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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) protect the health and (b) promote (i) research, (ii) regulation and (iii) public awareness of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Following the publication of a Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA) on PFAS in April 2023, my department asked the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate whether to restrict PFAS in firefighting foams under the UK REACH (Restriction, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals) regime. HSE’s restriction dossier is due to be published for consultation in Spring 2025. Alongside this, my department is also considering further measures on PFAS.

This includes working across government to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform policy and regulatory approaches.

The Government 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 Governments approach to managing chemicals, including the risks posed by PFAS.