§ 65. Mr. SpellerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to reduce pollution levels in the waters around the United Kingdom coastline; and what information he has about pollution levels in other European Economic Community countries with coastal waters in relation to the levels in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MoynihanThe ministerial declaration of the second international conference on the protection of the North sea, which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State chaired last November, contains a number of agreed proposals for reducing pollution of the North sea. The Department has since published a guidance note setting out the action the Government believe is necessary to implement the declaration. Discussions are in progress with water authorities and other interested parties with a view to drawing up an action plan for reducing inputs of dangerous substances via rivers and estuaries, and this will be reviewed at the third international conference to be held in the Netherlands in early 1990.
The Government have stated that actions implied by the declaration will be applied consistently throughout the United Kingdom and not just to North sea waters.
The North sea quality status report, prepared for last year's conference, provides the best assessment of the current state of the North sea. Copies of the ministerial declaration of the second conference, the Department's guidance note and the quality status report have all been placed in the Library of the House.