§ Lord Melchettasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can confirm that neither the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds nor the Greenland White-Fronted Goose Study were invited to the site meeting on 4th October with Dr. Kramer from the European Commission at Duich Moss on Islay; whether the Nature Conservancy Council were invited; and whether they will list the people, and organisations they represented, that were present at the meeting.
§ Lord Cameron of LochbroomDr. Kramer made an informal visit to Duich Moss on 4th October to assist the European Commission in its consideration of complaints which have been lodged with the Commission. I have no direct information about the parties invited to be present since the arrangements for informing interested organisations that the visit was to take place were made by the commission. I understand, however, that representatives of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and of the Greenland White-Fronted Goose Study were present. In response to a request from the Commission, two officials of the Scottish Development Department accompanied Dr. Kramer on the visit, and that department made arrangements, at the Commission's request, for representatives of Scottish Malt Distillers Limited to be present to demonstrate the operations which the company have undertaken and propose to undertake. Representatives of the owners of Duich Moss—Laggan Estates Limited—were also in attendance.