Marine Pollution (Hansard, 6 February 2002)

§ Mr. Simon Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make it his policy to introduce a statutory duty on coastal local authorities to plan for and undertake shoreline clean-ups following marine pollution incidents; and if he will make a statement. [33523]

§ Mr. Spellar
This is a subject which my Department has addressed in the context of the Cabinet Office's review of "The Future of Emergency Planning in England and Wales". One of the proposals for consideration under that review is that existing emergency planning legislation be replaced with a new statutory duty for emergency planning. The result of the review is awaited.

§ Mr. Simon Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what representations he has received from(a) local government associations and (b) individual local authorities concerning the introduction of a statutory duty on coastal local authorities to undertake shoreline clean-ups following marine pollution incidents. [33525]

§ Mr. Spellar
Since the beginning of 1998, my Department has received representations arguing for the introduction of a statutory duty on coastal local authorities to plan for or undertake shoreline clean-ups following marine pollution incidents from:(a) the Local Government Association, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and KIMO (Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljoorganisasjon); and (b) Aberdeenshire council, Ceredigion county council, Devon county council, Dumfries and Galloway council, Dundee city council, Fife council, Pembrokeshire county council, Purbeck district council, Shetland Islands council, South Ayrshire council and the Tyne and Wear Emergency Planning Unit.

§ Mr. Simon Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the effect on local authorities of(a) the recommendations of the "Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas" report of 1995 and (b) the Sea Empress incident in West Wales in 1996. [33527]

§ Mr. Spellar
The Government's action to address the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's 1994 report "Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas" following the sinking of the oil tanker Braer off Shetland in 1993, and the further reviews following the grounding of the Sea Empress on rocks in the entrance to Milford Haven in 1996 (the report of the Sea Empress Environmental Evaluation Committee, and the report of Lord Donaldson's Review of Salvage and Intervention and their Command and Control) has necessarily involved consideration of the role of, and impacts on, local authorities. This process has culminated, after a wide-ranging review which included local authorities and local authority associations, in the publication in February 2000 of the UK's revised "National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations", which sets out how the relevant agencies and authorities in the UK will respond to such incidents.