§ Sir Bernard Braineasked the Secretary of State for Employment, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Essex, South-East, on 30 April, Official Report, c. 431, what information he has as to the reasons why the recent trials on the behaviour of liquefied gases carried out by Shell Oil Co. at Maplin, were conducted without any discussion with the chief fire officer for Essex during the last six months; and if it is the practice to permit trials of this kind to take place without the full participation of the chief fire officer concerned.
§ Mr. WaddingtonI have no information on the reasons why there have been no discussions in the last six months between Shell UK Ltd. and the chief fire officer for Essex on the recent trials at Maplin. The trials finished on 10 November 1980. There is no obligation on the part of those conducting trials of this kind to involve local fire brigades and the degree of participation of chief fire officers is for consideration in each case.
The Health and Safety Executive considered that satisfactory firefighting facilities for the Maplin trials were provided by the Minister of Defence proof and experimental establishment whose fire officer was fully informed throughout.