§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide grant-aid for the control of polluting discharge from abandoned mineworkings.
§ Mr. Giles ShawIn its recent report "Coal and the Environment"—published on 30 September 1981—the Commission on Energy and the Environment has recommended that central Government should assume financial responsibility for remedying or preventing pollution from long abandoned mines and that the National Coal Board should assume practical and financial responsibility for recently abandoned mines and mines about to be abandoned. The Government are currently considering the commission's recommendation and will be responding to the report in due course.