HL Deb 11 July 1995 vol 565 cc1572-3

163 Clause 91, page 105, line 20, at end insert: '(1A) A person who appears suitable to the Agency or SEPA may be authorised in writing by the Agency or, as the case may be, SEPA to exercise, in accordance with the terms of the authorisation, any of the powers specified in subsection (2) below for the purpose of enabling the Agency or, as the case may be, SEPA to carry out any assessment or prepare any report which the Agency or, as the case may be, SEPA is required to carry out or prepare under section 5(3) or 31(3) above. (1B) Subsection (IA) above only applies where the Minister who required the assessment to be carried out, or the report to be prepared, has, whether at the time of making the requirement or at any later time, notified the Agency or, as the case may be, SEPA that the assessment or report appears to him to relate to an incident or possible incident involving or having the potential to involve—

  1. (a)serious pollution of the environment,
  2. (b)serious harm to human health, or
  3. (c)danger to life or health.'.

164 Page 105, line 22, after '(1)' insert 'or (1A)'.

165 Page 106, line 44, after 'for' insert '(i)'.

166 Page 106, line 45, after 'above' insert 'or (ii) any such purpose as is mentioned in subsection (1A) above.'.

167 Page 107. line 28. leave out 'and' and insert 'to'.

168 Page 108. line 19, alter '111' insert 'or (1 A)'.

Earl Ferrers

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 163 to 168. At the same time I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 170, 306 and 331 on the same subject of powers of entry.

During Committee my noble friend Lord Crickhowell moved an amendment to enable the new agencies to exercise their powers of entry in respect of their functions under this Bill. Very few of the agencies' functions are in fact conferred or imposed by this Bill, rather than by existing legislation. The Government were therefore not persuaded at that time by my noble friend's arguments.

Following the grounding of the MV "Braer" off the coast of Shetland in January 1993, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland set up an ecological steering group on the oil spill in the Shetlands. One of the problems identified by that group was that of access to private land in order to carry out environmental assessments following that incident. The agencies have duties under Clauses 5(3) and 31(3) of the Bill to make assessments of the environment and of environmental pollution, and to prepare reports for Ministers.

Amendments Nos. 163 to 168 will enable them to exercise their powers of entry when carrying out those specific duties. The powers of entry provided by these amendments will be available only in connection with a serious pollution incident of the sort which I have described, and not for assessments of a more routine nature. The other amendments are technical.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 163 to 168.—(Earl Ferrers.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.