§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she set up the Radioactive Waste Management Information Needs Research Project; what arrangements are in place for its co-ordination; what resources have been made available, covering what time period, for the research project; who has been appointed to the Steering Committee of the Research Project; and what criteria were used in making the appointments. [19883]
§ Mr. MeacherI announced on 12 September that the Government had commissioned Wilkinson Environmental Consulting to carry out a review of information needs in relation to options for managing radioactive waste. This will help to inform the national debate and research programme which we propose in our 12 September consultation paper "Managing Radioactive Waste Safely". A Steering Group has been established to assist the Department in the management of the project and consists of the following people:
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Name Richard Wood (Chair) DEFRA Radioactive Substances Division Peter Barlow British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Professor Geoffrey Bolton Royal Society Martin Courtis Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee Fred Dawson Ministry of Defence David Glazbrook Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, Health and Safety Executive Elizabeth Gray Scottish Executive Environment and Radioactive Substances Division Cllr. John Henney Copeland borough council Stewart Kemp Nuclear Free Local Authorities Ken Ledgerwood Department of the Environment, Northern Ireland Peter McKay British Energy Gordon McKerron Social Policy Research Unit, Sussex University Mike Squibbs Department of Trade and Industry Harvard Prosser National Assembly for Wales Jonathan Selwyn United Kingdom Centre for Economic and Environmental Development Julie Tooley Scottish Environment Protection Agency Rachel Western Friends of the Earth Clive Williams Environment Agency The members of the group were chosen in order to bring together a wide range of expertise in relation to radioactive waste management, including waste producers, non-government organisations, regulators, scientists and academics, and officials from Government Departments and from the devolved Administrations. Membership of the group will be kept under review.
The membership, terms of reference, and minutes of meetings of the Steering Group are published on the Department's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk
The contract was let to Wilkinson Environmental Consulting on 28 July 2000 following competitive tender. The contract provides for a final report to be handed over at the end of May 2002 then provides for further work up to the end of November 2002. The estimated cost of the project is £146,441 excluding VAT. Further details of the project are on the website.