HC Deb 23 May 1973 vol 857 cc76-7W
Mr. Judd

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will obtain and publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT details of the number of specialist staff appointed and of action taken by each of the county boroughs and cities in England and Wales to monitor all forms of lead and other toxic pollution of the environment.

Mr. Eldon Griffiths

This information is not centrally available, and would involve disproportionate expense to collect. Local authorities and other statutory bodies such as river authorities do, however, undertake extensive programmes of monitoring. Local authorities operate over 1,000 sites in the National Air Pollution Survey. They are responsible for recording authorised dumping of toxic wastes. Most small works using lead come under local authority control, and my Department has recently reminded authorities of the need to monitor lead levels in the environment around such works. River authorities are providing regular updating of the River Pollution Survey which covers the chemical content of their waters.