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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the French Government's decision to ban products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

The Government has recently completed a rapid review of the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) 2023 and will introduce a revised EIP in 2025. The revised EIP will include the Government's approach to managing chemicals, including the risks posed by PFAS. Other work is continuing across the Government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform future measures. This includes the initiation of a UK REACH dossier investigating whether to restrict the use of PFAS in firefighting foams. We also monitor measures being taken in other jurisdictions such as France to inform possible approaches in the UK.