§ 83. Mr. Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the steps he is taking to reduce pollution in the North sea.
§ 89. Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he proposes to take to clean up the North sea.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyAt last year's North sea conference in London, chaired by my right hon. Friend, we agreed a wide ranging programme of measures to protect further and improve the quality of the North sea and all our coastal waters. The most important measures relevant to the United Kingdom include
1. A substantial reduction of the order of 50 per cent. of inputs to rivers and estuaries of substances which are persistent toxic and bio-accumulative;2. An end to the dumping of industrial waste at sea by the end of 1989 except for materials of natural origin, or internationally accepted as causing no harm to the marine environment and for which there is no suitable land based alternative;3. A 65 per cent. reduction in the total of waste incinerated at sea by 1991 and its termination in 1994;690W4. The establishment of an international North sea scientific task force, to co-ordinate research and monitoring by all the North sea states.Other measures include action on nutrient (phosphorus and nitrogen) inputs in areas where they are likely to cause pollution, tighter controls on operational discharges from ships and other offshore installations and increased aerial surveillance. The United Kingdom is strongly committed to implementing these measures and indicated how this would be done in a guidance note on the conference declaration published last February a copy of which is in the Library of the House. We are confident of achieving all these targets, and progress in doing so will be reviewed by the third North sea conference to be held in the Hague on 7 and 8 March 1990.