§ Lord Plant of Highfieldasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they are taking to simplify the procedures in the Reservoirs Act 1975 for making appointments to panels of civil engineers and for enforcing the safety provisions of the Act. [HL2086]
§ Baroness HaymanWe have today issued a consultation paper, jointly with my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales, setting out the Government's proposals to amend the Reservoirs Act 1975. These proposals involve the transfer of the Secretaries of States' responsibilities for making appointments to the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the transfer of local authorities' enforcement duties in England and Wales to the32WA Environment Agency. We are satisfied that these measures will result in the procedures being made less burdensome both for candidates for appointment and for reservoir undertakers. The amendments would be made by an order under Section 1 of the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994. We have today placed a copy of the consultation paper in the Library of the House.