Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance the Health and Safety Executive uses when (a) preparing dossiers on restrictions under UK REACH and (b) preparing impact assessments for enacting restrictions in secondary legislation.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) must prepare dossiers on restrictions in line with the legal requirements of Annex 15 of UK REACH. In doing so HSE may also refer to guidance produced for the EU REACH restriction process, as well as drawing on its previous experience of producing dossiers when the UK was part of the EU.

The responsibility for preparing impact assessments for enacting restrictions in secondary legislation resides with Defra as the government department responsible for UK REACH legislation and policy.

HSE provides Defra with a socioeconomic analysis alongside any restriction dossier. Restrictions proposals need to contain a description of the risks as well as information on the health and environmental benefits, the associated costs and other socio-economic impacts. This socioeconomic analysis takes account of UK REACH Annex 15 legal requirements and HM Treasury guidance on cost and benefit analysis.