§ Mr. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he intends to use regional emergency committees to monitor the effects of industrial action; if he will publish the membership of these regional emergency committees; what are the duties of these committees; and what are their powers.
§ Mr. HeseltineThe decision whether to activate regional emergency committees to monitor the effects of industrial action is a matter for the Government and not for me alone.
Each committee consists of a chairman, generally a regional director of the Departments of the Environment and Transport and representatives from a number of Government Departments such as Environment; Transport; Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; Employment; Industry; Trade; Energy; Health and Social Security and the Central Office of Information. The committee also has a miltary and a police representative appointed by the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office respectively.
Regional emergency committees would normally be activated only in an emergency which threatened seriously to disrupt the supply and distribution of essential supplies in the regions. The main purpose of the committees would be to co-ordinate, under central Government direction, arrangements for maintaining essential supplies and services, and to act as a channel of communication with authorities and organisations concerned.