Speeches by Hardy.

“At the moment we have a system where there is divergence because the previous Government after Brexit set their own system. As Marc explained and illustrated, this has meant that as the EU has added chemicals to the candidate list, the authorisation list, the restriction list, there has been divergence over time. We ha…”

“As Marc illustrated, we will consult on exactly how that divergence model is going to work. Of course, to reassure the Committee, the environmental factor is hugely important. I am yet to see—of all the many, many people I have spoken to who supported Brexit—anybody who thinks the reason to leave the European Union was…”

“Do you want to explain all this in detail, Marc?”

“It designates a substance of very high concern so I will push back gently on that. When it comes to EA funding, again I do want to reiterate to the Committee that it is this Government that increased funding to the EA by £188 million this year after the previous Government slashed it dramatically down to its lowest lev…”

“Thank you, Chair. Putting chemicals on the candidate list is not a mere signal to the industry. Putting chemicals on the candidate list is more than a mere signal that we might do something about it.”

“I am happy to explain.”

“I am sorry; I disagree with you. I think the candidate list—”

“You are right. The candidate list is a list of chemicals that we have high concern about. This is where I differ from the previous Government. The previous Government were only looking to consider putting things on the candidate list if they were going to move it into the authorisation list, and what this has meant in …”

“Again, I probably have not explained it very well. We are not going to ban individual PFAS. There are different ways of grouping them. Perhaps Marc, with his scientific knowledge, could explain how the different ones are grouped, which might help illustrate it. We are not talking about an individual one because there a…”

“We are changing the system when it comes to UK REACH, absolutely. We are changing the way in which we identify and restrict the use of certain chemicals for UK REACH so we are changing that system. That will make it quicker and easier for us to add chemicals to the authorisation list or restriction list and we are doin…”

“As it mentions in the plan as well, we are looking very carefully at other jurisdictions and how they do that. As I was trying to explain—I will try again—the system that we have at the moment is laborious, slow and takes an awfully long time to put any chemicals into restriction, so we need to change the system and th…”

“It is a good thing that we listen to experts under this Government. It is a good thing that we have research and information, that we take knowledge in, and we recognise that where there is expertise we should listen to it, learn from it and understand it. It is also good that, under this Government, we are having an E…”

“Thank you so much for having me today and for also raising the problems we have around PFAS as an issue. I look forward to working in collaboration with your Committee. When it comes to the plan, I am very proud of it. I am obviously not here to speak for the previous Government’s action or inaction, but I will talk fo…”

“The part on reform to UK REACH.”

“Each Department has a chief scientific adviser, as I am sure you know, and the chief scientific advisers of all different Departments have discussions together about some cross-Government issues. On the exact details of what currently the chief scientific adviser is working on in this area I would have to come back to …”

“I hate to repeat myself, but I think this is why we need to do the research and get the evidence to find out what the accurate situation is. At the moment we are dealing with estimates and projections. We are not dealing with facts. Until we have that evidence, we cannot have an accurate idea about what the cost would …”

“As I mentioned earlier, this is why research and monitoring matter, because you cannot give an accurate estimate to Treasury if you do not have the information you need. This is why in the plan research is mentioned so often and why I am so pleased it is, because it needs to be there. If I want to go to Treasury and sa…”

“Yes. On monitoring we do exceptionally well. Do you want to explain about the monitoring, Marc?”

“Yes, you are right in that there are only two hazardous waste incinerators permitted to accept PFAS. At the moment we judge that there is sufficient capacity to meet needs, but as we take more action on this, as we discover more and therefore want to destroy more, we anticipate there will be greater demand. That is why…”

“The EA issues—I do not know if it is guidance or if it is statutory guidance on what is the best way to destroy it. At the moment what it has said is that the best way to destroy it is 1,100°C incineration. However, it is constantly looking at that. As I say, this could be a growth story. This could be where there is i…”