HC Deb 12 January 2000 vol 342 cc195-6W
Mr. Brake

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his Department's policy is on the purchase and use of peat for its own operations and activities; and what performance targets his Department has set to reduce current peat use. [103012]

Yvette Cooper

There is no history of this Department having purchased or used peat for its own operations and activities, nor is there any expectation of the Department doing so in the future.

However, should the need ever arise, the Department proposes to substitute the use of all slow renewables, such as peat, with organic wastes (such as coir, manure, leaf mould and bark chippings) for improving the soil.