§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the steps Her Majesty's Government have taken in the last three years to prevent, reduce or eliminate pollution of the North sea from atmospheric sources whose origins lie within the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy Department is currently reassessing information on the input to the North sea of heavy metals and pesticides, although there is no clear evidence that current emission levels pose an environmental threat to the North sea. The Government's aim, set in 1984, to reduce by 30 per cent. United Kingdom emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by the end of the 1990s would reduce the deposition of these pollutants. This aim is reinforced by the Government's recent authorisation to retro-fit three 2000 MW power stations and decision to equip all new coal-fired power stations with flue gas desulphurisation equipment.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the research Her Majesty's Government have commissioned or completed to examine the effects on the North sea of organic synthetic compounds discharged or dumped into that sea from the United Kingdom within the last three years.
§ Mr. WaldegraveWithin the past three years my Department has commissioned the following research relevant to the effects of synthetic substances in the North sea
312Wthe masses of list I and list II substances discharged to tidal waters in the United Kingdom (October 1983). These included DDT, Lindane, HCH, PCB's and the Drins.an update of the estimates in 1986 for the five major estuaries bordering the North sea.a survey of pentacholorophenol and other pesticides in river and estuarial waters.a survey of rivers and estuaries for eulans, mitins, synthetic pyrethroids, chlorinated benzenes, chlorinated ethanes and others and triozines.the effects and distribution of organo-tin compounds in coastal waters.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State For the Environment if he will list any new binding regulations on black and grey list substances adopted by the United Kingdom since the close of the international conference on the protection of the North sea in Bremen, 31 October to 1 November 1984 (a) within the framework of existing/new national legislation, (b) within the framework of the European Economic Community and (c) within the framework of the Paris commission.
§ Mr. WaldegraveSince the close of the international conference on the protection of the North sea in Bremen, 31 October to 1 November 1984, the United Kingdom has adopted the following binding regulations on black and grey list substances:
Within the framework of existing national legislation, controls over discharges to coastal and estuarial waters—which previously covered only black list substances—have been extended to include all substances including those on the grey list.
Within the framework of the European Community, quality standards for discharges of three black list substances, DDT, pentachlorophenol and carbon tetrachloride have been agreed (86/280/EEC). In addition the EC directive (85/467/EEC) has been adopted concerning the reduction of specific uses of PCB's and PCT's and the prohibition of use in new equipment. The Government have also laid down national standards based on environmental quality objectives for six grey list substances—lead, chromium, zinc, arsenic, copper and nickel.
Within the framework of the Paris Commission, three decisions repeat and extend the provisions of the EC directives on discharges of cadmium and mercury (83/513/EEC and 84/156/EEC) to Paris convention waters, and on the marketing and use of PCB's.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what new preventive measures Her Majesty's Government have taken during the last three years to maintain the quality of the North sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI refer the hon. Member to the information given in response to other questions. In addition, as part of its continuing policy of co-operation with the other North sea littoral states to maintain a healthy North sea environment the Government are to host the international North sea conference in London in November 1987.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his policy on establishing a joint international environmental data base with other North sea countries.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe United Kingdom contributes fully to the data bases being set up and developed within the context of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and of the joint monitoring programme of the Oslo and Paris commissions. These data bases cover the area of the North sea.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all research during the past three years which Her Majesty's Government have conducted aimed at developing the joint monitoring programme of both the Oslo and Paris commissions.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe United Kingdom Government participated fully in the joint monitoring programme of 313W the Oslo and Paris commissions and has not had to sponsor research to enable it to do so. It has carried out research for the wider activities of the joint monitoring group such as the assessment of inputs to the sea, into trend monitoring and into sediment monitoring.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment in what ways Her Majesty's Government have co-operated in the last three years with other coastal states around the North sea in long range surveillance of airborne pollutants entering the sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe United Kingdom is playing a full part in the atmospheric working group of the Paris commission which is charged among other things with encouraging co-operation in monitoring and the exchange of research information. Six monitoring sites in the United Kingdom currently contribute to the European measurement and evaluation programme under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe convention on long range transboundary air pollution.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what improvements Her Majesty's Government have made in pollution monitoring programmes around that part of the United Kingdom coastline bordering the North sea in the last three years.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe monitoring of estuarial and coastal waters is the responsibility of water authorities and river pollution boards, and the quantity and quality of monitoring is steadily improving. A major survey of the quality of bathing waters is in progress. My Department has assisted by the development of better methods of analysis and research into the use of organisms as indicators of pollution. It has also sponsored surveys of list I and list II substances in estuarial waters for compounds not generally monitored by water authorities.
In addition, I am advised that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has made a number of improvements to its own monitoring programmes. These include the further refinement of monitoring carried out at offshore sea disposal sites; the near completion of a baseline survey of metals in seawater; the establishment of extensive monitoring for tributyl tin compounds in coastal and estuarine waters; the extension of the scope of monitoring for hydrocarbons; and the initiation of research to facilitate fish disease monitoring.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what new measures Her Majesty's Government have introduced in the last three years to prevent, reduce or regulate waste from production and consumption facilities entering the North sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI refer the hon. Member to the information given in response to his other questions.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list any cases in the last three years where types of waste previously discharged into the North sea were, when found or thought to be harmful, disposed of in a different manner.
§ Mr. WaldegraveDetailed information of the type requested is not held centrally, but information on discharges to rivers and estuaries are publicly available from the registers of discharges held by water authorities. However, some examples of where reductions in discharges to the North sea have been made during the past three years are listed below:314W
mercury from chloralkali plants, due to the use of mercury-free technologyoil from refineries, due to a combination of better effluent treatment and industrial restructuringpesticides from manufacturing plants by greater recycling of effluent.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will detail year by year the amount of money spent in 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86 on research improving knowledge of the fate of pollutants in the North sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMost of the research undertaken by the Government on the fate of pollutants entering the sea is directed at the maritime environment in general rather than the North sea in particular. However, it is estimated that the following sums have been spent in each of the last five years on research specifically directed at the North sea:
Estimated Research Expenditure of fate of pollutants in the North Sea £000 1981–82 390 1982–83 570 1983–84 680 1984–85 680 1985–86 800 These estimates include research sponsored by my Department and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In addition, the Secretary of State for Scotland has spent over £100,000 a year in each of the years specified, primarily in connection with the effects of the offshore oil industry on the North sea.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list any new emission and environmental quality standards laid down by Her Majesty's Government within the last three years to preserve and restore rivers and estuaries discharging into the North sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe United Kingdom Government do not set emission standards. They are set by water authorities on a case by case basis and on the basis of quality objectives. Details of the quality standards issued in the past three years are given in answer to a previous question.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all new objectives, of which he is aware, established within the last three years set to control discharges to coastal areas of the North sea of (i) list I materials and (ii) list II materials.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Government have laid down national quality standards for a range of environmental quality objectives for all surface waters in the United Kingdom affected by discharges of lead, chromium, zinc, arsenic, copper and nickel. In accordance with the environmental quality objective approach, it is for the regional water authorities to set emission standards to ensure that the national quality standards are met. Within the European Community limit values and quality standards have recently been agreed for discharges of DDT, pentachlorophenol and carbon tetrachloride.
§ Mr. Chris Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what objectives Her Majesty's Government have set within the last three years to control the coastal 315W discharge into the North sea of (i) list 1 materials and (ii) list 11 materials; and what specific time limits have been set in each case.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe information on environmental quality objectives has been given in answer to a previous question. All discharges to coastal and estuarial waters will require at least deemed consent as from November 1987 and it is planned that all deemed consents shall be reviewed within the next five-year period—with priority being given to discharges of list I and II substances. For list I substances, quality standards must be met within a time scale laid down in the relevant directive. For list II substances water authorities must draw up plans for the reduction of pollution, which incorporate time scales, for those areas where quality standards are not met.