Thank you for contacting me about per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and the Chemicals Strategy.
PFAS represent a group of thousands of chemicals, with hundreds used commercially across many sectors of industry and society. There is increasing evidence of the occurrence of PFAS in the environment. There is also growing concern regarding the risks to human health. Action has already been taken to ban or highly restrict specific PFAS both domestically and internationally. However, PFAS represent a very diverse group of chemicals with a wide range of uses which makes this a very challenging issue to tackle.
The UK has its own regulatory framework through UK REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). As part of the UK REACH Work Programme for 2021-22, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) asked the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive have been investigating the risk posed by PFAS through a Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA) to recommend the best approach to manage any identified risks. I look forward to reading the RMOA in early 2023.
Further, Defra has been developing a new and ambitious Chemicals Strategy to set out the Government’s priorities, alongside actions needed to achieve safer and more environmentally sustainable management of chemicals. I understand that it will build on a robust statutory regime, alongside the UK’s international obligations, as well as set out a direction of travel on important policies, including on PFAS. Defra also recently launched a working group on PFAS under the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum to consider potential policy options. Ministers are continuing to develop the strategic approach to chemicals management and I will continue to follow this issue closely.
Finally, since 2019 the UK has led the Global Ocean Alliance of countries in support of ambitious ocean action within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), including the adoption of a target to protect at least 30 per cent of the global ocean by 2030.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Craig Whittaker MP
December 2022