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1177013

registered interest
date	07/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Microplastics: Marine Environment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent micro plastics from entering the sea.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	14020
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Microplastics, pieces of plastic smaller than 5mm, can fragment from larger items or be intentionally produced. Our aim is to prevent plastic pollution at its source and develop a circular economy approach to plastic.</p><p> </p><p>In 2018, we launched one of the world’s toughest bans on the sale and manufacture of microbeads in rinse-off personal care products, helping to prevent billions of tiny plastic pieces from entering the ocean every year.</p><p> </p><p>Pre-production plastic pellets are a major source of microplastics. Current estimates put the number of pellets lost during the production of plastic in the UK between 5 billion and 53 billion. We have been engaging with industry to encourage businesses to do more, including signing up to Operation Clean Sweep, to prevent plastic pellet loss.</p><p> </p><p>To address evidence gaps from other sources of microplastics we have commissioned:</p><p> </p><ol><li>A study from the University of Plymouth to investigate the sources and pathways of microplastics from tyres and textiles into the marine environment.</li><li>A Rapid Evidence Assessment by Defra on “Analysis, Prevalence and Impact of Microplastics in Freshwater and Estuarine Environment”.</li></ol><p>These reports will be published this year and the evidence will help us continue to develop policies to tackle the problem.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:17:55 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1177034

registered interest
date	07/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Chemicals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress his Department has made on the development of a national chemicals strategy.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	13970
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Work on the Chemicals Strategy (CS) started in the summer of 2019. A broad programme of stakeholder engagement is underway to help shape the vision and scope of the CS. To date, we have engaged with interested stakeholders from industry representatives to academia to voluntary organisations.</p><p> </p><p>We will publish a Call for Evidence in the spring to seek views on the safe and effective management of chemicals. This will be published on Defra’s website. It will help inform the development of a draft CS for consultation.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:15:43 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1177039

registered interest
date	07/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his international counterparts on classifying per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances as a group of chemicals in the Stockholm Convention.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	13972
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>There is a growing global awareness of the adverse effects on human health and the environment of polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS); the widespread occurrence of it in products and the environment make it a complex challenge.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is a signatory to the Stockholm Convention which bans and/or restricts the production, use and emissions of substances listed as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). We will continue to engage with the Stockholm process on the management PFAS as a group of chemicals.</p><p> </p><p>The UK participated in recent discussions on PFAS at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), where we offered our scientific expertise to support work on new PFAS assessments and life cycle approaches. We will continue to work with partners around the world to develop our approach domestically and internationally.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:19:00 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1177040

registered interest
date	07/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Chemicals: Regulation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he bring forward legislative proposals to tighten the regulations on the (a) control and (b) use of highly persistent chemicals.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	13973
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>The production, use, and disposal of Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) chemicals is managed in order to protect human health and the environment. Substances that fulfil the criteria for a POP are banned or restricted under the international Stockholm Convention and we regulate to enforce those restrictions.</p><p> </p><p>The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan has specific targets to reduce emissions of POPs to the environment and we produce a triannual National Implementation Plan. It sets out our ambitions for the next three years and reports on previous actions and targets.</p><p> </p><p>We will also consider whether further action is needed to reduce the impact of these chemicals in the forthcoming Chemicals Strategy.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:16:36 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1177041

registered interest
date	07/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of monitoring levels of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in the sea as part of the Marine Strategy.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	13974
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>The Environment Agency and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science will carry out field studies in 2020 to estimate levels of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in sediments in selected English estuaries and coastal waters. The results will be used to inform assessments of the risks posed by these chemicals to humans and sea life as part of the UK Marine Strategy.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:13:26 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

1177042

registered interest
date	07/02/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of banning the use of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in consumer products.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	13975
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) constitute a group of thousands of chemicals that are widely used in consumer and industrial products. There are existing restrictions on the use of certain PFAS under the Stockholm Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, and under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.</p><p> </p><p>My department is working with regulators to improve the understanding of the emissions and risks of PFAS in the UK and how we manage these chemicals will be considered in our forthcoming Chemicals Strategy.</p> answering member constituency Taunton Deane answering member printed Rebecca Pow question first answered 17/02/2020 14:14:44 answering member 4522 label Biography information for Rebecca Pow
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord