§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to make available additional resources to public analyst laboratories to support their accreditation under the national measurement accreditation service—NAMAS—quality control scheme and to assist in the implementation of the in-service training required under NAMAS.
§ Mr. MacleanAll analytical laboratories should have systems for ensuring the quality of their results. The Government have recognised this by encouraging the setting up of NAMAS. It is not for the Government to subside any additional costs to laboratories of NAMAS accreditation. Such costs should be recovered in charges to their customers who benefit in terms of the quality and the reliability of the analyses carried out for them.