Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will reduce the Workplace Exposure Limit in the UK for silica related work to 0.05 mg/m3 in line with other countries.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not currently intend to review the Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL) of Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) in Great Britain. HSE contributed to the more recent European Union (EU) assessment of the limit in January 2019, where the EU reclassified RCS as a carcinogen and implemented the same occupational exposure limit as already existed in GB.

HSE will continue to monitor international developments in this area and the evidence base to consider the range of interventions that might be suitable, including any change to the exposure limit in GB.