Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2017 to Question 6370 on Incinerators: Health Hazards, what conclusions Public Health England has drawn from its review of evidence on the health effects of waste incinerators published in peer review journals; and what the timetable is for the papers from the study on emissions from waste incinerators commissioned by Public Health England to be published.

To date, Public Health England is not aware of any evidence that requires a change in its position statement that while it is not possible to rule out adverse health effects from modern, well-regulated municipal waste incinerators with complete certainty, any potential damage to the health of those living close by is likely to be very small, if detectable.

Public Health England is funding a study to extend the evidence base as to whether emissions from modern municipal waste incinerators affect human health. The papers from the project are currently being finalised by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit, Imperial College London, and will be submitted to peer reviewed journals by the end of June 2018. It is likely to be a few months after submission for the papers to be published.