HC Deb 08 November 1995 vol 265 cc992-3W
Mr. Dafis

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will place in the Library a list of the members of the working parties which advise his Department on guidance for local authorities on pollution control standards; [41444]

(2) if he will make a statement on the membership of the working parties which advise his Department on guidance for local authorities on pollution control standards, stating the total number of members who are representatives of, or hold senior positions within, (a) commercial organisations, (b) pressure groups concerned with the environment and (c) local government. [41443]

Mr. Clappison

The guidance on air pollution control standards issued by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to local authorities is drawn up only after extensive and detailed consultation. The consultation is in two stages. Each proposed guidance note is discussed with an ad hoc working party comprising industry and local authority representatives. The working party meetings are chaired by environmental health officers seconded to my Department to advise on these controls and are used by them as a sounding board. The draft guidance is then sent for comment to a wider range of bodies, including the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection, the local authority associations, Friends of the Earth, the Trade Union Congress, and the Confederation of British Industry.

I will be placing in the House Library a list of members of the working parties convened for the 82 published guidance notes. Approximately 400 participants represented commercial organisations, including manufacturers of monitoring and abatement equipment, and some 75 were local authority representatives. I am also placing a list of those sent the guidance notes at the second stage of consultation.