§ Mrs. GormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many companies to date have indicated their support and have offered assistance with the Government's product eco-labelling scheme.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryAs my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State explained in his reply of 9 January to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. King)(Official Report, Vol 164, cols 589–91), we received over 80 responses to the discussion paper which we issued last August proposing the establishment of an EC-wide scheme of eco-labelling. Just over 30 of these responses were from individual companies, and they were overwhelmingly in support of our proposals. We shall, of course, want to work closely with interested groups in moving towards setting up a scheme.