§ Mr. Rookerasked the Prime Minister why the Department of the Environment has become responsible for having a response to "Lead and Health", which was a report of a Department of Health and Social Security working party published in March of the current year, and of which the Secretary of State for Social Services wrote the foreword; and when such responsibility was assumed.
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment is responsible for co-ordinating Government action on environmental pollution. He is therefore taking the lead in the Government's overall review of policy on lead in the environment, in the light of the Lawther working party's assessment of the health evidence.