HC Deb 07 March 1972 vol 832 cc1232-3
Q3. Mr. Pardoe

asked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with co-ordination between the Departments of Employment and the Environment over action arising from lead pollution from the Imperial Smelting Corporation, Avonmouth; and if he will make a statement.

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir. The Department of Employment is concerned, through the Factory Inspectorate, with working conditions inside the smelter. while the Department of the Environment. together with local authorities and river authorities, is concerned with the impact of these and other works on their external environment. The two Departments keep in close touch.

Mr. Pardoe

I realise the speed with which the Government change their policies, but is the Prime Minister aware that the Department of the Environment made a decision against an inquiry one day, that within 24 hours the Department of Employment set up the very inquiry, and that on 2nd March the Under-Secretary of State for Employment, in answer to a Question that I asked, said that his Department was not responsible for the levels of toxic material in factories? If it is not responsible, who is?

The Prime Minister

There has been some misunderstanding about this. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has dealt with the point in the House. The inquiry was set up by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment because it dealt with the inside of the factory. When my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment was asked questions about the matter, he was dealing with the environment outside the factory. The inquiry was set up to deal with the internal conditions and not the impact on people living outside the factory. These are two different things. But the co-ordination between the two Departments is very close.

Mr. McLaren

As the Member representing Avonmouth, may I ask my right hon. Friend whether he is aware that local opinion is that both the Departments have acted promptly and efficiently? Is he aware that Sir Brian Windeyer's Committee is already at work, and that we in Bristol know a great deal more about what is going on in Avonmouth than do well-meaning strangers from North Cornwall?

The Prime Minister

I should not like to intervene in a West Country dispute, but it is true that the Factory Inspectorate has been trying for some time to find a solution to the problem. Now the works have been shut down for two months in an attempt to find a permanent solution to the problems inside the factory. My hon. Friend is right in saying that an inquiry on conditions inside the factory has been set up and is already at work.

Mr. Benn

If the Prime Minister re-reads his answer carefully he will see that there is a gap, because the possible threat to the external environment arises from conditions inside the factory. What has caused anxiety in Bristol and elsewhere is that local health authorities have no locus standi to go into a factory that they believe may be polluting their area. Will the right hon. Gentleman look at this point again, because it is very serious?

The Prime Minister

I am prepared to look at it again and ask my two right hon. Friends to go into the matter to see whether there is a gap. But the inquiries into the effects on the external environment, in which I understand all authorities concerned had the opportunity to participate, came to the conclusion that there was no discernible damage outside the factory to the people living nearby.