§ Mr. Ian TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when his Department expects to announce the results of the 1990 study into the health risks of sea bathing; and whether those studies are to continue.
§ Mr. TrippierThe Department is awarding a further contract to the Water Research Centre to manage large-scale studies into the health risks of sea bathing using the methodologies developed over the last two years. The 131W WRC will invite tenders from suitably qualified professional institutions and organisations to undertake these studies.
The research will be jointly funded by my Department, the Department of Health, Welsh Office and the National Rivers Authority. It will be undertaken at selected bathing beaches where the waters are of different microbiological quality to allow a further investigation of the relationship between the levels of contamination and the incidence of illness.
The results of the 1990 studies at Moreton (Wirral) and Ramsgate will be placed in the Library in early April.