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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning the use of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in consumer products.

Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) constitute a group of thousands of chemicals that are widely used in consumer and industrial products. There are existing restrictions on the use of certain PFAS under the Stockholm Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, and under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.

My department is working with regulators to improve the understanding of the emissions and risks of PFAS in the UK and how we manage these chemicals will be considered in our forthcoming Chemicals Strategy.