: The APPG on Smoking Health has existed since 1976. Its campaign for smoke-free public places led to the ban on smoking in enclosed places in 2007 and plain packaging for cigarettes, introduced in 2016. The secretariat for the APPG on Smoking and Health is Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

• APPG on Domestic Abuse: The APPG on Domestic Violence has been influential in shaping legislation around domestic abuse. It helped build cross-party support for the Domestic Abuse Bill by holding meetings, producing reports, and bringing together MPs from all political parties. The secretariat for the APPG on Domestic Abuse is Women’s Aid.

• APPG on Global Health: The APPG on Global Health has played a role in influencing the UK's approach to global health issues, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Its reports and discussions have pushed the Government to maintain funding for international health initiatives and helped the UK continue its contribution in the fight against global diseases.

What do we hope to achieve with an APPG?

CIEH plans to utilise an APPG on Environmental Health to deliver on many of our Manifesto asks for environmental health commitments and raise the profile of environmental health amongst policymakers, including:

• Establish a new role in the UK Government for a Chief Environmental Health Officer.
• Advocate for environmental health professionals’ involvement in all public health developments plans and consultations for health policy frameworks.
• Campaign for the mandatory display of the food hygiene rating scheme (FHRS) in England.
• Working to increase investments in the environmental health workforce, developing policies alongside parliamentarians to address the resource and retention issues in our industry.

How can I get involved?

We need your help to make this APPG a reality:

• Download our letter template and ask your local MP to support the creation of an APPG on Environmental Health.
• Share this campaign within your networks to help raise awareness.