§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what research will be undertaken to discover the proportion of the population which(a) was aware of his Department's smog alerts, (b) took action to avoid possible health effects and (c) took voluntary action based on his Department's advice to minimise air pollution during the pollution episode which started on 2 July.
§ Mr. AtkinsMy Department issued a press notice on the afternoon of Friday 1 July, warning that poor air quality was forecast. The notice was distributed to 275 media outlets and individual reporters, and resulted in over 30 press articles from 2 to 6 July. The number of phone calls to the air quality bulletin freephone line increased substantially. I drew attention to the Government's advice in the course of radio and television interviews over this period.
My Department regularly commissions, and acts upon, research on the public's response to air quality bulletins, and has already commissioned a survey on public awareness and actions during the recent episode.
§ Mr. EasthamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many air pollution measuring stations are in the Manchester area; where the stations are located; how the public are notified of the readings; and what measures are taken when dangerous limits are recorded.
§ Mr. Atkins[holding answer 11 July 1994]: The Department of the Environment monitors air pollutants in the Manchester area at one continuous automatic site, and, 770W with the co-operation of local authorities, at 41 sites using non-automatic techniques. Details of site locations and pollutants measured are in the tables.
Information from all the Department's national automatic monitoring sites, including the site in Manchester, are used to provide air quality bulletins to the public, giving daily information on air pollution via a Freephone helpline, Ceefax and Teletext and a variety of other news media. The bulletin includes information on levels of pollutants together with a forecast and health advice on what to do should levels become high. In addition, information from the Department's non-automatic monitoring sites is published periodically.
1. Automatic Site Pollutants Monitored Site Location Grid Reference Oxides of Nitrogen, Carbon Monoxide St. Peters Square, Manchester SJ 838 980
2. Non-Automatic Sites Pollutants Monitored Site Location Grid Reference 1. Smoke/SO2 Bolton 24 3715 4092 Farnworth 8 3739 4061 Horwich 1 3637 4118 Bury 9 3819 4116 Manchester 11 3838 3981 Manchester 15 3875 3985 Manchester 21 3847 4023 Oldham 13 3920 4057 Middleton 3 3871 4063 Cheadle and Gatley 6 3859 3886 Ashford-Under-Lyne 8 3939 3992 Trafford 1 3810 3958 Ashford-in-Makerfield 1 3576 3991 Leigh 4 3662 3999 Wigan 8 3592 4056 2. NO2 (National Diffusion Tube Survey, 4 sites in each Local Authority Area) Manchester 1N 3846 3983 2N 3875 3985 3N 3867 3926 4N 3879 3995 Oldham 1N 3051 4933 2N 3051 4937 3N 3012 4889 4N 3054 4926 Rochdale 1N 3920 4157 2N 3920 4157 3N 3899 4122 4N 3888 4135 Stockport 14N 3922 3869 15N 3920 3871 16N 3928 3857 17N 3928 3873 Trafford 1N 3810 3989 2N 3745 3945 4N 3749 3879 5N 3768 3909 Wigan 1N 3651 4004 2N 3662 3999 4N 3658 4017 5N 3656 4002 3. Toxic Organic Micropollutants Law Courts, Manchester 3834 3982 4. Lead Manchester 3817 3876