§ Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on recent talks his officials and experts have had with their Norwegian counterparts on offshore oil.
§ Mr. Denis HowellAs part of a series of Anglo-Norwegian contacts, officials of the Department of the Environment and of other Departments concerned met an official delegation from Norway on 16th and 17th January for discussions on a wide range of technical problems concerning the control of pollution of the North Sea by oil and other substances. A range of topics on which collaboration between the two countries would be valuable was identified. These included discharges from offshore installations, systems for preventing and dealing with oil pollution, and monitoring and research programmes. It was agreed that future meetings would be arranged and information exchanged as necessary. The discussions are designed to see how far the interests and views of the two Governments can be harmonised to their mutual advantage.