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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to reduce the amount of PFAS chemicals impacting (a) environmental and (b) human health.

Defra and the Environment Agency are working with other regulators, including the UK Health Security Agency, to improve understanding of the chemical risks posed by per-fluorinated chemicals (PFAS) and respond appropriately.

Defra and the Environment Agency have initiated a coordinated programme of work to help us assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources and potential risks to inform future policy and regulatory approaches. The scope of the programme includes international engagement to understand approaches being taken across the world; collecting environmental data in England; developing new analytical methods; working with industry to assess risks of PFAS produced in the UK; identifying current and legacy uses and mapping potential sources; river catchment investigations; water company investigations to understand sources to sewer and wastewater treatment options.

As part of the UK REACH Work Programme for 2021-22, the Environment Agency and HSE, at Defra’s request, are investigating the risk posed by PFAS through a Regulatory Management Options Analysis (RMOA) which will consider how best to manage any identified risks.