§ Mr. Barronasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) if he will list for each year since 1979 the number of persons notified to Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate by (a) the Central Electricity Generating Board and (b) the South of Scotland Electricity Board as power station operators, supervisors and managers, and the number of individual appointments prevented by the inspectorate in each year;
(2) if he will describe the duties of persons notified to Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate as power station operators, supervisors and managers, specifying which duties of operators and supervisors are not located within the main control room of a power station; and if he will make a statement;
(3) if he will describe the responsibilities of Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate in relation to the training and standards of competence of power station management and staff, specifying which persons at a power station are subject to such responsibilities; and if he will make a statement;
(4) if he will list for each nuclear power station in England and Wales the current number of persons notified to Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate as power station operators, supervisors and managers showing each rank or grade separately.
§ Mr. Goodlad[pursuant to his reply, 17 November 1986, c. 19–20]: The booklet "The Work of HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate" published by the Health and Safety Executive, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, outlines the inspectorate's responsibilities. Under the conditions of a nuclear licence, a licensee must appoint suitably qualified persons, known as duly authorised persons, to perform certain functions at a nuclear power station. These functions include station manager, departmental heads, shift charge engineers, assistant charge engineers, assistant engineers (operations), health physicists, assistant health physicists and instrument engineers. Typically at a nuclear power station there would be about 40 persons so appointed. Some, for instance station managers, departmental heads, and health physicists, would normally work outside the control room. The minimum qualification for a duly authorised person is at least a higher national certificate or equivalent in a subject relevant to the duties. I am advised that many have degrees or equivalent engineering qualifications such as membership of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, or 303W are chartered engineers. No person is permitted to act as an appointed person if Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate considers that person unfit; but there has been no recent case where Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has had to use this power of objection. It is not possible except at disproportionate cost to list the number of duly authorised persons notified since 1979 to Her Majesty's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate by operators.