§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to require that manufacturers prove substances are not environmentally hazardous prior to production and disposal.
§ Mr. BaldryThere are adequate powers in existing legislation to require manufactuers to obtain information about potentially hazardous substances and to assess their effects on the environment. The Notification of New Substances Regulations 1982 require manufacturers or importers to provide information about potential hazards to the environment before they place substances on the market for the first time. Section 142 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 gives the Secretary of State powers to require manufacturers to obtain information about the properties of hazardous substances in order to assess their potential for causing pollution of the environment or harm to human health. In addition there are general duties under the relevant legislation not to discharge polluting substances to air or water or to dispose of them to land without the appropriate authorisation.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to enforce the disposal and control of waste substances, created locally, within that locality.
§ Mr. BaldryIt is not practicable to enforce local disposal. All wastes must be disposed of at suitably licensed facilities and particularly difficult wastes sometimes have to travel some distance to the nearest specialist facility equipped to dispose of them safely.
The Department is, however, currently encouraging authorities to aim for regional self sufficiency in waste disposal. To this end we have asked authorities to form voluntary regional groupings to provide better strategic planning for disposal, a uniform approach to licensing and enforcement and more effective deployment of specialist resources across authorities.
We expect these arrangments to be in place by 1 April. The Secretary of State has reserve powers in section 31 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to set up statutory regional waste regulation authorities where suitable voluntary arrangements have not been made.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many licensed waste disposal facilities are situated(a) within the United Kingdom, (b) in Yorkshire and Humberside and (c) within West Yorkshire;
(2) how many waste disposal inspections were carried out in 1989 and 1990; and how frequently, on average, individual waste disposal premises are inspected;
298W(3) how many inspectors are employed to monitor the activities of licensed waste disposal installations within the United Kingdom; and if he will quantify these in terms of numbers of inspectors per installation licensed;
(4) if he will increase the number of pollution inspectors to reflect the increased power of inspectors to monitor the activities of licensed waste disposal facilities;
(5) if he will introduce legislation to replace Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution guidelines, as conditions for the licensing of waste disposal facilities within the United Kingdom, with statutory regulations; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryIt is the responsibility of waste disposal authorities to issue waste disposal licences and to ensure that any conditions of the licences are met. The information on numbers of sites, inspectors, and frequency of visits is not, therefore, available. However, as part of the implementation of part II of the Environmental Protection Act, the Secretary of State will be issuing statutory guidance to waste regulation authorities over the discharge of their functions in relation to licences. This guidance will largely be a revision of the existing waste management paper No. 4 "The Licensing of Waste Facilities".