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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to ensure that slight variations of existing banned chemicals are not allowed onto the UK market.

We recognise that when assessing the risk of hazardous chemicals, it is important to consider whether they might be substituted with others with similar hazards (known as regrettable substitution). We are aiming to tackle this issue by considering whole groups of chemicals, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), during our analysis of the various risk management options available under UK REACH, and at the same time considering the availability and suitability of alternatives.