Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, further to the 2014 and 2016 consultations on Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations and the Technical Paper: Systematic Rationale for modification of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations in relation to Schedules 4 & 5, published in October 2014, which outlined the problems with the match test, they will now revoke that test.

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 are being reviewed to ensure they reflect changed fire safety risks, innovation, manufacturing processes and environmental and health concerns of chemical flame retardants whilst maintaining product safety protections.

The Department welcomes any innovative approaches that deliver consumer safety and comply with existing fire safety regulations, including methods which do not use flame retardants.

The Department will publish its response to the 2016 consultation on the regulations in due course. This will take account of the responses received, the views of experts from across government including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Public Health England, the Food Standards Agency and the Fire Services, as well as a range of evidence from external sources such as academic papers.