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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made towards reducing PFAS emissions through UK REACH restrictions; and what assessment she has made of the impact of restrictions on PFAS in fire-fighting foams on levels of those emissions.

On 4 April 2023, we welcomed the HSE’s publication of the PFAS Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA), which represents a significant milestone in the UK’s efforts to protect people and the environment. One of the RMOA’s recommendations, which Defra ministers have accepted, was that work be progressed to reduce PFAS emissions by developing UK REACH restrictions, beginning with a restriction on PFAS in fire-fighting foams, and by exploring further restrictions covering a wide range of industrial and consumer uses. These actions form part of the commitments made within the Plan for Water published in April last year.

Work has begun to scope out the restriction on PFAS in firefighting foams as well as potential further restrictions on other uses of PFAS. The Environment Agency has launched a study collecting further information on dispersive uses of PFAS (other than fire-fighting foams), alternatives to PFAS and other information that could be used to assess the impacts of a potential UK REACH restriction of certain PFAS uses.

We will share further details in upcoming UK REACH Work Programmes.