Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of banning the export licensing of pesticides which are prohibited from domestic use by the Health and Safety Executive for the purposes of protecting (a) human health and (b) the environment.

We take our trade and international obligations for human health and the environment seriously and continue to monitor action in other countries and learn from their experiences.

In Great Britain, the export and import of certain hazardous chemicals is regulated under the GB Prior Informed Consent (PIC) regulatory regime. Companies intending to export any substances present on the PIC list from GB must notify the importing country via the exporter's Designated National Authority. For GB, the Designated National Authority is the Health and Safety Executive. The exchange of information that PIC provides allows the importing countries to make informed decisions on the import of those chemicals and on how to handle and use them safely. This process is kept under review.

We believe it is essential that the use of active substances that are known to be hazardous to human health or the environment should be subject to scientific risk assessment and regulatory protections.

We are progressing projects assessing the impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment in developing countries. We will continue to support developing countries to use pest management techniques which are most beneficial for them based on evidence and the expressed desires of the countries

Additionally, the UK is committed to working internationally including through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management and United Nations Environment Assembly to support other nations to manage pesticides safely. We also believe in evidence-based international policymaking through the use of scientific committees, such as the Chemical Review Committee, and strengthening of the international 'science-policy interface' for chemicals and pesticides to support global decision-making.