§ Miss Fookesasked the Secretary of State for Industry if consultations with the National Council for the Protection of Birds took place at an early stage when his Department was planning experiments involving oil slicks in the North Sea; and what view the council took.
§ Mr. KaufmanIn accordance with normal practice, when requirements for a meaningful trial had been determined by my Department's Warren Spring Laboratory, consultations were held with the Nature Conservancy Council. The NCC in turn informed the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The society communicated with the laboratory regretting that it had not been consulted earlier but recognising the importance of this work in the North Sea. It recommended reconsideration of the timing or location of part of the trials because of a possible risk to early migrating auks.