A National Taskforce on Asbestos Cannot Wait
- Airtight on Asbestos
- Oct 16
- 2 min read
Open Letter to the Minister for Social Security and Disability,
Sir Stephen Timms MP
A National Taskforce on Asbestos Cannot Wait
16th October 2025
Sir Stephen Timms MP
Minister of State for Social Security and Disability
Department for Work and Pensions
By email
Dear Minister,
RE: Call for a National Taskforce on Asbestos Removal
We are writing to thank you for your contribution to the asbestos panel event at this year’s Labour Party Conference, hosted by ResPublica and supported by Asbestos Information CIC. Your acknowledgement of the slow pace of progress since the 2022 Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry, and your announcement of an asbestos census and new HSE research plan, were very welcome.
However, you will have sensed, as we did, the deep feeling in the room - among campaigners, unions, and industry bodies - that the scale of the challenge is now too urgent to be addressed through incremental steps alone.
We therefore call on Government to establish a dedicated national taskforce to develop and deliver a comprehensive strategy for asbestos. The attached document, ‘The Need for a National Asbestos Strategy’, identifies a plan for the phased removal of asbestos from UK buildings. A taskforce should focus on these actions alongside patient care and victim support. It should bring together unions, industry experts, campaigners, and government representatives to ensure a data-led, prioritised, and fully costed approach. As Liz Darlison of Mesothelioma UK reminded us, over 40,000 people have died from mesothelioma since 2004. This is an avoidable epidemic, and each delay costs lives.
The asbestos census you announced is a welcome step forward, but it must be accompanied by clear national leadership and a plan that moves us beyond fragmented responsibility and piecemeal management. A taskforce would provide the structure, authority, and urgency required to restore public confidence and deliver meaningful progress towards an asbestos-free UK.
We would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with you and your officials to discuss how such a taskforce might be established, and how existing expertise and data can be harnessed to accelerate delivery.
Yours sincerely,
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