Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with online marketplace operators regarding the removal of asbestos-containing products since the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 received Royal Assent.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), in my department, holds regular meetings with a range of online marketplaces operating in the UK. OPSS engages to ensure platforms deliver their obligations for preventing the supply of unsafe products, and holds them to account for the sellers and products available on their sites.

OPSS has raised the issue of asbestos in sand-containing products in recent meetings to ensure online marketplaces take swift action to remove recalled products, and to check the compliance of similar products. This has resulted in hundreds of online listings being removed across all major platforms.