§ Mr. Palmerasked the Minister of Technology if he will set up as a matter of urgency an organisation to study and take action on the latest scientific lines to prevent the fouling of beaches and harbour entrances by oil and in particular those in the Bristol Channel menaced by the wreck of the tanker "Torrey Canyon".
§ Mr. BennMy Ministry is concerned with the technological aspects of the prevention of the fouling of beaches and harbour entrances by oil. The Warren Spring Laboratory have issued Reports on the decontamination of beaches and the treatment of floating oil in, respectively, April, 1962 and April, 1963. A senior scientist from this Laboratory is 353W one of the experts currently advising my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary for Defence (Navy) in Devonport on the means to be taken over the oil from the tanker "Torrey Canyon".