§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many environmental appraisals have been published by his Department since 1 January 2001; and if he will list the last four; [29033]
(2) how many officials from his Department have attended the Environmental Appraisal and Integration into Policy training course run by the Civil Service College; [29037]
(3) what procedures his Department has to ensure environmental appraisals are undertaken prior to (a) administrative and (b) policy decisions being made; [29035]
(4) when the last occasion was on which he requested an environmental appraisal before making a policy decision. [29034]
§ Mr. Paul Murphy[holding answer 21 January 2002]: My primary role is to safeguard the devolution settlement for Wales. The development of detailed policies of the kind which require environmental appraisal generally falls either to the National Assembly, or to other Government Departments in the case of non-devolved policy areas. As a consequence, my Department has undertaken no environmental appraisals since it was established on 1 July 1999.
My officials are aware of the need to subject relevant policies and other decisions to environmental appraisal. In the event of environmental appraisal being required of any Wales Office policy, steps would be taken to ensure that it was undertaken by individuals with the necessary knowledge and skills.