HC Deb 09 November 1989 vol 159 c768W
Mr. Hanley

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what guidance he has given to the Health and Safety Commission on the exercise of the responsibilities for nuclear safety research which it is to take over from his Department.

Mr. Wakeham

I wrote to the chairman of the Health and Safety Commission in August enclosing a set of guidelines within which I wish the commission to work when it takes over these responsibilities on 1 April next year. The guidelines describe the objectives which I wish the commission to pursue; the area and nature of the research for which it is to become responsible; and the principles by which the commission should define the programmes which it sponsors, and by which the executive should recover the costs of these programmes from the nuclear power industry. A copy of the guidelines has been placed in the Library of the House.